Interview with Ken Schwaber - IT Martini

Portuguese version

Ken Schwaber

Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum, granted an open interview for digital magazine IT Martini in LinkedIn, where members could ask him directly. I had the opportunity to ask him three questions (dark blue font).

This information is provided via IT Martini. Every week, technology leaders and their perspective on the industry are featured in IT Martini Weekly. To date, tens of thousands of IT Professionals have connected socially with IT Martini – both on the web and in person.

Terreece M. Clarke: Hi Ken, Throwing out the first question: what is the biggest misconception IT pros and or management have about SCRUM?

Ken Schwaber: Tereece.
That Scrum solves their problems, when it only makes transparent their problems so they can work on them. Scrum raises people in IT from unconscious to conscious.
Ken

Atul Paradkar: Our stories are usually functional. For example, creating a new input variable on the webpage also needs a new column in database to store the value. Stories would address the validations and business rules. So how to address usability/design and technology (saving in db) using stories?

Ken Schwaber: Atul,
Whenever possible, have any non-functional attached to some (no matter how small) piece of functionality. The functionality proves that it works and lets people see the technology in action.

Beth Bleimehl: Hello, I am looking for some case studies on PMO/Project management and the adoption of agile - specifically Scrum. What does the PMO/project management look like after the company has adopted Scrum? Does the PMO/Project Managers continue to operate as they did in the past? What changes?

Ken Schwaber: Beth,
I don't know of specific case studies. The project manager question has been widely commented on, however. The project manager can either become a scrum master, a product owner, or on the Scrum team. The role of project manager is not part of Scrum.
The PMO often transforms to organizing the product backlog for both the product owners and the development teams. While it doesn't write product backlog items (or order or estimate them), product backlog has many views. These include system software, workflows, functionality, decompositions, and business structures. These must be developed and maintained so product owners can make the most intelligent decisions about what to do next.
Ken 

Raazi Konkader (CSM): Hi Ken,
Are function points (Cosmic or otherwise) a valid measure of size in Scrum?

Ken Schwaber: Raazi,
Function points are a measure of software functionality and are as valid in Scrum as they are anywhere else.
Ken

Leonardo Campos: In the organization I work for, each team is responsible for several different products. The PO normally prioritizes stories from each of these products each sprint, making it hard to create a decent Sprint goal, so the PO simply arguments that the stories are the goal (no purpose, hard to motivate). What do you think about this problem and how do you suggest is the best approach to address it?

Ken Schwaber: Leonardo,
I'd work with the product owner to group, or cluster, the PBI's so they address a business goal or are in the same area of the software. Let him know that it makes your work easier, hence productivity is higher. He/she will pay less.
Ken

Leonardo Campos: I don't know how many questions I'm entitled of, so I'm going to ask one more. Kanban is designed to be very little intrusive, and can be placed upon other frameworks, methodologies etc. How compatible do you think Kanban is to be used as an add-on to Scrum? Would you consider to be viable to have a "Sprint Goal" within a "Scrum-ban" implementation?

Ken Schwaber: I don't implement Kanban by itself, so I don't know about Sprint Goals.
I do like to use Kanban to help development teams learn new development practices, with swim lanes like:
1. Develop acceptance tests
2. Develop design
3. Develop automated tests, code, and documentation
4. Test that they all work together
5. Fix flaws
continue

Raazi Konkader (CSM): Hi Ken,
What are some of the tell tale signs of a team following practice without understanding the theory behind Agile methods like Scrum, XP or Kanban?

How do you generally address this?

Ken Schwaber: They have a problem and don't know how to best address it. If you understand transparency, bottom-up intelligence, help the people do their best, and the art of the possible (all attitudes that come from empiricism and lean), you can make pretty good decisions. If you don't know these, your decisions have no basis and are often counter-productive.

Leonardo Campos: Ken, do you have plans to come to Brazil in the next 12 months? 

Ken Schwaber: No, not in the next 12 months. I'm still recovering from all the food I ate last time. However, I can do a Webex with you anytime. 

Please note this is an interview granted for IT Martini