CONSCIRES AGILE PRACTICES

Paying it Forward on Scrum & Agile Training

By Bachan Anand / Filed under Info tech / June 6th, 2011

Why ‘Pay it forward’?

It is an undeniable fact that Scrum has reformed many of our lives for the better. Agile and Scrum have changed our world of work from a dull, mechanical one to a vibrant, thriving and joyous one, that develops close bonding within the team, so that Work is Good.

We wish to spread the awareness and invite others to the world of Agile and Scrum, to share the knowledge, through our training sessions.

For anyone in transition or others who are unable to pay for the classes, we offer the option of donation. “Paying it forward – Donation only” is our way of giving back to the community.

Previous sessions

In the last five weeks, there were five Pay it Forward classes on Agile & Scrum across 4 cities: Boston, Seattle, Irvine and Denver.

I wish to thank my mentor Tobias Mayer, who always reminded me that the Scrum method of working is a gift we have received, which alters the way we perceive work. He inspired me to conduct more trainings and introduce people to the joys that I experienced when I came across Scrum.

Gratitude is also due to Erin Beierwaltes for facilitating the class in Denver, and RightNow (Erin’s client) for donating the venue.

It is always a pleasure to have other Scrum enthusiasts facilitating the classes. Jeff Lopez-Stuit, who is the ScrumMaster at World Vision, facilitated the class with me in Seattle.

Thanks to Scrum Alliance for inviting me to the Scrum Gathering, which made it easier for me to run the session in Seattle. Carlos Buxton and Kriss Aho were of great help at the class in Boston.

Upcoming trainings

In the coming months, we have a few classes on Agile and Scrum scheduled in Boston, Seattle, Irvine and Denver. We look forward to your presence, to share your views, experiences and thoughts on the topics.

If you wish these trainings to be conducted in other cities, please contact us using this form.

Boston Class – Scrum Simulation

Participants Speak:

Bryan D. Mize, Participant, May 15th One day class in Seattle wrote:
“I was fortunate enough to take Bachan’s one day Intro to Scrum training course recently in Seattle. Not only was the course well organized and implemented, but it was implemented using the Scrum methodologies, so the participative/self organizing concept was more than conveyed, it was experienced. Bachan’s abilities to facilitate successful interactions amongst total strangers speaks volumes of his knowledge and experience in team-building. I took many “lessons” and experiences from that day, and will be able to apply what I learned in many aspects of my life.
If you are fortunate enough to have this opportunity, it would be my suggestion that you take it!”

Dan Goddu, Participant, May 20th One day class in Boston wrote:
“Bachan and his team delivered an excellent day-long seminar in the true Agile/Scrum fashion. For someone like myself who had only brief academic exposure to Agile, I left the seminar at the end of the day with a solid understanding, ready to discuss it, debate it, and apply it.
I would highly recommend this seminar to anyone who was new to Agile or needed a refresher.”

Joshua Potts, Participant, June 4th One day class in Irvine wrote:
“Bachan’s course on Agile concepts combined with group activities demonstrating them was a high-quality presentation that I will definitely recommend to others. He has an excellent sense of timing, allowing you to really grasp and absorb the concepts.”

Pay It Forward Trainings by Conscires

Location	Date	Course	Instructor	Price	Register
Irvine, CA	April 26, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Dallas, TX	April 20, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
San Diego, CA	April 13, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
San Francisco, CA	April 6, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Erin Beierwaltes	Donation only
Denver, CO	April 6, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Irvine, CA	March 16, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Boulder, CO	March 9, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Erin Beierwaltes	Donation only
Atlanta, GA	March 9, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Los Angeles, CA	March 2, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Dallas, TX	February 24, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Irvine, CA	February 17, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Seattle, WA	February 10, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montaño	Donation only
Denver, CO	February 3, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Irvine, CA	January 28, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montano	Donation only
San Francisco, CA	January 27, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
San Diego, CA	January 26, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montano	Donation only
Atlanta , GA	January 23, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Boston, MA	January 20, 2012	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Irvine, CA	December 19, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
San Francisco, CA	December 16, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Phoenix, AZ	December 9, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Alan Dayley	Donation only
Denver, CO	December 9, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Las Vegas, NV	December 2, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Irvine, CA	November 18, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Lisa Montano	Donation only
Atlanta, GA	November 18, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Boston, MA	November 11, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Erin Beierwaltes	Donation only
Seattle, WA	November 11, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Denver, CO	October 21, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Phoenix, AZ	October 20, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Irvine, CA	October 14, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
London, UK	October 10, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Tobias Mayer	Donation only
San Diego	September 30, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Boston, MA	September 30, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Manoj Vadakkan	Donation only
Atlanta, GA	September 26, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Atlanta, GA	August 26, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Manoj Vadakkan	Donation only
San Francisco, CA	August 26, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Tobias Mayer	Donation only
Irvine, CA	August 12, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Boulder, CO	July 30, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Erin Beierwaltes	Donation only
New Jersy/New York	July 29, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Boston, MA	July 27, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Phoenix,AZ	July 23, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Simi Valley, CA	July 22, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Seattle, WA	July 18, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only
Irvine, CA	July 15, 2011	Agile & Scrum Training	Bachan Anand	Donation only

8 Agile UNfriendly Scenarios

By Bachan Anand / Filed under WORK is GOOD / November 24th, 2010

It seems Agile is everywhere: haunting my Twitter feed, invading LinkedIn, creeping into all my favorite blogs. However, Agile is NOT for everyone. While perusing LinkedIn, I stumbled upon a few lively discussions debating when Agile is  or is not appropriate. What did I take away? Read on.

Don’t use Agile if…

1. You hate delivering value but love spending money.
2. You despise customer involvement and early feedback.
3. Collaboration nauseates you. Who wants to see her team self organize around a challenge and maximize potential? Sickening.
4. Understanding of the overall system and/or product vision is only intended for an elite few in your organization. (This one is especially important if you are a subject matter expert and love being allocated to bazillions of projects and gazillions of teams.)
5. Change requests are your guilty pleasure and you dream of contract re-negotiations. This rule also applies if customers are your worst nightmare.
6. Your QA team only likes to find bugs (and lots of them) hours before production.
7. You are of the strong belief User Acceptance Testing should be saved until the most irresponsible moment (again, try a few hours before production).
8. The developers in your company favor creating the most technical solution rather than the solution of most value for the customer.

What is Agile, anyway? Is it just an annoying buzz word for new age geeks (the kind that embrace principles and values over static practices). How did it ever become so popular? Doesn’t it only applies to the very small number of projects with fuzzy or changing requirements? Isn’t the worst part the way Agile fosters a collaborative environment AND ongoing communication with customers? Waterfall gods save us!

Choices, Autonomy, Expectation, Pressure at Work and… SOLUTIONS!

By Bachan Anand / Filed under Agile / November 16th, 2010

A self organizing and emergent system is sustainable.
Self organization grows autonomy
Autonomy necessitates choices and commitments
Choices leads to responsibilities
Responsibility creates too much pressure to succeed
Pressure breeds stress.
Stress yields failure.

Solution:
1.) Exercise autonomy with borders. Self organize under a context or vision, whatever is most important to you. Don’t be afraid to use time as a boundary ( SHORT time box/rhythm) in an effort to get results. When under pressure, simply acknowledge the situation and come up with goals to improve for the next (SHORT) time box. Consistently reflect at the end of each time box: what worked well? what can be improved?

2.) Have an environment that considers failure as a stepping stone. Nobody goes into a task with intent to fail. Why treat people in this manner? Come out of each time boxed boundary with a true belief that everyone did his best. As a result, commitments and choices will be made as a team not as individuals. The wisdom and emotional support of the group will be leveraged and maximized. Interdependence can be utilized to overcome the extreme pressure of expectations.

Most importantly work for a purpose and vision. Do all that you can to become fully engaged in all you do!

WORK is GOOD !!

Here are two video about Choices and emergent behavior that created internal dialogue that lead the above words.

PS I hope you get the message it should be a SHORT time box.

Reflections from Scrum Beyond Software event in Phoenix

By Bachan Anand / Filed under WORK is GOOD / September 28th, 2010

Core of Agile and Scrum

By Bachan Anand / Filed under Uncategorized / May 5th, 2010

The deeper I practice principles and values of Agile and Scrum it makes me believe that these principles and some of the core practices can be used in non software development scenario. When I reflect on my own journey these are the answers that come to me:

Agile and Scrum principles,

1. Show the effectiveness of breaking down your goals into small stories that can be achieved in shorter durations to gain success.
2. Draw attention to the importance of taking a breather in between your work execution to reflect on quality of work and most importantly making personal commitments to improve them.
3. Show the importance of collaboration between team members and customers to be successful.
4. Highlight the importance of informing your customer what you have done during regular intervals to increase transparency and receive feedback.
5. Point out the importance of delivering business value at regular intervals to stay competitive
6. Create an environment that allows you to focus on work that provides the highest business value.
7. Help you find a rhythm in your work and strive for continuous improvement.
8. Help limit the impact of failures by time boxing work to small duration and provide you opportunity to reflect on them and make necessary corrections.
9. Draw attention to the importance of laying down a product vision and roadmap.
10. Provide opportunity for people who are doing the work to self organize around the work, determine the highest value and excel in creating it.
11. Promote transparency by allowing the team’s goals and tasks to be visible to team members, management and business.
12. Create an environment where team members’ failures can be discussed openly.
13. Draw attention to the importance of business by determining business priority.
14. Promote creativity by giving them autonomy on how they do the work.
15. Foster courage by providing an environment where early failure is promoted to achieve long term success.
16. Support the emergence of strong design and architecture by allowing continuous improvement of the design.
17. Keep the team focused by planning work only for shorter durations.
18. Commit to short increments to avoid changes to scope of work that is already in progress.
19. Embrace change in scope and business priority for items that are not in progress.
20. Promote consistency and quality of work by clearly defining what DONE means.
21. Provide an environment where leadership can focus on strategy and vision and not worrying about how the team does the work.
22. Create an environment that embodies quality by working at a sustainable pace.
23. Keep the team members engaged by clear and consistent communication of goals from management.
24. Allow transparency at all levels to expose company purpose and goals to everyone in the organization.
25. Create an environment that encourages open discussion about challenges and leaving room for situations to take a political turn.
26. Expose disruptions and eliminate them so everyone can focus on the work they are responsible for.
27. Keep quality consistently high by finishing up work in smaller chunks to the committed quality before moving to the next set of work.
28. Visualize flow of work and make each other aware of what the team is focused on to promote compassion among the team members, management and business.

What do Agile and Scrum principles mean to you?