Concerns of “The MANAGEMENT” while introducing the Agile/Scrum

Reluctance of “The Management” is one of the common challenges faced while trying to drive your organization in Scrum/Agile way. This challenge is quite unique in terms of explaining or justifying the Pros of Scrum vs. Traditional Project Management.
The Concerns can be described in 4 different categories:

• How do we promise newer features to clients
• How to track progress
• How would it impact on other groups
• How to define the Definite time Limit of the project

Most of the managers are more comfortable with the feeling of progress and control that a Gantt charts or any other plan-driven tools gives them. Generally, they are more comforted with the development team’s promise to deliver the product on the specified date, even if it’s clear that given time line is not sufficient.
Customer commitments
In companies with the history of incorrect project estimates, it is not very difficult to justify trying out agile methodology.
However, if the team is continuously delivering on time, you need to convince management that project would have completed sooner or on time while using agile process.
A cost, date, and feature triangle can persuade them to think that agile is the better way. You can show that in previous projects all the estimations were padded.
Tracking progress
One of the biggest fears is losing control over the progress of the project.
To show the project tracking capability of an agile process, we can create some model status reports entirely based on fictional data. The reports can show a fictional project cycle of two to four weeks.
Status report can include lists of – important dates, brief on project’s state, burndown chart explaining the progress of planned work, some key metrics like defect inflow, percentages of tests passed, etc.)
Impact on other groups
There are theories that have expressed concern that Agile is only good for development team.
This is not correct. Though the agile is most suited for development, but now companies are implementing it in other departments of the work.
When introducing agile, the management should understand how it will impact groups other than Development.
Project completion
Another very untrue notion is the fear of having very loose project plan and project completion date.
They think that with less control over the project, they would be able to monitor the progress and project will go on forever.
If you convince the management about these 4 points, they are most likely to agree or at least try out the Agile/Scrum.

 To know more click on: http://www.scrumstudy.com/blog/concerns-of-the-management-while-introducing-the-agilescrum-2/

Pitfalls which a Scrum Master should avoid while implementing Scrum

You have been appointed as the Scrum Master for a Scrum team. The project is about to start and you are expected to lead it by using the principles of Scrum methodology which is being widely talked about as one of the most efficient ways of completing projects. You may or may not have been trained in the methodology (if it is the latter, then you really need to talk to a Scrum expert right away and at least get the basics right) but the success of the project hinges on you. Though Scrum is a simple methodology, but implementing it the right away often proves difficult for project managers who have spent years implementing projects using traditional waterfall methodologies. However, help is at hand. There are some important aspects, which if you keep in mind, will help you in your project. Before we begin, let us recap what the Guide to the Scrum Body of Knowledge™ has to say about the role of a Scrum Master:
The Scrum Master is the “servant leader” of the Scrum Team who moderates and facilitates team interactions as team coach and motivator. The Scrum Master is responsible for ensuring that the team has a productive work environment by guarding the team from external influences, removing any obstacles, and enforcing Scrum principles, aspects, and processes.
With this in mind, let us look at the biggest pitfalls which a Scrum Master SHOULD AVOID:
1.     Lack of focus on the team members: Unlike traditional project methodologies which focus almost solely on roles, responsibilities, structure and processes, the focus in Scrum is on the individuals. It is the contribution of the individual team members which is key to completing the deliverables quickly and with high quality. Your job is to facilitate their jobs and motivate them, not bog them down with unnecessary documentation or rules. Keep the team motivated – go out together for lunch once in a while. Have breakfast together. Do whatever your company culture to create a bond amongst the team members. Curb your instinct to rely on tools and learn to rely on the capabilities of your team members – you will be pleasantly surprised.
 2.     Conduct long standup meetings: This is far more common than one would imagine. Traditional   projects typically have long meetings which rarely last for less than an hour. Indeed, the default setting for many meeting schedulers is 1 hour. Scrum advises strictly against it and for good reason. When meetings are conducted daily, the focus has to be on discussing issues and any additional resources the team might need. Do not get sidelined and stick to the agenda. Make sure everyone stands and more importantly, make sure that you keep standing. This acts as an auto time check. The longer you stand, the more tired you feel and it forces you to focus and wrap things up quickly. However, if you keep making the team stand for longer than 20 minutes, the team’s attitude towards Scrum as a methodology might become negative, which will be disastrous for the project.
3.     Not keeping the whiteboard updated: Team members will slip up in updating the status of their tasks from time to time – that is human nature. It is critical that you do not let that become a habit and make sure that the whiteboard is updated before every meeting. Without this, the daily standups will involve wasting precious time in updating the whiteboard by individual members rather than discussing issues. The meetings will end up being longer and disenchantment will start setting in.
Of course there are other aspects as well about managing Scrum teams about which you can read more in the SBOK™ Guide, but keeping the above 3 aspects at the top of your mind will see you through the toughest phases of your Scrum project.

To know more click on: http://www.scrumstudy.com/blog/pitfalls-which-a-scrum-master-should-avoid-while-implementing-scrum/