Starbucks-fueled Developer

Friday, May 20, 2005

BBB Update: Scruming Away

If the title for this post didn't provide any hints, I'm choosing to attempt implementing Scrum while developing the BBB project. My choice came about, primarily, because of my interest in how the process could benefit my professional work. Also, the only other agile methodology I'm remotely familiar with is XP and, since I'm the sole developer, I don't have a pair to pair with during my code sessions.

I'm not sure that I'll learn that much from this project, especially since I will, essentially, be filling all the roles: Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and Team. I have not received and requests from anyone but myself for this project, making the Product Owner and sole stakeholder. I also fill the role as ScrumMaster as it will be my sole responsibility to ensure that Scrum is implemented accurately and as smoothly as possible to keep productivity high and ensure that the Team keeps its focus, remaining on track. And, finally, I am the Team. Probably one of the few, extremely rare times I will ever say "there is an 'I' in Team".

Interestingly, to me anyway, I am also viewing my blog (and blog audience -- anyone out there?) as the customer as well - to a degree. As ScrumMaster, I have the duty of reporting regularly the progress of the project. These reports are presented to the customer and, as Ken Schwaber describes, any chickens interested in the project.

My next step will be to produce the Product Backlog for the entire project. The Backlog will be published in a format that complements the data. Once the Product Backlog is created, work will begin on the first Sprint. While I realize that, depending on the project, it could be acceptable not to complete all Sprint Backlog items, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle the Sprints. Because of the thirty-day time restriction and that, at the conclusion of each Sprint, functional software must be produced, the result will be to either extend the Sprint time restriction OR have lots of Sprints with few Backlog items. This is just something that I'll have to make an executive decision on and live with it.

Check back soon for the next update!

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