AN OVERVIEW OF CEREMONIES, ROLES, ARTIFACTS,

AND INFORMATION RADIATORS FOR EXTENDING

AGILE ACROSS ORGANIZATIONS

Jack, Joshua (Non-Employee)

12/31/2014
INTRODUCTION
Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland have been known to say, “Scrum is lightweight, simple to understand (but) extremely
difficult to master.” What does this mean and why does it sting so much? Well, agile or scrum (more on the distinction
in a moment) is an empirical process, meaning that as one (or an organization) learns what works and what doesn’t,
those new ideas, concepts, and guidelines get implemented as long as they do not defy the basic “rules” of scrum.
Knowing that, it is very difficult to do scrum right, because there is no affirmative “right” way to do scrum! Agile
becomes a way of life and a cultural phenomenon rather than a scripted and prescriptive process like some of its
heavyweight distant cousins. Because of this mastery or scrum or agile means that an organization has changed the way
they work in order to adopt the ability the respond to constant change; patterns are not things that are just done
because it has always been that way, but rather are analyzed regularly to understand if they still add value to the
organization.
Let’s assume that agile works well and is working well on an individual team. Let’s even assume that the team has some
concept of mastery of the basic guidelines and rules of scrum. How
do we, then, increase the effectiveness of an agile culture in WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AGILE AND
organizations? Scrum is meant to reduce the amount of SCRUM? WHY DOES IT SEEM THAT THE
administrative overhead and increase team productivity, so what if AUTHOR USED THEM INTERCHANGEABLY?
we applied these same principles across the enterprise? What if AGILE IS A CULTURAL CONCEPT BACKED BY THE
organizations “planned together” instead of in silos? How can we AGILE MANIFESTO AND THE PRINCIPLES BEHIND
take the basic tenets of scrum and scale? THE AGILE MANIFESTO. THE AUTHOR OF THIS
The following is just one idea created out of the research of multiple DOCUMENT WILL USE THE WORD AGILE WHEN
theories, processes, methodologies, etc. in order to develop a HE FEELS THAT THE THEME BEING DISCUSSED IS
streamlined, scalable set of guidelines. The hope is that they will MORE CULTURAL. WITH 72% OF AGILE
push the evolution of agile a micro-step and provide another
stepping stone to work better and smarter.
ORGANIZATIONS USING SCRUM OR A VARIANT
OF IT, SCRUM IS A WIDELY USED TYPE OF
1
FRAMEWORK THAT ATTEMPTS TO PUT RULES
WHAT CAN I EXPECT? AND GUIDELINES AROUND AGILE. THE AUTHOR
WILL USE SCRUM WHEN SPEAKING OF SPECIFIC
AN OVERVIEW OF CEREMONIES, ROLES, ARTIFACTS, AND INFORMATION RULES THAT ARE USED TO HIGHLIGHT
RADIATORS FOR EXTENDING AGILE ACROSS ORGANIZATIONS ORGANIZATIONAL IMPEDIMENTS OR ISSUES TO
ADOPTION OF AN AGILE CULTURE. THEN
SIMPLIFIED AGILE SCALING FRAMEWORK
AGAIN, THE AUTHOR MIGHT JUST DO
CEREMONIES OVERVIEW WHATEVER HE WANTS AND USE THEM
INTERCHANGEABLY.
ROLES OVERVIEW

INFORMATION RADIATORS

What is Rocket61? Stay tuned for more, but the sneak peak is a concept of improvement. Just take the idea of a
rocket. Putting millions of horsepower behind a streamlined vehicle made to take us somewhere and explore new
ideas! The 61 is still a secret, but know this, Rocket61 is exploratory, investigative, curious, and every moving.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

 SIMPLIFIED AGILE SCALING FRAMEWORK
Simplified Agile Scaling

Core
Architecture
Analysis Business Initiatives
Portfolio

Estimate Submit
Portfolio Management Stakeholder
(Customer)

Interoperability Accessibility

Portfolio Backlog
Enterprise Architecture Initiatives
Roadmap
Marketing Business Sponsor Review Approve

Release

Estimate Release Planning Release Release

Product/Program

Chief Product Owner Development Manager

Functionality
http://files.softicons.com/download/transport-icons/standard-road-icons-by-aha-soft/png/256x256/roadmap.png
Product Backlog Continuous Gathering of Requirements Continuous Gathering of Requirements

Chief ScrumMaster Release Manager

Architecture

Emerging Architecture Emerging Architecture

Scrum Product Sprint Sprint Sprint Shippable Sprint Sprint Hardening Hardening PSI
Team Master Owner Team Backlog Increment
Team/Project

Sprint
Planning
Retro-
Spective Daily
Scrum
Scrum of Scrums
Sprint
Review Estimate

User Stories in Hardening

Sprints Refactoring
Tech Debt/Bugs

Scrum Product Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint

Team Master Owner
Team Backlog

Based on Scaled Agile Framework. For more information on SAFe, please visit scaledagileframework.com

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

CEREMONIES AND ARTIFACTS WORKING TOGETHER

• Ceremonies
•Backlog Refinement
• Artifacts
Portfolio •Executive Vision/Vision Board
•Portfolio Backlog
•Product Roadmap

• Ceremonies
•Release Planning
•Backlog Refinement Product/
•Retrospective
• Artifacts Program
•Product Backlog
•Release Issues Backlog
•Release Burndown Chart

Team/Project
• Ceremonies
•Daily Scrum
•Sprint Review
•Backlog Refinement
•Retrospective
•Sprint Planning
• Artifacts
•Sprint Backlog
•Burndown Chart

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

CEREMONIES OVERVIEW
GENERAL MEETING
All meetings follow a common standard. These basic rules not only increase the efficiency of the meetings but also make
them more satisfying for all participants.

RELEASE PLANNING
Product Owners, teams, ScrumMasters, and stakeholders come together to provide executive vision, plan the releases
over the next time period, and plan the complexity of cross-team collaboration.

ESTIMATION SESSION
Product Owner and team work on the estimation of the entire Product Backlog providing the basis for Release and
Sprint Planning.

SPRINT PLANNING, PART 1

The team and the Product Owner define the Sprint Goal and the Selected Product Backlog based on the effort
estimation as well as business priority

SPRINT PLANNING, PART 2

In Sprint Planning, part 2 the team works on the Selected Product Backlog by adding tasks to each Backlog Item. The
effort of each task should not be bigger than one day.

DAILY SCRUM
The Daily Scrum helps the team to organize itself. It is a synchronization meeting between the team members. It takes
4
place every day at the same time, at the same place. The meeting is time-boxed to 15 minutes.

SPRINT REVIEW
The status of the project is controlled by reviewing the working functionality. The Product Owner decides if the
delivered functionality meets the Sprint Goal.

RETROSPECTIVE
Inspect and adapt is a fundamental part of Agile. During the Retrospective the team analyzes the previous Sprint to
identify success stories and impediments

SCRUM OF SCRUMS
Representatives of individual teams synchronize regularly during the sprint to complete the release goal. Issues are
identified and information is provided on cross-team collaborative work.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

GENERAL MEETINGS
EVERY MEETING IS TIME-BOXED. THE SCRUMMASTER FACILITATES ALL MEETINGS.

PREPARATION
The meeting has a goal
All participants are invited
The meeting has a defined timebox
The agenda is defined at least one day before the
meeting takes place
The meeting goal and agenda has been sent to all
participants
All resources are booked
Suitable Room for the desired discussions/actions
Projector or connected large screen monitor of some kind
Laptop or other internet-connected device capable of connecting to the projector/screen
Flip chart and markers (optional)
The meeting room is fully prepared before the meeting starts

FACILITATION
A PARKING LOT IS A LIST ON A FLIP CHART TO COLLECT TOPICS
ROCKET TIP
WHICH ARE NOT PART OF THE MEETING AGENDA HOW TO HAVE BETTER MEETINGS:
Present the meeting goal
Present the agenda
HOW TO RUN YOUR MEETINGS LIKE APPLE AND
GOOGLE, BY SEAN BLANDA
5
If a discussion about a topic starts that is not part of the
11 SIMPLE TIPS FOR HAVING GREAT MEETINGS
agenda: FROM SOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST PRODUCT
Add the topic to the parking lot PEOPLE, BY CAMILLE SWEENEY AND JOSH
If the meeting time is over but the goal has not been GOSFIELD, FASTCOMPANY
reached:
WHAT UNPRODUCTIVE MEETINGS ARE COSTING
Arrange a new meeting YOU, BY LAURA MONTINI, INC. MAGAZINE
If the participants achieve results:
MEETING TICKER WEB APP, BY TOBY TRIPP
Write the results down on the flip chart
Make sure everyone agrees about the written results MEETINGS ARE A SKILL YOU CAN MASTER, AND
If the parking lot is not empty: STEVE JOBS TAUGHT ME HOW, BY KEN SEGALL
Find a person responsible for each topic
Add the name of the person in charge to each topic
MANY MEETINGS CAN BE AVOIDED BY QUICK CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN TEAM MEMBERS!

OUTPUT
Every participant knows where to find
the results

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

RELEASE PLANNING
THE PURPOSE OF RELEASE PLANNING IS TO COMMIT TO A PLAN FOR DELIVERING AN INCREMENT OF PRODUCT VALUE.

PREPARATION
Follow the General Meetings guidelines
Participants are invited: THE AGILE COMMUNITY HAS SEVERAL GOOD
RESOURCES AVAILABLE THAT EXPLAIN RELEASE
Product Owner
PLANNING. MITCH LACEY'S “STRUCTURED APPROACH
ScrumMaster
TO RELEASE PLANNING” ASSUMES THAT AN
All team members
ESTIMATED AND ORDERED BACKLOG EXISTS AND
Stakeholders THAT THE TEAM KNOWS ITS VELOCITY. TOMMY
Timeboxed to one day (8 hours) per quarter of planning NORMAN'S “AGILE RELEASE PLANNING 101” GOES A
Executive Vision/Product Board and preliminary road- LITTLE DEEPER INTO THE STEPS LEADING UP TO AND
map are ready INCLUDING RELEASE PLANNING.
ScrumMaster validates:
Organization Readiness - aligned strategy for programs and features (scope/roadmap) between product
and business
Content Readiness - vision and context are clear and that the right people are available. Product and
executive teams are ready to present vision and “top ten.” All teams are ready to discuss architectural
and technology impacts
Additional Facilities
Room large enough to allow for collaboration between team members and stakeholders with areas for 6
breakout sessions
Whiteboards with markers – enough for multi-breakout sessions and teams to interact
Projector
Device capable of accessing and displaying an in-process and finalized product backlog
Remote video conferencing capability

FACILITATION
ScrumMaster provides high level overview of the agenda including review of meeting guidelines.
Executives or product owners present
Prioritized roadmap of features, initiatives, epics, etc.
End date of the release cycle
Question & Answer sessions or breakouts focused on architectural or technology challenges as well as any
newly identified dependencies
Teams provide total capacity based on historical data, taking into account any movement or changes (should
be minimal) between teams
Teams work with each other to develop draft plans. These include any newly decomposed user stories
enough to estimate and prioritize further with product owners. Identify, discuss, and plan for cross-team
dependencies
Add any issues to a Release Issues Backlog

OUTPUT
Plan and commit to a set of initiatives and goals for the next release timebox (preferably quarter or half-year)
Teams, ScrumMasters, and Product Owners understand product backlog and issues backlog
Cross-team plan for accomplishing the product backlog

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

ESTIMATION SESSION
THE SIZES OF THE NEXT RELEVANT PRODUCT BACKLOG ITEMS ARE ESTIMATED.

PREPARATION AS NEW REQUIREMENTS OR DESIGN IS

Follow the General Meetings guidelines IDENTIFIED, IT MIGHT BECOME BENEFICIAL TO
Participants are invited: REPEAT THE ESTIMATION SESSION DURING
Product Owner EACH SPRINT. ALSO, SOME TEAMS HAVE FOUND
THAT FULL TEAM ESTIMATION IS NOT ALWAYS
Scrum Master
POSSIBLE UP FRONT AND THAT ABOUT 10% OF
All team members
THE SPRINT TIME SHOULD BE SPENT
Timeboxed to 4 hours for a 4 week sprint and relative for
“GROOMING” OR ESTIMATING THE BACKLOG.
shorter sprints
Product Backlog is prioritized
Product Backlog is visible and accessible to everyone in the meeting
A set of cards for Planning Poker (available from Mountain Goat) for each team member is at hand
(Optional) Planning Poker Apps. Suggestions (all are free):
iOS - Agile Poker Lite or Radtac Agile Tools
Android – Radtac Agile Tools or Scrum Poker Cards
Windows Phone – Dilbert Planning Poker
RIM/Blackberry – Planning Poker
(Optional) Online Planning Poker for remote teams – http://www.planningpoker.com

FACILITATION
7
Present the goal of the meeting
The Product Owner presents the portion of the Product Backlog that he wants to be estimated
If the Backlog is not estimated at all:
Select a Backlog Item that you expect to be one of the smallest stories you’ll work on, give it 2 story points
For each Backlog Item in the Product Backlog:
The Product Owner explains the story behind the Backlog Item
Each team member selects one of his Planning Poker Cards to vote for the relative size of the Backlog Item
The team members show their cards at the same time
If the estimates differ, the most contrary team members discuss their view of the Backlog Item and the
voting is repeated up to 2 times until all team members share the same opinion the estimate is added to
the Backlog Item
End the Estimation Meeting with a wrap-up
If necessary, schedule an additional estimation meeting

OUTPUT
The estimated Product Backlog is available for everyone in the organization

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

SPRINT PLANNING, PART 1
DEFINE THE SPRINT GOAL AND THE SELECTED PRODUCT BACKLOG.

PREPARATION
Follow the General Meetings Guidelines
Participants are invited:
Product Owner
Scrum Master
All team members
Timeboxed to 4 hours for a 4 week sprint and relative for shorter sprints
Product Backlog is prioritized
Backlog Items are estimated
Product Backlog is visible and accessible to everyone in the meeting
Planned absences of team members are known
The results of the Sprint Review and the Retrospective are available
EVERY APPOINTMENT FOR THE REGULAR SCRUM MEETINGS IS DEFINED AT SPRINT PLANNING. RECOMMENDED
DURATION FOR REGULAR SCRUM MEETINGS OF A 30 DAY SPRINT (OR 4 WEEK):
Sprint Planning, Part 1 4 hours Sprint Review 2 hours
Sprint Planning, Part 2 4 hours Retrospective 2 hours
Daily Scrum 15 minutes Backlog Grooming/Estimation 4 hours

FACILITATION
8
Make the Sprint Schedule visible to everyone
Appointment for the Sprint Planning, parts 1 & 2
First and last days of the Sprint are defined
Appointment for the Daily Scrum Meeting
Appointment for the Sprint Review Ceremony
Appointment for the Retrospective Ceremony
Appointment for the Backlog Grooming Meeting (optional)
Make the Sprint Review Meeting results visible to everyone
Make the Retrospective results visible to everyone
The Product Owner informs team about the product vision and sprint goal(s)
The Product Owner reviews the top estimated and prioritized backlog items
The Product Owner and the team mutually agree on the Sprint Goal and the Selected Product Backlog based
on team capacity.

OUTPUT
Team understand the sprint timeline
Selected Product Backlog is well prepared for Sprint Planning, Part 2

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

SPRINT PLANNING, PART 2
DEFINE TASKS TO CREATE THE SPRINT BACKLOG AND COMMIT TO THE SPRINT GOAL.

PREPARATION
Follow the General Meetings Guidelines
Participants are invited:
Product Owner
ScrumMaster
All Team members
Timeboxed to 4 hours for a 4 week sprint and relative for shorter sprints
The Selected Product Backlog is accessible for the task planning
Means to create and track tasks (software or physical task board)

FACILITATION
Team members define tasks for each Backlog Item
Make sure that every piece of work (as much as can be known) is taken into account:
Coding
Testing
Code review
Meetings
Learning new technologies
Writing documentation
9
If a task effort is bigger than one to two days:
Try to split the task into smaller tasks
If the team believes that the Sprint Backlog is too large:
Remove Backlog Items together with the Product Owner
If the team believes that the Sprint Backlog is too small
Move the most important Backlog Items from the Product Backlog to the Sprint Backlog together with the
Product Owner
The team commits to the Sprint Goal

OUTPUT SPRINT PRIORITIZATION

Sprint Goal and Sprint Backlog are
visible to everyone in the Select Sprint Goal
Analyze and Evaluate Product
organization Backlog
The tasks in the Sprint Backlog are
accessible to all team members
SPRINT PLANNING
Commit to the sprint goal
Create sprint backlog by
creating and estimating tasks
Review and commit capacity

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

DAILY SCRUM
THE MEETING IS TIME-BOXED TO 15 MINUTES.

PREPARATION
Follow the General Meetings Guidelines ROCKET TIP
Participants are invited:
THERE ARE ADDITIONAL WAYS TO
All team members CONDUCT A DAILY STAND UP.
Scrum Master ALTERNATIVES ARE CONCEPTS LIKE
(Optional) Product Owner “WALKIN HE OARD,” ETC. ASK
(Optional) Other stakeholder A OU OUR “FUN WI H DAILY
Timeboxed to 15 minutes RUM ” RAININ !
Team members have updated their tasks on the virtual or physical
team board
Issues backlog is available to add, remove, or edit items

FACILITATION
Every team member answers the three questions.
What did you accomplish yesterday?
What are your plans for today (or what are you working on today)?
Do you have any issues or impediments that might keep you from
accomplishing your plans for today?
If something is in the way: add it as an issue to the Issue Backlog
10
If a discussion starts:
Remind the team members to focus on answering the questions
If a stakeholder wants to say something: remind him politely, that this meeting is only for the team

OUTPUT
Issues Backlog is updated
Team knows if there is something from the previous day that is an issue to another team member.
Team is aware of what the rest of the team is planning to do and if they are needed to assist.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

SPRINT REVIEW
REVIEW ALL BACKLOG ITEMS THE TEAM HAS DELIVERED IN THIS SPRINT AND CHECK IF THE SPRINT GOAL WAS ACHIEVED.

PREPARATION
Follow the General Meeting Guidelines
Participants are invited:
Product Owner
Scrum Master
All team members
Stakeholders
Customers
Other team members
Timeboxed to 2 hours (or shorter for shorter sprints)
The Sprint Goal is visible to everyone
The Selected Product Backlog is accessible and visible to everyone
The team has prepared workstations, devices etc. to demonstrate the new functionality

FACILITATION
The team presents the Sprint results and demonstrates the new functionality, Backlog Item after Backlog Item
If the Product Owner wants to change a feature:
Add a new Backlog Item to the Product Backlog
If a new idea for a feature occurs:
11
Add a new Backlog Item to the Product Backlog
If the team reports an issue which is not solved yet:
Add the issue to the Issue Backlog

OUTPUT
Common understanding about the Sprint results and the product state

DILBERT DEMONSTRATES HOW NOT TO DO A SPRINT REVIEW

THE SPRINT REVIEW

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

 RETROSPECTIVE
LEARN FROM PAST EXPERIENCE TO IMPROVE THE PRODUCTIVITY OF THE TEAM.

PREPARATION ROCKET TIP

Follow General Meetings Guidelines THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ACTIVITIES THAT CAN BE
Participants are invited: PERFORMED DURING THE RETROSPECTIVE. THESE
Scrum Master CAN BE TIMELINES, STARS, CONTROL MATRIX, AND
All team members SAFETY CHECK SPEEDBOAT/SAILBOAT ALL IN
(Optional) Product Owner ADDITION TO THE TRADITIONAL QUESTIONS.
Timeboxed to 2 hours HE K OU OUR “EFFE IVE RE RO E IVE”
TRAINING SESSION!
Additional facilities:
paper products large enough to capture information with markers (optional)
a white board and markers to perform exercises (optional)
Projector
device capable of capturing and presenting information through the projector
PRIME DIRECTIVE: REGARDLESS OF WHAT WE DISCOVER, WE MUST UNDERSTAND THAT EVERYONE DID THE BEST JOB
HE OR SHE COULD, GIVEN WHAT WAS KNOWN AT THE TIME, HIS OR HER SKILLS AND ABILITIES, THE RESOURCES
AVAILABLE, AND THE SITUATION AT HAND.

FACILITATION
Present the goal of the meeting 12
Present the Prime Directive
Discuss and answer the questions:
What went well?
What didn’t go well?
What can we do better next sprint?
Identify who is responsible for the answers to “what can we do better next sprint?”
Prioritize the list of improvements
Run a wrap-up of the meeting:
Each participant gives a short reflection about the retrospective

OUTPUT
Any issues are added to the Issues Backlog
“What can we do better next sprint” is added to Team Working Agreement
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Milestone Issue Milestone Milestone Milestone Milestone Failure

Failure Milestone Milestone Issue Issue Issue Milestone

FIG. STARFISH EXERCISE FIG. EMOTIONAL TIMELINE EXERCISE

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC
SCRUM OF SCRUMS
SCALING AGILE TO THE ENTERPRISE REQUIRES NEW WAYS OF THINKING. SCRUM OF SCRUMS PROVIDES A WAY OF
CROSS-TEAM COLLABORATION WITHOUT CREATING MANAGEMENT OVERHEAD.

PREPARATION WHILE THE SCRUM OF

Follow the General Meetings Guidelines SCRUMS IS NOT A
Participants are invited: TRADITIONAL SCRUM OR
Representatives of each of the teams that share common backlog AGILE CEREMONY, IT ADDS
elements or programs VALUE TO ORGANIZATIONAL
Scrum Masters OR ENTERPRISE AGILE
SCALING
(Optional) Product Owners
Chief Scrum Master
(Optional) Chief Product Owner
Timeboxed to 15 minutes; scheduled for at least once per week
Issues backlog is available to add, remove, or edit items

FACILITATION
Every team representative answers the three questions.
What did your team accomplish since the last Scrum of Scrums?
What are your plans until the next Scrum of Scrums (or what are you
working on now)?
Do you have any cross-team issues or impediments that might keep you
13
from accomplishing your plans?
If something is in the way: add it as an issue to the Issue Backlog
If a discussion starts:
Remind the team representatives to focus on answering the questions

OUTPUT
Release Issues Backlog is updated
Team representative and Scrum Master know if there is something from the previous time period that is an
issue to another team.
Team representative and Scrum Master is aware of what the rest of the teams are planning to do and if their
teams are needed to assist.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

ROLES OVERVIEW
PRODUCT OWNER
The role responsible for the success of the release or project. The Product Owner leads the organizational effort by
conveying the vision to the team, outlining the work in the backlog, and prioritizing it based on value.

SCRUMMASTER
Acts as a facilitator for both the team and the Product Owner. The ScrumMaster removes impediments that impact the
team’s forward progress toward the sprint goals and manages the scrum/agile process.

TEAM
Consists of 3-9 people excluding the Product Owner and ScrumMaster (some variants say 7 +/-2). The team is comprised
of individuals who, as a whole, are capable of carrying out the sprint goals. They are autonomous and work together in
the same general area.

STAKEHOLDER
An individual or group of individuals (such as a department or component-based group) that can affect the outcome of
the sprint or project. Generally, this role is managed outside of the scrum/agile process by the Product Owner, but can
impact the success of the initiative.

CHIEF SCRUMMASTER
Acts a leading driver or innovator in the areas of operational agile/scrum within an organization. This role will
sometimes act as the ScrumMaster of ScrumMasters or have additional responsibilities of program or portfolio
management.
14
CHIEF PRODUCT OWNER
The single point of accountability (single ringable neck) for the success or failure of the complete program or product
line. This role is responsible for the entirety of the roadmap or enterprise product backlog.

Serve as the Agile expert by

facilitating and coaching

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

PRODUCT OWNER
IN AGILE, THE PRODUCT OWNER IS THE ONLY ONE WITH ORGANIZATIONAL AUTHORITY. THIS AUTHORITY IS USED TO
PAVE THE WAY FOR THE TEAM TO BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THE VISION.

RESPONSIBILITIES
PEOPLE
Representative of all stakeholders
Understands users and customers
Creates common communication
between the team and the
stakeholders
STRATEGY
Focus is on the business model
Carries the product vision to the team
PRODUCT DELIVERY
Formalizes a specific, measurable and reasonable Product Backlog and prioritizes it by business value
Maintains the Product Backlog continuously
Tracks time and budget (project progress)
Validates the completed sprint backlog and the sprint goal
ARTIFACTS
Product Vision 15
Product Backlog
Release Burndown
Product Roadmap

AUTHORITY
Decides on delivery dates
Can cancel a sprint if it no longer meets business value PRODUCT OWNER KEY QUALITIES AND
Because he/she maintains the Product Backlog, the CHARACTERISTICS
Product Owner can request what work is done in a Availability Business Savvy
sprint. Communicative Experienced
Humble Empowered
LIMITATIONS Prepared Fun
Cannot determine the amount of work that a team Collaborative Flexible
performs in a sprint Historically Knowledgeable
Cannot change the Sprint Backlog unless an emergency
arises
Although they have organization authority, the product owner should not tell the team how to deliver a
solution.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

SCRUMMASTER
THE SCRUMMASTER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING SURE A TEAM OPERATES BY AGILE PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES
(PROCESS OWNER). THE SCRUMMASTER IS OFTEN CALLED A COACH FOR THE TEAM, HELPING THE TEAM DO THE BEST
WORK IT POSSIBLY CAN.

RESPONSIBILITIES
PEOPLE
Coach and facilitator for the team and the product owner
Protects the team from outside distractions
Protects the team from over-commitment as well as complacency
STRATEGY
Always has a training plan for the team – the Issues Backlog
Acts as “process owner” for the team, making sure the team not only lives by the values of agile, but also
investigates new ways of working better
Works with the organization and other ScrumMasters SCRUMMASTER KEY QUALITIES AND
to implement agile practices outside of the CHARACTERISTICS
development teams
Servant-Leader Facilitative
PRODUCT DELIVERY Communicative Assertive
Improves productivity by removing issues that impair Enthusiastic Transparent
the teams ultimate goal – delivering a potentially Accountable Empowering
shippable increment
Works with the product owner to forecast team
Conflict Resolver
Situationally
Flexible
Aware
16
velocity
Validates the manageability of the product backlog by
making sure items near the top are expressed as I.N.V.E.S.T. user stories (see call out box below)
ARTIFACTS
Sprint Backlog
Sprint Burndown Chart
Taskboard
SMALL
AUTHORITY
INDEPEN- NEGOTIABLE
The ScrumMaster has authority over the DENT
process. He or she is the one responsible
for making sure that the agile principles
are followed
Protects the team and works with the Product I.N.V.E.S.T.
Owner to maximize the return on investment
VALUABLE
Has authority within the team to question
ways of working
Works with other ScrumMasters to implement
organizational agile improvement ESTIMABLE
TESTABLE
LIMITATIONS
Servant-Leader, no organization authority whatsoever
Team does not report to ScrumMaster FIG. ARE YOUR STORIES GOOD ENOUGH?

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

TEAM
TO WORK EFFECTIVELY, IT IS IMPORTANT TO THE TEAM THAT EVERONE FOLLOWS A COMMON GOAL, ADHERES TO THE
AME “WAY OF WORKIN ,” AND HOW RE E T TO ONE ANOTHER.

RESPONSIBILITIES
PEOPLE
Team is responsible for the work and culture. Issues with other team members should be handled internally
first
Self-Managing and Self-Organizing – empowered to define who will perform the tasks and in which order
they are performed
Update each other on what they are doing and if there are any issues, not just during the Daily Scrum
Work with and negotiate with the Product Owner, who is the primary client
STRATEGY
Must continuously improve the ways of working in order to increase efficiency and consistency
Breakdown the requirements, create tasks, and estimate work items.
PRODUCT DELIVERY
Responsible to deliver the committed sprint backlog within the required quality metric
Responsible for not only the delivery of the sprint goal and backlog, but also negotiating both of those
artifacts
All sprints must have a potentially shippable increment
ARTIFACTS 17
Sprint Goal
Sprint Backlog
Team Agreement

AUTHORITY
Team defines how much work they can undertake based on past sprint capacity
Autonomy on the technical solution for the functionality requested
Able to define improvements to systems and methods in order to increase quality and efficiency
Team defines the way they will work and sets rules of engagement (within reason)

LIMITATIONS
The team does everything to win the game – to deliver
TEAM KEY QUALITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS
the product
Cross-functional - the full know-how to realize the Cross-Functional Collaborative
product Learning Multidisciplinary
Understands the vision and Sprint Goals of the Product Enthusiastic Transparent
Owner in order to deliver potentially shippable product
Autonomous Discipline
increments
Responsibility Initiative
Courage to Seek Out Review

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

STAKEHOLDERS
STAKEHOLDERS ARE PARTIES WITH AN INTEREST IN THE PRODUCT BEING DEVELOPED AND/OR THE AGILE PROCESS.
THEY MIGHT INCLUDE VENDORS, CUSTOMERS, BUSINESS OWNERS, SUBJECT MATTER EXPERTS, SUPPORT, OR OTHER
INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONS.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Stakeholder submits new
PEOPLE issue to Product Owner

Engage through interest in the

outcome and process during a project or
product release cycle
User Story is created
STRATEGY or updated Secondary Workflow

Work with the chief product owner and

chief scrummaster in identifying Emergency? Yes

business and architectural initiatives

User Story reviewed Lower priority user story Team agrees to swap sprint
No
PRODUCT DELIVERY is identified in current sprint to
swap with the new story.
item for new story

Support the team, product owner, and

scrummaster in the delivery and
execution of a project or product
User Story Completed
Provides valuable feedback User story placed
in product backlog
User story worked in
priority order

throughout the sprint and release relative to their involvement in the backlog items
ARTIFACTS
Product Feedback
18
AUTHORITY
Because a stakeholder could be a resource manager, it is important to recognize that these roles, albeit
indirectly, still need to be managed
Ability to fund or not to fund, in several scenarios, the ongoing development of work
Can be a remover of issues and roadblocks

LIMITATIONS
Will work through the product owner for adding or changing work in the product backlog
Should not directly manage the day to day activities of the team

Levels of Interest and Power

High power, interested people: these are the people you must fully engage and
make the greatest efforts to satisfy.
Keep Satisfied Manage Closely

High power, less interested people: put enough work in with these people to keep
Power

them satisfied, but not so much that they become bored with your message.

Low power, interested people: keep these people adequately informed, and talk
Monitor Keep Informed to them to ensure that no major issues are arising. These people can often be very
helpful with the detail of your project.

Low power, less interested people: again, monitor these people, but do not bore
them with excessive communication.
Interest

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

CHIEF SCRUMMASTER
A LEADING DRIVER FOCUSED ON COACHING AND ORGANIZING SCRUMMASTERS, SUPPORTING THE ENTERPRISE OR
ORGANIZATIONAL IMPLEMENTATION OF AGILE OR SCRUM, AND COACHING MANAGEMENT WITHIN THE PORTFOLIO
BACKLOG.

RESPONSIBILITIES
PEOPLE
Acts as Product Owner to the ScrumMasters, helping define the organizational direction for process based
on the needs of the customer (organization)
Acts as a ScrumMaster to the organizational leadership, portfolio team, and executive team
Researches and shares resources for teams and programs to successfully execute the roadmap
STRATEGY
Serves as coach, advisor, and agile counselor to the organization
Participates in developing business, development, and enterprise process in order to align with the Agile
Manifesto and Principles behind the Agile Manifesto
Works with Product Owners, customers (business owners) and other managers to maintain alignment with
strategic vision
PRODUCT DELIVERY
Coaches enterprise teams and helps foster improving agile project, program, and portfolio management
Participates in and, more than likely, facilitates release planning
Participates in and, more than likely, facilitates scrum of scrums 19
Removes organizational issues
Coaches the Chief Product Owner on improving the Portfolio Backlog
ARTIFACTS
Organizational Issues Backlog
Agile Adherence Checklists
Portfolio Backlog

AUTHORITY
Generally, has organizational leadership of the ScrumMasters through an Agile Office
Owns the enterprise or organization process
Can direct and suggest process changes across the enterprise to facilitate improvements in efficiency

LIMITATIONS
As still a ScrumMaster, the Chief ScrumMaster only has authority within the group to which he is coaching and
only that allowed
ScrumMaster

 Acts as “Agent of Change”

 Keeps pushing process improvements
 Challenges existing behaviors
Chief ScrumMaster

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

 SAMPLE CHIEF SCRUMMASTER OPERATIONAL OVERSIGHT
Agile 3PO
Agile Project,
Program, and
Portfolio Office

Project Project
Governance Tools Portfolio Management Strategy Process Methodology Improvement
The proces ses that need to
The devices and methods
used to implement a
Management The discipline of plan ning, Establis hing a roadmap for
continued and improving
Document and improve
guidelines for successful
Evolving in the way we
approach the work in order
Coach, teach and men tor
exist for a successful project The scope necessary to have organizing and motivating toward a greater success
successful project successful project resources to ach ieve project project success project managemen t to increase success
implementation success

Team Process Onboarding

Quality Index Agile Scaling Scrum Master New Processes Enhancements
Foundation Strategically implementing Initiative List Training
Identifies how the PM is Provide agile project Act in the role of scrum Continuous improvemen t Providing updated training
new ways of working to
progressing on the project Server managemen t co nsultation master for the individual
support ever changing
Handling multiple process regarding agile and scrum documen tation related to
deliverables Manage, oversee, and on portfolio team scrum/development teams improvement projects that methodologies
needs and standards. the latest adaption of Agile
implement changes need to be watched.
at Greenway

Regular Tool Release Program Heat Map Continued

Reviews Planning Management Review and maintain Templates Education
Project Server Mai nt aining and Constant and consistent
Spot check random s amples Manage, oversee, and Rep resen t and facilitate any Provide program oversight active process review of new training
of adheren ce, from WIT implement changes discussion of portfolio to groups of projects that improving any project
enhancement across management templates opportunities for both the
field compliance to review implementation and represent key organizational
the enterprise project office as well as
of team agility readiness. bus iness direction.
product development.

Project Plans Gold Copies

Project Reviews SharePoint Maintain project plans for
each project. Allows for Review, enhance,
Continuous feedback loops Manage, oversee, and and maintain all
forecasting and for
and reviews as to P PM
implement changes identifying areas of risk deliverables and
adherence
regarding schedule and
resources. process gold copies.

Microsoft Project Plan Change

Metrics Project Templates Management
Tracking projects, iterations, Continual improvement of
Incremental and constant
epics, stories, tasks, bugs Professional project plan templates to fit
improvement in a way that
Maintain, manage, teach evolving proces s
is consumable.
improvemen t.

Exceptions
Review
Review reques ted
exceptions and approve/
deny/approve with
mitigation

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

CHIEF PRODUCT OWNER
A LARGE AGILE PROJECT CONSISTS OF MANY SMALL TEAMS. EACH TEAM NEEDS A PRODUCT OWNER, BUT EXPERIENCE
SUGGESTS THAT ONE PRODUCT OWNER USUALLY CANNOT LOOK AFTER MORE THAN TWO TEAMS IN A SUSTAINABLE
MANNER. CONSEQUENTLY, WHEN MORE THAN TWO TEAMS ARE REQUIRED, SEVERAL PRODUCT OWNERS HAVE TO
COLLABORATE. WHILE THIS CAN WORK, IT CREATES AN ISSUE WHERE HERE I NO “ INGLE RINGABLE NECK.” THE
SOLUTION IS TO INTRODUCE A CHIEF PRODUCT OWNER.
ROCKET SOAPBOX
RESPONSIBILITIES THIS DOCUMENT REJECTS THE IDEA OF THE
PEOPLE NEED FOR A PRODUCT MANAGER AND
Guides the other product owners BELIEVES THAT IT IS A HOLDOVER FROM
Works with one potentially large and complex product, TRADITIONAL SYSTEMATIC METHODOLOGIES.
or acts as the product owner over other product THE CONCEPT SEEMS TO CREATE A SCHISM
owners that manage multiple, independent sub THAT THE PRODUCT OWNER CONCEPT FIXED,
products THAT IS, A DISCONNECT BETWEEN CUSTOMER
AND TEAM. THE VERY IDEA OF A PRODUCT
Represents an industry or key strategic sector
MANAGER, ACCORDING TO OTHER SCALING
Facilitates common communication between the
MODELS, IS THAT THE PRODUCT MANAGER IS
executive teams and the development teams EXTERNALLY FACING, WHERE THE PRODUCT
STRATEGY OWNER IS INTERNALLY FACING. THE FOCUS
Facilitates product decisions SHOULD BE AT SCALING OUR TEAMS TO BE
Focuses on the enterprise business model ABLE TO CONTINUE TO INTERFACE WITH THE
Carries the executive vision and communicates the CUSTOMER, WITH THAT RELATIONSHIP
FOSTERED AND BOUNDARIED BY THE PRODUCT
21
roadmap to the organization
PRODUCT DELIVERY OWNER.
Responsible for the overall product or program
direction
Manages a portfolio of backlog items and prioritize across products for each sprint or each release
Tracks time and budget (release progress)
Communicates release readiness along with chief ScrumMaster
ARTIFACTS
Vision Board
Release burndown (in conjunction with product owners)
Product roadmap/Portfolio Backlog

AUTHORITY
Decides on release dates
Can cancel a release if it no longer meets business value
Because he/she maintains the product Backlog, the Chief Product Owner can request what work is done in a
release.

LIMITATIONS
Cannot determine the amount of work that the teams perform in a release
Cannot change Sprint Backlogs unless an emergency arises within the release
Although he/she has organization authority, the Chief Product Owner should not instruct their team to tell the
development teams how to deliver a solution.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

ARTIFACTS
PRODUCT ROADMAP
A product roadmap is a high-level plan that describes how the product is likely to grow. It allows the organization to
express where the product is going, and why it’s worthwhile investing in it. An agile product roadmap also facilitates
learning and change. A great way to achieve these objectives is to employ a goal-oriented roadmap – a roadmap based
on goals rather than dominated by many features.

PORTFOLIO BACKLOG
The portfolio backlog builds upon the product roadmap and begins to break down the roadmap into features and
initiatives that will need to be accomplished in order to meet the business value of the product roadmap. Where the
roadmap might focus on key business and architectural initiatives, the portfolio backlog begins focusing on what needs
to be done by each product in order to make the roadmap a realization. This becomes the basic estimable building
blocks of the release, product, and ultimately, sprint backlogs. While there is no

PRODUCT BACKLOG
The product backlog is a prioritized features list, containing short descriptions of all functionality desired in the product.
It is not necessary to start a project with a lengthy, upfront effort to document all requirements. Typically, a team and
its product owner begin by writing down everything they can think of for backlog prioritization and estimation. This
product backlog is almost always more than enough for a first sprint. The product backlog is then allowed to grow and
change as more is learned about the product and its customers.

SPRINT BACKLOG 22
The sprint backlog is a list of tasks identified by the team to be completed during the sprint. During sprint planning, the
team selects some number of product backlog items, usually in the form of user stories, and identifies the tasks
necessary to complete each user story. Most teams also estimate how many hours each task will take someone on the
team to complete.

ISSUES BACKLOG
Issues occur on all organizational levels. The Issues Backlog (whether team, product/release, or portfolio) identifies,
prioritizes and makes them visible to the organization. Capture and track these issues updating new, in-process, and
closed states. This backlog becomes the learning list for the team and is managed by the ScrumMaster whereas the
release issues and portfolio backlogs are generally managed by the Chief ScrumMaster.
“ O 10” Y I AL I UES
The ceremony rules are not followed
Product Vision and Sprint Goal(s) are unclear
The Product Owner is not available for questions
Backlogs are not prioritized by business value
Not everyone who contributes to the delivery is on the team or program
The ScrumMaster has to perform other tasks and is not able to focus on the team progress
The teams are too big (> 9 members)
The teams have no room where they can work together
The teams have no dashboard to access the Sprint Backlog
Information Radiators are not available to the entire organization

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

INFORMATION RADIATORS
RELEASE BURNDOWN
On teams where releases to the customer base are not occurring at the end
of each sprint, the team tracks its progress against a release plan on a
release burndown chart. The release burndown chart is updated at the end
of each sprint by the ScrumMaster. The horizontal axis of the release
burndown chart shows the sprints; the vertical axis shows the amount of
work remaining (effort) at the start of each sprint.

SPRINT BURNDOWN
All teams, whether delivering a potentially shippable increment or an actual
released product, use a sprint burndown chart to track the remaining effort
in product backlog items for the sprint. The horizontal axis of the sprint
burndown chart shows the number of days in the sprint while the vertical
axis shows the amount of work remaining (effort) during each day of the
sprint.

TASK BOARD
The team can make the sprint backlog visible by putting it on a task board.
This task board can be either physical or virtual (managed through any of 23
the amazing software tools available to the community). Team members
update the task board continuously throughout the sprint; if someone
thinks of a new task (“update the database for the new happy or not
column”), he or she writes a new task and adds it to the task board. Either
during or before the daily scrum, estimates are changed (up or down), and
tasks are moved around the board.

PRODUCT VISION BOARD

The Product Vision Board is a tool that can be used to describe and visualize
the product vision and strategy. It helps capture and validate ideas about the
product, taking into account business drivers, competition, marketability and
more. A copy of the Product Vision Board is located on the next page. For the
original, please see Roman Pichler’s website outlined in the credit section of
this document.

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

PRODUCT VISION BOARD TEMPLATE

24

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC

CREDITS
Roman Pichler, Pichler Consulting and his Product Vision Board – http://romanpichler.com

Mike Cohn, Mountain Goat Software – http://mountaingoatsoftware.com

25

COMPILED AND DEVELOPED BY JOSHUA A. JACK, CSM, SFC