Welcome

Camelia Codarcea
President of AgileHub Association
Trainer, Coach, Agile Coach
 Introduction to Scrum
• The history of Agile - Lean
• Benefits of adopting agile approach
• Productivity and “feeling good”
• What is Agile
• What is Scrum

• Scrum: roles, meetings, artifacts

• User Stories
• Agile Estimation and Planning
• Agile Contracts
• Misconceptions about Scrum
 Short history of Agile – The Beginning
of a journey
• If you don’t know the past, you are prone to repeat
the mistakes.

• First question is always WHY was it necessary for

something new to appear? Is Agile actually new?

“Everything has been said before but since nobody

listens, we have to keep going back and begin all over
again”
Andre Gide
Lean (Toyota Production System)
Short history of Agile – The Beginning
of a journey
Step 1
• Henry Ford: invention of mass production (Model T)
to be able to respond to the increase in request
from 10.000 cars (1908) – 2 mil cars (1925)

www.automobilesreview.com
 Short history of Agile – Mass
Production
Characteristics of mass production:

• Fast and high volume delivery

• Cheap products (Model T. cost 300$ in 1924)
• Less diversity of products (flexibility)
“Any color as long as it’s black”
• Work could be done by unskilled / semiskilled people.
• Many errors handled at the end of the production line =>
LOW quality
 Short history of Agile – LEAN

Step 2
LEAN production (Toyota Production System)
• Take the advantage of mass production benefits
• Add the diversity and quality.

Dr. Edwards Deming: “quality always costs less in the

end”
 Short history of Agile – LEAN
Step 2
GOALS:

• Eliminate waste (production, transportation, inventory): build

only what’s immediate needed.
(Just – In – Time)

• Create quality products from the beginning instead of

creating large amounts of defective parts that had to be
repaired at the end.
Jidoka ( Built-in-quality)
 Short history of Agile – LEAN
HOW can they obtain that?

1) With skilled employees:

• Train them
• Tell them how things should work

2) By having highly motivated employees (

workers that want to do a good job )
Short history of Agile – LEAN

http://www.lean.org/
 Short history of Agile – LEAN
Philosophy:

• KAIZEN - continuous and never-ending improvement

Get a little better every day

• KAIKAKU = radical change that often, for a short period

of time makes you feel you take steps backwards. (while
workers were in experimentation and learning phase, the
assembly line stopped almost all day long )
But step by step they learned and the line almost never
stopped
 Lean philosophy:
https://youtu.be/wUpbbK104Zg?t=320

(Interval 5:20 - 29:30 is important and eloquent for the agile and
Lean mentality)

What is Lean:
- thinking, systematic, entire enterprise
- more than a collection of tools.
 Software … how things were
Traditional methodology (Waterfall):

It is a logical process BUT the only problem

is that … change occurs

“any problem can be traced down because

Requirements somebody did not tell someone something”
Design
Problem: take too much time for every
Code
phase, everybody works hard one time and
stays loose other times.
Test
Gantt diagrams and app like MS project.
(introduces in 1910 and used in WW1) -
depends on one date and if that is behind,
everything is delayed
 What should we focus on?
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Planning = an active ongoing process

Plans = the documentation of that discussion at
one point of a time.

Irony: when projects don’t follow the plan =>

spend more time to plan the project initially
 Benefits of adopting the agile
approach
Annual state of Agile – report:
https://www.stateofagile.com/#ufh-c-473508-state-of-agile-report
Benefits of adopting the agile
approach
Benefits of adopting the agile
approach
Benefits of adopting the agile
approach
Benefits of adopting the agile
approach
 Why being Agile?

• Increased control and clear project definition

from the beginning are NOT the key to a
successful project

• Agility promotes an empirical approach

(where you analyze you position every once in
a while)
 Why being Agile?

• Agile frameworks put emphasis on

communication and transparency: both inside
the team as well as in the outside world
(customer - team, manager -team )
 PAUSE for a moment …

Productivity and “feeling good

around somebody”
Endorphin Dopamine
• Released in response to pain, masks it •Motivation
• Gives physical endurance, euphoria •Focus
• Helps build resilience, wards anxiety and •Productivity
depression
When: break a goal into smaller goals
When: exercise celebrate after reaching each step
laugh, anticipate something
entertaining Lack of: procrastination
black chocolate lack of enthusiasm

Serotonin Oxytocin
• Sense of importance, value, respect • Trust
• Increases the desire for collaboration • Generosity
• helps regulate sleep, appetite, memory • Capacity to solve problems, productivity
• Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease,
When: reflecting on results/past achievements improves immune system
making someone feel useful
thinking/visioning some future results When: create healthy relations
Lack of: gangs joining for teens, make small acts of generosity
gossip, violence physical contact, hugs, hand shake
Endorphin Dopamine
• Released in response to pain, masks it • Motivation
• Gives physical endurance, euphoria • Focus
• Helps build resilience, wards anxiety and • Productivity
depression
When: break a goal into smaller goals
When: exercise celebrate after reaching each step
laugh, anticipate something
entertaining Lack of: procrastination
black chocolate lack of enthusiasm

Serotonin Oxytocin
• Sense of importance, value, respect • Trust
• Increases the desire for collaboration • Generosity
• helps regulate sleep, appetite, memory • Capacity to solve problems, productivity
• Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease,
When: reflecting on results/past achievements improves immune system
making someone feel useful
thinking/visioning some future results When: create healthy relations
Lack of: gangs joining for teens, make small acts of generosity
gossip, violence physical contact, hugs, hand shake
Endorphin Dopamine
• Released in response to pain, masks it • Motivation
• Gives physical endurance, euphoria • Focus
• Helps build resilience, wards anxiety and • Productivity
depression
When: break a goal into smaller goals
When: exercise celebrate after reaching each step
laugh, anticipate something
entertaining Lack of: procrastination
black chocolate lack of enthusiasm

Serotonin Oxytocin
• Sense of importance, value, respect • Trust
• Increases the desire for collaboration • Generosity
• Helps regulate sleep, appetite, memory • Capacity to solve problems, productivity
• Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease,
When: reflecting on results/past achievements improves immune system
making someone feel useful
thinking/visioning some future results When: create healthy relations
Lack of: gangs joining for teens, make small acts of generosity
gossip, violence physical contact, hugs, hand shake
Endorphin Dopamine
• Released in response to pain, masks it • Motivation
• Gives physical endurance, euphoria • Focus
• Helps build resilience, wards anxiety and • Productivity
depression
When: break a goal into smaller goals
When: exercise celebrate after reaching each step
laugh, anticipate something
entertaining Lack of: procrastination
black chocolate lack of enthusiasm

Serotonin Oxytocin
• Sense of importance, value, respect • Trust
• Increases the desire for collaboration • Generosity
• Helps regulate sleep, appetite, memory • Capacity to solve problems, productivity
• Reduce risk of cardiovascular disease,
When: reflecting on results/past achievements improves immune system
making someone feel useful
thinking/visioning some future results When: create healthy relations
Lack of: gangs joining for teens, make small acts of generosity
gossip, violence physical contact, hugs, hand shake
In conditions of threat, stress:

Cortisol: is going in the blood; we need it as an anti-

inflammatory; it also helps transform the fat-cells into energy,
but it has two negative effects:
- turns off the immune system (8-12 minutes, it
goes down).
- it inhibits, almost stops neurogenesis,
responsible for growing neuronal tissues.

Peripheral view drops down from 270 degrees to 30 degrees.

The same think happens with hearing new ideas,
responding/accepting new people.
The agile approach
 What is Agile
Beginning of Agile: “The Manifesto for Agile Software
Development” (2001)

A set of 4 values and 12 principles written by some

world class experts in software development:
Martin Fowler
Kent Beck
Ken Schwaber
Jeff Schuterland
Robert C. Martin, etc
 What do we search for?

• Business value
• Better risk handling
• Adaptability
• Risk

How?

by continuously deliver small chunks of COMPLETE

work, more customer involvement, faster time to
market (adapt to customer’s needs)
 What is Agile
Values:

“… we have come to value”

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

Working software over comprehensive documentation

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

“That is, while there is value in the items on the right,

we value the items on the left more”
 Agile
The 12 principiples from Agile Manifesto can be split in:

WHAT (seen from outside) and

HOW (actions that are taken in order for results to be
seen)

WHAT?

HOW?
 WHAT?
4) Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project

3) Deliver working software frequently, from a

couple of weeks to a couple of months

2) Welcome changing requirements, even late in

development for customer’s competitive advantage

1) Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early

and continuous delivery of valuable software

The first 4 principles of Agile Manifesto

 What?
1st Steering Comitee 2nd Steering Comitee2

Feature Cycle
time
4
3.5
3
2.5 Releases
New clients 2
1.5 frequency
1
0.5
0

Client Defects in
satisfaction production

income
 HOW?
8) Agile processes promote sustainable
development. All should maintain a constant
pace indefinitely

7) Working software is the primary measure of

progress

6) The most efficient and effective method of conveying

information to and within a development team is face-to-
face conversation

5) Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the

environment and support they need, and trust them to get the
job done

Next 4 principles of agile Manifesto

 HOW?
12) At regular intervals, the team reflects and
adjusts accordingly

11) The best architectures, requirements, and

designs emerge from self-organizing teams

10) Simplicity -- the art of maximizing the amount of

work not done -- is essential

9) Continuous attention to technical excellence and good

design enhances agility

The last 4 principles of agile Manifesto

 HOW?
Sprint burn-
down
Test Cases Cummulative
Coverage flow

Phisical board Respect DoD

Pair
Team morale
programming

Efficient Sprint
Code review
Planning
Efficient Sprint Efficient Sprint
Review Retrospective
 Agile vs. Scrum
Agile = a set of values and principles
a mindset, a way of being

Scrum = a framework through which agile

mindset can be put into practice

Scrum: the most used agile framework (70%)

 Scrum

• Scrum promotes and facilitates collaboration.

Every meeting and every role is defined to
improve the transparency and collaboration
between actors, to inspect and adapt.

• The essence of Scrum is to promote

continuous improvement, frequent delivery
of business value through teamwork.
 Scrum
SCRUM name comes form Rugby
“A holistic or ‘rugby’ approach —
where a team tries to go the distance as a
unit, passing the ball back and forth—
may better serve today’s competitive
requirements”

“The New New Product Development Game”

Harvard Business Review, 1986

www.learn-rugby.com/playingrugby_scrum.htm

• The whole team is together.

• Team tries to move the ball together.
• People with specialties but they’ll all help with whatever it’s needed.
• Team regroups to restart playing
 Scrum Framework
We’ll build Scrum Framework step by step

Sprint 1~4
weeks
Planning
Sprint
Backlog
Product Backlog

Daily

Potentially
Retrospective Review shippable
product
 Scrum
Sprint 1~4
weeks • All Sprints have the same length in
Planning
Sprint
order to favor discipline, predictability
Backlog
Product Backlog

Daily
• Preferably NOT of 4 weeks => enough
Potentially
shippable
time to postpone implementing and
Retrosp
ective
Review
product testing untill the last days

• Length of Sprints: long enough to be

able to deliver something of value and
short enough to have many Sprints so
the risk per Sprint is decreased.
Potentially Shippable Product =
Features that are COMPLETE
(implemented and tested) and they work
as agreed in the Sprint Planning
 Roles in Scrum
In the center of Scrum framework is the
Development Team (5-9 people):

Planning Development team = the team that

Sprint develops the application
Backlog
(design + code + test)
Product Backlog

Daily

Potentially
shippable
• Self – organized. They decide what they
Retrosp Review
product can take in the Sprint and also HOW
ective they’ll implement it.
• Responsible for their actions and results.
• Motivated to do a good job, to deliver
QUALITY software.
• Disciplined in order to be able to deliver
cross-functional team = the team is capable what members in team decided.
of completely doing • cross-functional and they should be full-
everything that is time
in backlog. • Work at a sustainable pace
All the work is done in the Sprints • Stable teams
 Roles in Scrum

How can the Dev – Team obtain

that?
Planning
Sprint
Backlog • Respecting each-other
Product Backlog

Daily
• Communicating very often and
Potentially
shippable
helping each-other to better
Retrosp Review
product understand the system step-by-
ective
step
• By having common ownership
of the code
• They are open to each-other
• Analyzing the results at regular
intervals
 Is there something missing? Team

PO

Sprint 1~4
Planning weeks
Sprint
Backlog

Daily
Product Backlog

Potentially
shippable
Retrospective Review product
 Roles in Scrum
Team
PO Product Owner (PO):
Planning
Sprint
• Define the features of the product
Backlog
• Knows what to deliver, where the project
Product Backlog

Daily

Potentially
is heading
shippable
Retrosp Review
product • Communicates constantly with the Client
ective
• Knows the schedule / constraints
• Responsible for the backlog, in charge of
increasing the business value of the
work: (constant prioritize the backlog
items and adjustment of their scope)
• Interested in reducing risk on the
application: obtain the MVP as soon as
possible
 SM
Team

PO

Sprint 1~4
Planning weeks
Sprint
Backlog

Daily
Product Backlog

Potentially
shippable
Retrospective Review product
 Roles in Scrum
SM
Scrum Master (SM)
PO
• Responsible to teach the team,
Planning
PO, management the purpose
Sprint
Backlog
and rules and constraints of
Scrum
Product Backlog

Daily

Potentially • Facilitates all meetings to reach

shippable
Retrosp Review
product their goal.
ective
• Makes sure the team is not
interrupted and that all work is
transparent
• Ensures that the team is
functional, they have what they
need to do the job
 Roles in Scrum
SM

PO • Resolves problems that appear

Planning in the team
Sprint
Backlog • Removes impediments.
Product Backlog

Daily
• Enables the cooperation and
Potentially
shippable collaboration among all the
Retrosp Review
product
ective actors involved.
• Is the servant leader for the
team.
• Coaches the team.
• Coaches the PO.
Productivity and acting in an agile
environment
Dopamine

Endorphin

Serotonin

Oxytocin
 User Stories
User Stories are requirments that are expressed in a new way, in order to
increase the understanding of what the customer wants and also the
reason for that requirement.

As … (WHO)
I want to … (WHAT)
So that … (WHY)
As a buyer
I want to be able to see all the products in my chart
So that I can have an overview and make faster
Clear user stories
operations with them.
Product Backlog

As a shop owner
I want to have a product page Not clear
So that I can sell to customers
User Stories
 Estimation and Planning
Estimation:

Assignment 1: Calculate the total area for the following squares

 Estimation and Planning
Estimation:

• Humans are very good at relative estimates

• Story Point = combination of complexity/size/uncertainty

Advantage in estimating with Story Points:

• focuses on bringing the value and not on being busy or finishing “on
time” (which often comes with compromising the quality)

“Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”

Parkinson’s law
Estimation and Planning
Estimation:

Most used method of

estimating: Planning
Poker game:

Fibonacci numbers are

used to enforce even
more the discussions in
the team and the
understanding of what
is needed to complete
the User Story
 Estimation and Planning
How it all starts
3 GOALS:
1 • Understand the vision of the project and write
5 user stories based on the initial requirements

2 • Different techniques are used to identify the

8 user stories: “Personas”, “Prototyping”
Product Backlog

13 • Order the user stories in the backlog based on

their importance/dependencies
8
• Estimate the user stories, to have an initial
20 estimation of the backlog (in SP)

20 • Understand the constraints of the project

WHEN: Before the project starts

20
WHO: PO + experts/seniors in the company.

Total = 140 SP
 Estimation and Planning
Planning – Inception
Time

Always maximum two constrains can

be fixed:
time – scope
time – cost

Quality is NOT negotiable

Scrum Fixed priced – Fixed Scope

projects should be avoided, because
the Quality would drop.
Q
Scope Cost
Iron triangle = project constraints
 Meetings in Scrum
Visual Management: Scrum Board
- Real (team in the same place) or using a tool (IceScrum, JIRA)

http://frank.vanpuffelen.net
 Artifacts in Scrum
Scrum Board:

http://tisquirrel.wordpress.com
 Release Burndown Chart
120
110
100
90
80
Story Points

70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Sprints
 Profile of actors in Scrum
PO:

• Knows the customer

• Knows the business domain
• Negotiation (both with the team and with the customer)
• Empowered to take decisions
• Decisive (in not afraid to take decisions)
• Available for the team
• Clear, precise, can synthesize a situation
• Doesn’t have to be a technical person (in case it has technical background
there is the risk to get involved in the HOW => needs coaching and
discipline to keep the distance)
 Profile of actors in Scrum
SM:

• Problem solver
• Listener, Observer
• Coach
• Facilitator
• Mediator
• Advanced soft skills
• Doesn’t have to be a technical person. If it’s a person with technical
background, they need to distance themselves from that and maintain a
neutral position in order to be trusted by the all actors.
 Profile of actors in Scrum
Team :

• Matching the type of requirements in the Backlog

• Listen and share their ideas and work with the colleagues
• Open to new ideas
• Motivated and courageous (to enforce quality standards, to state their
limits
• Have the same goal, share their work (common ownership of the code)
 Profile of actors in Scrum

Q: Is the SM involved in the development process ?

A: The SM has to keep a neutral position, has to have the overview on the
process and on the situation in the team. Therefor, a SM that develops
is likely not to be able to focus on his/her main responsibilities.

Q: Is PO involved in development?
A: NO, because it would be a conflict of interests.
The PO handles the business, his responsibility is to obtain the ROI
(return on investment) as soon as possible.
The team only focuses on quality implementation of what is needed.
Agile Contracts
 Types of contracts
Fixed Price – Advantage:
• Requirements are highly predictable

Fixed Price – Disadvantages:

• You need to spend much time to estimate

• When unpredictability occurs, in order to stay in budget, the team's cuts
corners (quality, functionality)
• When the deadline is reached, the last activities are not done with the
same attention.
• When new ideas (not in the original plan) come, much bureaucracy will
take place in order to be implemented
 Types of contracts
Time-And-Material– Advantages:
• Dynamic work scope. Feedback and business adjustment possible all along
the way.
• Less waste during estimating the cost. The team can start almost
immediately (least with the MVP).
• Control of the budget (you can decide when to cut the funding).
• Encourages frequent collaboration and transparency.

Fixed Price – Disadvantages:

• Can end up being more expensive in the end
 Types of contracts
What to take into account while creating an agile contract:
• Identify Priorities and Focus on Outcomes
• Feedback
• Collaboration
• Transparency
Misconceptions
 Misconceptions about Scrum

1) Scrum Master / PO is the manager of the team

SM, PO and Team are partners in Scrum, each with

their own responsibilities.
It’s NOT command-and-control, it’s collaboration,
respect and common purpose.
 Misconceptions about Scrum

2) Scrum is easy …
you just have to have a SM, PO and a Team

You CANNOT do Scrum without adopting Agile

philosophy and mindset: Scrum is not a set of tools
and practices, its essence is in the behavior,
interactions among team members, PO-Team, SM-
team, Team-Client in all daily activities.
 Misconceptions about Scrum

3) Meetings in Scrum are a waste of time for the team …

only the team leader should participate in the planning
and review.

In all Scrum meetings, team members get to

communicate/debate and know the system/ changes
better so they can build faster and with higher quality.
In Scrum we strive to have no proxies in the team, because
proxies tend to become blocking points.
 Misconceptions about Scrum

4) Scrum will solve all our problems:

Scrum REVEALS the problems in an early stage, but

won’t fix them for you. The Dev-Team, PO and SM
must work daily, be open and discuss to find the best
solutions to solve problems.
 Misconceptions about Scrum
5) SM is the cop in the team

The team is self-organized and they can try

things/activities that they think will help.

SM intervenes only when observing that the Team has

lost the focus. SM makes sure the team has
everything the need to do their job at high
standards.
 Misconceptions about Scrum
5) PO should tell us exactly what we need to do

The reason for adopting an agile approach is because

things are unclear; what customers want is unclear.
Much of the type of work is formulating an
hypothesis and implement features in order to test
that hypothesis. This is a collaboration and
exploration work.
 Misconceptions about Scrum
5) Product Owner should tell us exactly what we need
to do

The reason for adopting an agile approach is because

things are unclear; what customers want is unclear.
Much of the type of work is formulating an
hypothesis and implement features in order to test
that hypothesis. This is a collaboration and
exploration work between PO and Development
Team.
 Misconceptions about Scrum
5) Put in place tools and we have Scrum

Tools are great as long as we know what we want to

obtain. Tools don’t come with the mindset!
People using the tool have a mindset and use the tool
in accordance with that mindset.

Understand principles and what lies behind them. Only

after that use to tools.