Agile Day in Munich

I'm in Munich again visiting my major new agile enablement client. Today we discussed the most likely candidate for a pilot project, the makeup of the team (4 developers, 1 tester, the customer, the ScrumMaster and myself as coach and mentor) and Sprint 0 activities. These will include training the team, establishing the development and test environment and preparation of the initial product backlog etc.

Over the next few months, we're going to have to solve some tough issues concerning how to integrate the agile team into the wider organisation. Today showed that key people are really committed to making this a success and I'm very much looking forward to working with this team. Sprint 0 will kick-off in January.

As part of this engagement, I'll be facilitating a Scrum quick start, something that I've facilitated for several teams recently. This combination of customised training and facilitation is a very effective means for helping a Scrum team go from zero to starting their first Sprint, and hence starting to deliver business value, within days. I'm combining the quick start with ongoing coaching and mentoring which means that I'm there to support the team and other stakeholders when needed. I have some capacity free - please contact me if interested.

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agile, scrum, Scrum quick start

New agile projects in the UK and Germany

The demand for agile method consultancy seems to be growing. I've secured two new clients during the last two weeks: one in Stevenage, UK and the other one in Munich, Germany.

This week I'm with the UK client, doing a Scrum Quick Start. Last week I introduced agile to some of the key stakeholders. Today, I've taught Scrum to the project team (two sessions of about 15 people each, with a mixture of business and developers). Definitely a good bunch of people and I think that they have an excellent chance of making this a success.

Tomorrow, I'll be facilitating their first Sprint planning meetings and on Wednesday the teams will be starting their first Sprint. A Scrum of Scrums approach will be used to help coordinate the activities of the four Scrum teams. I'll be supporting the teams with regular visits over the next few weeks. It should be an interesting engagement.

I'm also gearing up for my Munich engagement. Over several months I'll be helping a household name select a pilot project and then transition to agile (again Scrum based).