A Practical Guide to Distributed Scrum

Description

Succeed with Scrum in Even the Largest, Most Complex Distributed Development Projects

Forewords by Ken Schwaber, Scott Ambler, Roman Pichler, and Matthew Wang

This is the first comprehensive, practical guide for Scrum practitioners working in large-scale distributed environments. Written by three of IBM's leading Scrum practitioners--in close collaboration with the IBM QSE Scrum Community of more than 1000 members worldwide--this book offers specific, actionable guidance for everyone who wants to succeed with Scrum in the enterprise.

Readers will follow a journey through the lifecycle of a distributed Scrum project, from envisioning products and setting up teams to preparing for Sprint planning and running retrospectives. Each chapter presents a baseline drawn from conventional Scrum, then discusses additional issues faced by distributed teams, and presents specific best-practice solutions, alternatives, and tips the authors have identified through hard, empirical experience.

Using real-world examples, the book demonstrates how to apply key Scrum practices, such as look-ahead planning in geographically distributed environments. Readers will also gain valuable new insights into the agile management of complex problem and technical domains.

Coverage includes

* Developing user stories and working with Product Owners as a distributed team

* Recognizing and fixing the flaws Scrum may reveal in existing processes

* Engaging in more efficient Release and Sprint planning

* Conducting intense, brief daily Scrum meetings in distributed environments

* Managing cultural and language differences

* Resolving dependencies, performing frequent integration, and maintaining transparency in geographically distributed environments

* Successfully running remote software reviews and demos

* Brainstorming what worked and what didn't, to improve future Sprints

This book will be an indispensable resource for every team leader, member, product owner, or manager working with Scrum or other agile methods in any distributed software development organization.

CONTENTS:

Foreword by Ken Schwaber xvii

Foreword by Scott Ambler xix

Foreword by Roman Pichler xxiii

Foreword by Matthew Wang xxv

Preface xxvii

Chapter 1 The Evolution of Scrum 1

Core Principles of Scrum 2

    An Agile Project Management Framework 2

    Scrum Roles 2

    Scrum Artifacts 3

    The Sprint 4

The Shift to Distributed Development Teams 5

    Globally Distributed Teams to Reduce Costs 6

    Reaching Market More Quickly with the Follow the Sun Model 6

    Distributed Teams Expand Access to New Markets 6

    Acquisitions 7

    Expanding for Innovation and Thought Leadership 7

    Telecommuting 7

    Improvements in Distributed Collaboration Tools 7

Types of Distributed Teams That Have Emerged 8

    Collocated 8

    Collocated Part-Time 9

    Distributed with Overlapping Work Hours 10

    Distributed with No Overlapping Work Hours 11

Ways of Handling Distributed Teams 12

    Isolated Scrums 12

    Distributed Scrum of Scrums 12

    Totally Integrated Scrums 13

IBM's Experience in Distributed Scrum 14

History of Agile in IBM 15

Summary 17

Chapter 2 Challenges Faced by Distributed Teams 19

Communicating with Distributed Team Members 20

Time Zones and Working Hours 20

Cultural Differences 21

Language Differences 23

    Keeping Language Simple 23

    Giving Everyone a Chance to Speak 24

    Using Group Chat During Meetings 24

    Providing a Translator 25

    Confirming What Team Members Understand 25

Tools 26

File Sharing 26

Software Engineering Practices 27

Schedule Differences 27

Team Dynamics 28

Telephone Dynamics 29

    Providing Access to the Call 29

    Working with Telephones in a Meeting Room 30

    Identifying the Speaker 31

    Handling Visual Cues 31

    Encouraging Participation 32

    Limiting Side Conversations 33

    Muting the Lines 33

    Checking for Agreement and Disagreement 34

    Identifying an Advocate to Represent Remote Team Members 34

    When Nothing Else Works, Everyone Dials In 34

Reminders 34

Impact of Communication Problems 35

How Does Scrum Help? 36

Summary 37

Chapter 3 Starting a Scrum Project 39

How to Identify the Problems Your Product Will Solve 40

    Who Are Your Stakeholders? 40

    What Problems Will the Project Address? 42

    What Are Your Solutions to the Problems? 46

    What Is the Return on Investment? 47

Define the Vision 49

Create the Product Roadmap 50

Organize the Scrum Teams 50

Create and Prioritize the Backlog 51

    Estimating the Stories as a Team 52

    Prioritizing the Backlog 52

    Single Backlog for Multiple Scrum Teams 53

    Single Backlog with Sections for Multiple Teams 53

    Separate Backlogs for Multiple Scrum Teams 54

    Single Backlog Populated by Multiple Other Teams 56

Create the Release Plan 56

    What Is the Sprint Length? 58

    What Is the Estimated Team Velocity? 59

    What Are the Dependencies? 61

    What Are the Risks? 63

Coordinate Multiple Product Owners 63

Use Agile Project Management Tools 64

Invest in Smarter Development 65

Coordinating Agile and Non-Agile Teams 66

Reporting on Release Status 66

Ongoing Updates to Release Plan and Vision 66

Important Note about Meeting Face-to-Face 66

Summary 67

Chapter 4 Preparing for Sprint Planning 69

Sprint Preplanning Activities 70

    Clarification of the User Stories 71

    Breaking Down User Stories 72

    Estimating User Stories 72

    Dealing with Dependencies 75

    Cleanup of the Product Backlog 78

Approaches for the Sprint Preplanning Meeting 78

    The Full-Team Approach 80

    The Preplanning Team Approach 81

    The Balanced Team Approach 82

    Considerations for Distributed Teams 82

Summary 83

Chapter 5 Sprint Planning 85

Adequately Preparing for the Sprint Planning Meeting 87

Sprint Planning Meeting Logistics 87

    Sprint Planning Meeting Logistics for Scaled Teams 87

    Sprint Planning Meeting Logistics for Distributed Teams 88

The First Half of Sprint Planning: Deciding What to Do 88

    Reviewing Product Vision and Sprint Goal 89

    Reviewing the Product Backlog 89

    Engaging Stakeholders 91

The Second Half of Sprint Planning: Deciding How to Get the Work Done 91

    Creating the Sprint Backlog 92

    Gaining Commitment 94

    Updating the Release Plan 94

Summary 94

Chapter 6 Distributed Daily Scrum Meetings 97

Using the Three Questions Effectively 98

    Answering the Three Questions 99

    Coordinating the Team on a Daily Basis 99

    Committing to the Team 100

    Verifying Progress 100

    Resolving Blockers 101

Daily Scrum Logistics 102

Ways of Communicating During the Daily Scrum 102

    Face-to-Face Meeting 102

    Teleconference Meeting 103

    Videoconference Meeting 104

    Group Instant Messaging Approach 105

Approaches to Handling Time Zone Issues 106

    Daily Scrums Through Documentation 107

    The Liaison Approach 108

    Alternating Meeting Times 110

    Sharing the Pain 112

Tips for Distributed Daily Scrums 114

    Removing Side Conversations 114

    Keeping the Team Engaged 114

    Facilitating the Meeting 115

    Taking Daily Scrum Notes 116

    Dealing with Language Barriers 117

Tools to Help with Distributed Daily Scrum 117

Scrum of Scrums 118

Summary 118

Chapter 7 Effective Collaboration During a Sprint 121

Communicating During the Sprint 122

    Documentation to Overcome Distance 123

    Using the Right Tools 123

    Valuing the Whole Team 124

    Transparency 124

Handling New Requests in the Middle of a Sprint 125

    Single Point of Entry 125

    Value of the Well-Groomed Backlog 126

    Shortening the Sprint 127

    Dealing with Defects 127

    Disruptions at the Team Member Level 128

Handling Stories the Team Cannot Complete During the Sprint 128

Handling Blockers During the Sprint 129

Responding to Questions During the Sprint 130

Sustainable Pace 131

    Sharing Time Zone Challenges 132

    Avoiding Double Workdays 132

Continuous Integration 133

    Reports Any Build Failures to the Team 133

    Reduces the Risk of Integrating Code 133

    Establishes Greater Confidence in the Product 135

    Reduces the Time to Find Integration Issues 135

    Improves the Efficiency of the Team 136

    Builds Can Run at Different Frequencies 136

Test Automation 137

    Dedicated Automation Teams 137

    Identify High-Value Automated Tests 138

    Automate What Is Stable 138

    Automated Tests Can Run at Any Time 139

    Automation Helps Improve Software Quality 139

Test-Driven Development 139

    Provides Documentation and Working Examples of Code 140

    Helps Reduce the Time to Fix Defects 140

    Helps Improve Code Quality and Provides a Safety Net for Changes 141

    Helps Team Members Work Together and Collaborate 141

    Helps Teams Move Away from Big Upfront Designs 142

    Unit Tests and Continuous Integration 142

Handling Infrastructure Projects 143

Summary 144

Chapter 8 End of Sprint Reviews 147

Who Participates in the Reviews 148

    Enterprise Stakeholders 148

    Who Should Present 149

Preparing Stakeholders 150

Reviewing the Strategic Vision of the Product 151

Approaches to Help Focus the Review 151

    Using Themes and a Script 152

    Having the Product Owner Introduce Each Presentation 152

Scheduling for Teams with Overlapping Work Hours 153

Scheduling for Teams with No Overlapping Work Hours 154

    Alternating Meeting Times 154

    Multiple Sprint Review Meetings 155

    Sharing the Pain 156

    Feeling the Pain 156

    Recording the Entire Sprint Review Meeting 157

Challenges Teams Face 157

    Not Keeping Track of the Stakeholder Comments 157

    Demos May Provide a False Sense of Completion 158

    The Team Has Nothing to Present 158

Added Challenges of Distributed Teams 159

    Neglecting to Demo the Work of Part of the Team 159

    Coordinate with Teams on Different Sprint Lengths 160

Remote Demonstrations 160

    Network Delays and Poor Performance 160

    Services May Vary by Location 161

    Demos Outside of Office Hours 161

Summary 162

Chapter 9 Retrospectives 163

Sprint Retrospectives 163

What Should Come Out of a Retrospective? 165

Retrospective Timing 166

    Hold Joint Retrospective as Needed 166

    Hold Regular Joint Retrospectives 166

    Joint Retrospectives for Teams on Different Sprint Lengths 167

    Retrospectives for Teams in the Same Product Family 167

    Conducting Retrospectives After Reviews 167

    Larger Retrospectives 168

Building Trust 168

    Effects of Distance 169

Preparing for the Retrospective 169

    Setting Expectations 169

    Understanding the Team Members' Personalities 170

    Respecting Cultural Differences 171

    Offering Anonymity 171

Asking for Comments Before the Retrospective Meeting 171

    What Went Well and What Can We Improve? 171

    Providing Questions to Focus the Discussion 172

    Consolidating Comments Is Extra Work 172

Conducting the Retrospective 173

    Discussing Reported Issues 173

    Giving Everyone a Chance to Engage 174

    Using Common Terminology 175

    State the Obvious 175

    Keep the Conversation on Track 175

    Managing Time Effectively 175

    Release Retrospectives 176

Summary 177

Chapter 10 Closing Thoughts 179

Index 181