Scrum Ideas

Do you….UML?

Martin Luna — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 16:46:56 +0000

UML or not UML….that is the question. At least that is what I’m questioning today.

I believe that good, detailed, functional documentation is important, and UML give us that. Standard, and understandable, documentation on which we can trust (if we use it correctly). But, does UML gets along with agile methodologies?

How much time should I use to create class and use cases diagrams? Better yet…Should I spend time creating them?

Since Sprint Planning focuses on estimating and selecting stories, it doesn’t seem the right moment to do UML diagrams. After that, we need to break down stories into tasks. And after that, well, start developing.

I’ve heard about teams that have a “functional analyst” role, this person creates all the diagrams and documents needed. It’s duty is to design and document. This way developers don’t loose time. But…I’m really not convinced if it’s OK to introduce this role into a Scrum team. Doesn’t this sounds like a non-agile role?

Sprint demos in non-Software Factories

Martin Luna — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 23:54:27 +0000

Here, in Argentina, non-software dedicated companies usually overlook small development units, giving more importance to business areas. This happens mostly because a large number of development teams are treated as factories. Who could possibly want to attend to a Sprint Demo?

Business people are unaware, and often they want to stay unaware, of software development processes. They just want to use the final product, not to know if XP programming was used to achieve it.

Imagine a small company where the development team consists of 3 developers and 1 leader (the Scrum Master). All the 100 remaining employees have never went down to the basement (where the Software Department is). Then again, who could possibly care about software tests?

It’s important to decide where to implement agile methodologies, sometimes the environment does not help.

Scrum for all ages

Martin Luna — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 21:40:10 +0000

Scrum is not only a new work methodology, it’s a software development cultural revolution. For this reason, I think is not old-school developers compliant. Why?
Because old-school developers are used to, for example, waterfall methodology, where there is plenty of time to go for a smoke and read the newspaper between phases. Agile is not about that….is about being agile.

But not only old-school developers are unprepared for this. Also, old-aged developers (which is not the same as “senior developers”). Why?
In my opinion most old developers like to sit down, read used-to-be-solved requirements, solve them and relax for the rest of the day.

Scrum is about fresh people, about willing to be committed and productive all the time. It isn’t easy to implement something like this just by saying “Hey, guys! Wanna work harder and faster?”

Scrum is not for everyone. It’s important to gather suitable people for your team.

Scrum as a CMMI upgrade

Martin Luna — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 17:22:45 +0000

Are Scrum and CMMI compatible? Can they coexist?

Many blogs and reviews around assert that when used together they improve each others performance. However, most of those articles agree that Scrum is suitable where CMMI Level 5 has been certified. Can this work the other way around?

If not, should Scrum be seen as a CMMI upgrade?