Steve Neiderhauser

Scrum Lectures from Zurich

Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber gave this Scrum presentation to an audience in Zurich.

Here are some key points.

• Goal of Scrum is to get 5 to 10 times productivity increase.  At 10 times productivity, your team is in hyper-productive state.
• Getting software done and tested at feature level so the end user can evaluate, will double performance.
• When product backlog is in ready state, that will double productivity again.
• Scrum is a disruptive technology... When you do it well you will put your competition out of business.

Adaptive Enterprise

Creating a company that's flexible and has the ability to adapt will help you get inside your competitor's business cycle. These companies sense needs of customers and respond to changes. I've create a diagram that shows some of the areas where flexibility is key.

If your company creates products, building options into products from the ground up enhances your ability to delight customers.  In fact, options in flexibility can be used in almost any product, from making malteds to making movies.

How do movie moguls use options?  Producers may have two different endings for a movie.  Instead of making an early decision and selecting one ending and playing it in theaters across America, they play the two movies in only two theaters, a different ending in each.  After the movie they interview patrons and discover what movie customers like best.

Producers learn from feedback.  Perhaps they adjust the ending or go with the one customers love.

Why story points are better than hours

Jeff Sutherland explains the benefits of estimating software projects in story points.

In fact, a manager's Gantt Chart will never survive contact with the battle of project delivery.  Jeff also points out that few companies know the velocity of their teams until they implement Scrum.

Update:

Jeff and some other members of the Scrum Foundation now teach that you can do estimation in three ways.

1.  Backlog in story point and no tasking (hyperproductive teams)
2.  Backlog in story points and tasks in story points (best current practice as teams are getting better)
3.  Backlog in story points and tasks in hours (the old way)