Comments on: Synchronize Rather Than Overlap Sprints http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints Succeeding With Agile® Fri, 10 Feb 2012 03:51:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Mike Cohn http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-278190 Mike Cohn Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:43:28 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-278190 Hi Christophe- I think that's an excellent way to think about it. Of course, many companies will still want something a bit more formal. I've written a bit about governance in this article: http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/42-the-art-of-compromise Hi Christophe-
I think that’s an excellent way to think about it. Of course, many companies will still want something a bit more formal. I’ve written a bit about governance in this article: http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/42-the-art-of-compromise

]]> By: Christophe http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-278071 Christophe Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:03:06 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-278071 Hi Mike, I got it wrong. I was thinking that the governance model for Agile would be similar to the one for Waterfall so, at some point, somebody (designated) will help remove the roadblocks the scrum masters can't (same as project managers ask program managers to help out). It seems that for LonelyPlanet, executives walk down to talk to teams in front of their task boards and, if needed, remove roadblocks (such as adding more resources etc). So, thinking about it now, my question was more: what is a good governance model for Agile? And the answer could be "get your executives to talk to teams directly!"? Interactions over emails and powerpoint presentations... Cheers Ch Hi Mike,

I got it wrong. I was thinking that the governance model for Agile would be similar to the one for Waterfall so, at some point, somebody (designated) will help remove the roadblocks the scrum masters can’t (same as project managers ask program managers to help out). It seems that for LonelyPlanet, executives walk down to talk to teams in front of their task boards and, if needed, remove roadblocks (such as adding more resources etc). So, thinking about it now, my question was more: what is a good governance model for Agile? And the answer could be “get your executives to talk to teams directly!”? Interactions over emails and powerpoint presentations…

Cheers
Ch

]]> By: Mike Cohn http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-276664 Mike Cohn Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:44:11 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-276664 Hi Christophe- I've never seen a "master of scrummasters," but don't think it would be necessary. Hi Christophe-
I’ve never seen a “master of scrummasters,” but don’t think it would be necessary.

]]> By: Christophe http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-276398 Christophe Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:23:08 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-276398 Hi Mike, I spoke on Friday to an engineer who used to work for a company implementing Agile Release Train and it failed: engineers spent too much time planning and C.I. tools were very poor. Since the model includes "harden" iterations, I think this is a sign that management may have used scaling to reintroduce some form of Waterfall model... So here is my question: when scaling Agile, should companies scale the scrum master role where, when scrum masters cannot remove roadblocks for their teams, they can find a Master of Scrum Masters who has enough power to help them out. Such roadblocks could be: change the way the organisation works, change the tools used, change product owners, change sw engineering practises, change the direction of the organisation if that prevents software engineers to do what they do best: delivering software? The role of the master of the scrum master would be to make sure Agile principles are fully applied at all levels of management? Thanks Christophe Hi Mike,

I spoke on Friday to an engineer who used to work for a company implementing Agile Release Train and it failed: engineers spent too much time planning and C.I. tools were very poor. Since the model includes “harden” iterations, I think this is a sign that management may have used scaling to reintroduce some form of Waterfall model… So here is my question: when scaling Agile, should companies scale the scrum master role where, when scrum masters cannot remove roadblocks for their teams, they can find a Master of Scrum Masters who has enough power to help them out. Such roadblocks could be: change the way the organisation works, change the tools used, change product owners, change sw engineering practises, change the direction of the organisation if that prevents software engineers to do what they do best: delivering software? The role of the master of the scrum master would be to make sure Agile principles are fully applied at all levels of management?

Thanks
Christophe

]]> By: Mike Cohn http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-274306 Mike Cohn Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:35:43 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-274306 Hi Christophe- Dean Leffingwell introduced the idea of a "release train" in his scaling book. I hear he's elaborated on the idea in his new book. I'd want to read that before commenting on the idea. Hi Christophe-
Dean Leffingwell introduced the idea of a “release train” in his scaling book. I hear he’s elaborated on the idea in his new book. I’d want to read that before commenting on the idea.

]]> By: Christophe http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-274265 Christophe Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:15:03 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-274265 Hi Mike, Some companies are using the concept of Agile Release Train where sprints are synchronised, where at regular intervals there is a release (every 3 to 6 sprints), the last sprint before an internal release is a "harden" sprint for teams (I suspect bad teams need to harden their code but should be the exception). Would you advocate the Agile Release Train concept as a good practical model? Regards, Ch Hi Mike,

Some companies are using the concept of Agile Release Train where sprints are synchronised, where at regular intervals there is a release (every 3 to 6 sprints), the last sprint before an internal release is a “harden” sprint for teams (I suspect bad teams need to harden their code but should be the exception).

Would you advocate the Agile Release Train concept as a good practical model?

Regards,
Ch

]]> By: Mike Cohn http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-111833 Mike Cohn Tue, 09 Nov 2010 05:27:41 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-111833 Hi Marc-- There are a number of things you can do, including bringing in work of different sizes so that work is finished at different times naturally, you can have a team "swarm" by working on one backlog item at a time so that team members learn new ways of working together and start to solve this problem for themselves, and you ask the team what they would do to solve the problem (including first making sure they and not you feel some of the pain of the problem). As for the project manager being busy at the start and end, you can try using a ScrumMaster instead and having the team take on the management roles performed by your current project manager. Hi Marc–
There are a number of things you can do, including bringing in work of different sizes so that work is finished at different times naturally, you can have a team “swarm” by working on one backlog item at a time so that team members learn new ways of working together and start to solve this problem for themselves, and you ask the team what they would do to solve the problem (including first making sure they and not you feel some of the pain of the problem). As for the project manager being busy at the start and end, you can try using a ScrumMaster instead and having the team take on the management roles performed by your current project manager.

]]> By: Marc http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-111681 Marc Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:39:41 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-111681 Hi I'm working on a 5 team project with synchronized sprints. Each team is working in isolated branches till they complete any story before they push to trunk. The problem we are facing is that the synchronized sprints filters the pushes to the end of the sprints, which causes bottlenecks and story spillover. Efforts are made to finish some work earlier, but the natural tendency is to have it clump at the end (student syndrome). It also lumps the project manager's heaviest workload all in the same period, the end and start of sprints. How do your teams overcome these bottlenecks? Hi
I’m working on a 5 team project with synchronized sprints. Each team is working in isolated branches till they complete any story before they push to trunk. The problem we are facing is that the synchronized sprints filters the pushes to the end of the sprints, which causes bottlenecks and story spillover. Efforts are made to finish some work earlier, but the natural tendency is to have it clump at the end (student syndrome). It also lumps the project manager’s heaviest workload all in the same period, the end and start of sprints.

How do your teams overcome these bottlenecks?

]]> By: Best Links of the Week – New Year Edition : Agile PM Scrum http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-63382 Best Links of the Week – New Year Edition : Agile PM Scrum Tue, 05 Jan 2010 03:53:09 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-63382 [...] Synchronize Rather than Overlap Sprints – Mike Cohn explains why aligning Sprint end dates within one or two days of each other is a much better way to coordinate multiple Scrum teams. [...] [...] Synchronize Rather than Overlap Sprints – Mike Cohn explains why aligning Sprint end dates within one or two days of each other is a much better way to coordinate multiple Scrum teams. [...]

]]> By: Mike Cohn http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/synchronize-rather-than-overlap-sprints/comment-page-1#comment-63260 Mike Cohn Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:04:52 +0000 http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/?p=572#comment-63260 Hi Rune-- Oh, great question. I should have thought to mention that situation in the blog post. If one team falls out of synch with other teams (on the same project) because of an abnormal termination, that team should run a slightly shorter or slightly longer sprint the next time. This will get them back in synch with the other teams. Normally it's pretty easy to decide if it should be shorter or longer. For example, if we're doing 2-week sprints and abnormally terminate with 4 days left, the team do a 14-day sprint (2 weeks + 4 days the third week) to synchronize back up. Or if we're doing 4-week (20-day) sprints and abnormally terminate 3 days into the sprint, I'd suggest planning a 17-day sprint. Hi Rune–
Oh, great question. I should have thought to mention that situation in the blog post. If one team falls out of synch with other teams (on the same project) because of an abnormal termination, that team should run a slightly shorter or slightly longer sprint the next time. This will get them back in synch with the other teams. Normally it’s pretty easy to decide if it should be shorter or longer.

For example, if we’re doing 2-week sprints and abnormally terminate with 4 days left, the team do a 14-day sprint (2 weeks + 4 days the third week) to synchronize back up. Or if we’re doing 4-week (20-day) sprints and abnormally terminate 3 days into the sprint, I’d suggest planning a 17-day sprint.

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