I recently attended a Certified ScrumMaster training class. I'm now Certified ScrumMaster (CSM). That should mean more than it apparently does.
The course was a severe disappointment. An arrogant instructor using a disorganized teaching method supported by weak course materials.
Still, I'm impressed with Scrum as a framework. (Woe unto him who mistakenly calls it a methodology. #sigh ) My team and I were interested in Scrum because we tend to do things in a team-oriented, collaborative, flexible, learn-as-you-go way. It works for us. Our goal in pursuing Scrum is less about adoption the whole practice, but rather, to gain some insights and a few tools to help us do better what we naturally do well.
In that regard, Scrum is already benefitting us. Here are the aspects that really resonate with us:
* Tracking requirements in user stories.
* Tracking stories in a dynamic Product Backlog.
* Better release management than we were doing.
We like and use a Sprint-like idea, but we are quasi-project, quasi-operational most of the time. We're running several "projects" simultaneously on several tools. Unless it's a big new thing, dedicating just to one item for a month doesn't resonate well with us at all.
It's also a little amusing. Scrum types are rather attached to pursuing "pure Scrum," thumbing their noses at anything that strays from a purist approach. Unless, of course, they approve of the variation. Had its founders been so purist, Scrum might never have been developed through iterative experience. Just sayin'.
I'll write more about our attempts at Scrum. And our heretical variations. 
#blogpost #Scrum #Agile #pm #pmot
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All hail the heretical variations! That's what 'agile' is about!
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Something I find useful in Scrum are the moderation techniques for meetings, especially the retrospective. without good moderation, we can argue and debate for hours without agreeing on anything, but with good moderation, we get something out of every meeting and all the small things add up when doing retros regularly.
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