| |
Rugby
|
Agile Software Development
|
|
Spectators
|
As a rugby spectator, sometimes it’s hard to see the
ball. You may also not be entirely sure what’s going on and it looks like
complete chaos. You watch the rucks and mauls to determine where the ball is
going, but you know by looking at the scoreboard if the team is scoring trys
or not.
|
Those who are watching Agile teams without being
involved may not understand exactly how it’s happening, but observers will
see Agile teams score points by delivering business value in a short amount
of time.
|
|
What’s going on?
|
Yeah, Rugby looks like chaos to the newcomer, but there
are many laws. Players are
making split second decisions and well-played games move very quickly.
|
Agile critics say there is a lack of structure or
documentation. The structure exists and the process is defined, but it Agile
doesn’t need the rigidity of Waterfall because by its nature, it is allowed
to be flexible and respond to the changing needs of the business.
|
|
What is a Scrum?
|
Scrum:
5 or 8 players who act as a tightly cohesive unit that pushes together in
same direction in order to put the ball into play.
|
The Scrum team: a
collaborative, intimate team that is delivering business value in a tightly
coordinated fashion.
|
|
The Scum Half or the Scrum Master
|
The Scrum
Half (#9) directs traffic between the forwards in the scrum, rucks, or
mauls, and back line.
|
The Scrum
Master coaches and coordinates between the team members to foster
communication and collaboration.
|
|
The Referee
|
The Referee is meant to be an impartial witness of
the match and blows the whistle for the infractions made by the teams. As
Billy Tilson puts it: “If a referee called every infringement then the game
would be a painfully slow and static. Good referees try to lead the
participants to a good balance for optimum velocity.”
I’ve also witnessed referees stop the match to provide a bit of coaching and
guidance to new players.
|
In addition to the above analogy, a Scrum Master will let the team know when they’ve
stepped out of bounds from the methodology and tell them what consequences may follow. An excellent Scrum Master will not be involved in the work and
serves to “referee” by asking the team about what they can and can’t do.
Scrum Masters will guide a team towards what works for them so that the
team can become more efficient. A Scrum Master also has to allow a team to
fail, so that they can learn from the experience.
|
|
The Team Member
|
As a rugby player, you fulfill certain duties
according to what’s being called for at a specific point in time, based on
your current location on the pitch.
You do whatever is needed. It’s
never about one person being the star; It’s about the whole team. In certain
plays, anywhere from two to five people will cooperate to make advancements
down the field.
|
Agile Teams thrive when they are cross-functional,
with a variety of skills and expertise. In a team of about seven people, the commitment
to seeing the whole team do well is driven by the fact that team members get
the job done according to what is needed at a given moment regardless of what
job title any one person has.
|
|
Owners and Managers
|
Owners and Managers
of any sports team provide the tools, resources, sponsorship, funding coaching,
and cheerleading needed by teams. Owners set the goals (to win), and Managers
help them get there.
|
The Product Owner and Agile Manager are two roles
supporting Agile Teams. The Product Owner helps sets priorities and is the
voice of the organization to the team. The Agile Manager supports those team
members and embraces the methodology and supports the efforts within the
organization.
|
|
Self-Organizing
Teamwork
|
As a player, you
don’t carry the ball the whole time, and you can’t be a play maker all the
time. There’s a place and time for demonstrating leadership and a time to be
in support, or pass the ball.
Rugby players on
the pitch will read the play happening before them and will act
appropriately, be it to go into the ruck or fall into the backline.
|
Agile team members never carry the workload alone.
The Scrum Master isn’t the leader of the team, but should strive to be an
aide to the team. The work involved in building software is estimated, built,
and tested as a team and no one team member will be the hero for a given story.
Empowered agile teams are not told how to do
their work. They are self-organizing and determine what needs to be done,
when, and how.
|
|
Speed – Faster Results
|
The better a team is, the faster they play.
|
The better a team is, the faster they begin to
deliver business value; team velocity will
increase over time.
|
|
Sprints and Iterations
|
Offensive open rugby play repeats itself through
phase after phase of play. The ruck or maul is created, the ball is retained,
and the ball is carried forward for the next phase. The ruck or maul is set,
again. Some phases are longer than others. The end goal is to make a try.
|
Within a fixed amount of time, the team will plan,
work, and review on a regular basis. The cyclical nature of the development
is best captured in this diagram.
|
|
Commitment, Respect, Focus, Openness, and Courage
|
Watch some
inspiring movie about a sports team and you’ll see the values that tend
to exist are those of commitment to one another, respect for the work that
goes into being a player, focus on the sport and while playing, openness to
grow, and courage to overcome obstacles as a team or individual.
|
These are the values
present in high performing Agile teams. Commitment to deliver as a team,
respect of everyone’s capabilities, focus on the highest priority stories,
openness to discuss approaches and techniques, and the courage to push back
when necessary.
|
|
Growth for the individual and for the team
|
I earnestly believe that joining James River Women’s
rugby helped me grow as an individual and develop my leadership skills for
the team on and off the pitch. As an inaugural member of the team, I have
watched that team grow and change. All rugby teams go through growth to learn
and improve, be it within a match or over the course of a season.
|
In my path to being a Certified Scrum Master, I
found that I had to challenge my ways of thinking about software development
that have helped me grow as an IT professional. It’s not just another
certification, but a transformed way of thinking about building teams, and
even life in general. Just ask Lyssa
Adkins.
|
|
The Fans
|
They are avid
fanatics who will paint their faces, adorn themselves in team colors and
probably used to play at one point in their lives.
|
They are avid fanatics who passionately believe in
different ways to deliver value to a business and empowering software teams,
not just building software on time, on budget, and within scope.
|
