New and Improved User Story Lifeycle Diagram — Free Creative Commons PDF download!

I had a designer friend update my User Story Lifecycle diagram, and she did a fantastic job!  You can download the PDF here:  http://www.scrumcrazy.com/lifecycle

New and Improved Diagram:

The Older Diagram(also still available at the above link):

Other Good User Story Links

• User Stories article on Agile Atlas (New! March 2013 – I co-wrote this one — great article if I do say so myself!)
• A User Story Checklist
• User Story Basics – The Longer Story
• To see what User Story Traps cause a lot of pain on teams, see User Story Traps
• To see how to make sure your stories are “ready” for implementation, check out Roman Pichler’s article, The Definition of Ready
• To see more info on creating Acceptance Tests, see my Presentation – Story Testing Patterns
• To see how well your team is implementing the User Story practice, see the The Bradley User Story Maturity Model
• To see more information on grooming user stories, see:
  • What does Product Backlog Grooming Look Like?
  • Tips for Effective Backlog Grooming
• Ron Jeffries’ article: Essential XP: Card, Conversation, Confirmation
• The best book on the subject of User Stories, IMO, is Mike Cohn’s User Stories Applied.
• I wrote a skit for a presentation I did at MileHighAgile 2011 that demonstrates a team doing Product Backlog Grooming for a User Story. In the skit, backlog grooming is covered pretty well, with the one exception that estimation was not covered in the skit. You can read the script of the skit here:
  • 

    Script_UserStoryUtopia.pdf

    • Details
    • Download
    • 82 KB
• For good advice on how to split User Stories, see Richard Lawrence’s Story Splitting Flow Chart.
• For a good article on why to split User Stories, see Mark Levison’s Story Splitting, How Small is Enough?

Daily Scrum Patterns: Facilitation Patterns

This blog post is part of a series of blog posts on Daily Scrum patterns.  (More coming in future posts over the next weeks).  For some background, you might find it useful to read my previous article on a simple Scrum Patterns framework.  Daily Scrum Patterns fall under the category of “Scrum Technique Patterns”, as introduced in that article.

Notes:

• All Scrum Patterns are displayed as such: <Scrum Pattern Name>.
• All patterns currently link to the same Daily Scrum Patterns Summary Chart, where you can find out more info about each pattern.

Facilitation Patterns

Most teams hold the Daily Scrum as a <Standup Meeting>, but this is not required in Scrum, and some teams that are distributed feel like it’s ok to hold a <Sit Down Meeting> so long as they are faithfully executing the objectives of the Daily Scrum.

Teams just starting with Scrum might benefit from a <Close Facilitator>, so long as that doesn’t turn into a <Controlling Facilitator>. A bad practice is facilitating a Daily Scrum such that it <Turns into a Waterfall Status Meeting>.

Also, don’t forget to be creative and <Create Your Own Pattern>, and don’t ever hesitate to use a technique that is not described by a documented pattern.

Facilitation Patterns:

• <Standup Meeting>
• <Sit Down Meeting>
• <Close facilitator>
• Anti-Pattern: <Controlling Facilitator>
• Anti-Pattern: <Turns into a Waterfall Status Meeting>
• <Create Your Own Pattern>

Bradley Bug Chart Referenced in Awesome New Scrum Book

The Bradley Bug Chart was referenced in an awesome new Scrum Book that is now on the market.

Background

I got an email from this guy named Rich one day who wanted to talk by phone and ask me some questions about the Bradley Bug Chart. A great collaboration ensued, and I incorporated some of his suggestions into my chart. A couple of weeks later, he asked me to review Chapter 1 of this book he was writing. I have some of the highest standards around, and I’m not easily impressed, but that first chapter was extraordinary! Through that one chapter, and the conversations with Rich, I realized this guy knew Scrum inside and out. I then reviewed and commented on a few more chapters. I get asked to do unpaid reviews often, but I only spend my time on things that I think are excellent for the Agile community. I’ve spent some time reviewing another book that hasn’t been published yet, and it too, is a great one for the industry in my opinion. More on that one when it gets published.

The Bradley Bug Chart Gets Called Out

A little while later, Rich asked me if he could refer to my Bradley Bug Chart in his book(see page 277), in a section on how to handle bugs in Scrum. I was ecstatic, in part just having my work get recognition, but it was also recognition from someone I highly respected myself. It was great. I also re-wrote some of the praise that I gave Rich on that Chapter 1 review as a quote for his book. Rich also ended up quoting me a few times in other parts of the book, particularly in the chapter on “Continuous Improvement.” I’m not trying to brag here, just sharing the satisfaction of seeing some of my hard work and learning as being objectively recognized in the community.

About the Book

Here is the quote I wrote for his book:

• “Finally a book about Scrum from the Development Team’s point of view. Richard’s description of the best and worst ways to implement Scrum is priceless. The first chapter alone is one of the best descriptions of ‘Scrum done well’ that I’ve ever seen.” — Charles Bradley

I highly recommend his book for anyone working with Scrum and Microsoft Visual Studio/.Net technologies.

Here is the book:

• Professional Scrum Development with Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 , by Richard Hundhausen

Small Caveat: Rich is and was a trainer with Scrum.org, and since our initial collaboration, Rich inspired me to become a trainer for Scrum.org as well. So, while none of this was true at the time of the above events, I wanted to mention that we are now both trainers for Scrum.org. I have no financial interests in his book, whatsoever, and my journey to become a Scrum.org trainer came after my review of his book. Thanks Rich!

Daily Scrum Patterns: Obstacle Resolution Patterns

This blog post is part of a series of blog posts on Daily Scrum patterns.  For some background, you might find it useful to read my previous article on a simple Scrum Patterns framework.  Daily Scrum Patterns fall under the category of “Scrum Technique Patterns”, as introduced in that article.

Today we’ll talk about “Obstacle Resolution Patterns”

Notes:

• All Scrum Patterns are displayed as such: <Scrum Pattern Name>.
• All patterns currently link to the same Daily Scrum Patterns Summary Chart, where you can find out more info about each pattern.

Obstacle Resolution

Many teams <Defer Obstacle Resolution> until after the Daily Scrum, but some teams <Allow Obstacle Resolution> if they can still avoid busting the 15 minute time-box. Having said that, it’s generally considered a bad practice if your team decides to <Save All Obstacles For the Daily Scrum>.

Some teams use <The After Party> to handle obstacle resolution and other conversations inappropriate for the Daily Scrum, and that’s probably fine unless <The After Party Defeats the Purpose of the Daily Scrum>.

Also, don’t forget to be creative and <Create Your Own Pattern>, and don’t ever hesitate to use a technique that is not described by a documented pattern.

Obstacle Resolution Patterns:

• <Defer Obstacle Resolution>
• <Allow Obstacle Resolution>
• Anti-Pattern: <Save All Obstacles For the Daily Scrum>
• <The After Party>
• Anti-Pattern: <The After Party Defeats the Purpose of the Daily Scrum>
• <Create Your Own Pattern>

What Daily Scrum Patterns do you like to use?  Sound off in the comments.