Friday, November 16, 2007

THE ANTI CORRUPTION LAYER MANAGER PERSON...

Right now I'm working on a project where Ray Lewallen,  and I have introduced Scrum to an organization that has been using waterfall as their methodology of choice for some time. The idea was that between his development background, and my PM background, we'd be able to introduce it in a very cohesive way. Ray is the Scrum Master and I'm something other than the Scrum Master. 

Last week we gave a talk at Innotech in Oklahoma City called "Implementing Scrum From the Perspectives of an Agilist and a Control Freak" where we discussed  some of the issues we have been experiencing. I'll be posting more on some of those issues in the coming weeks. During the talk I explained what my role on the project has turned into, which is basically to position myself "between" the project sponsor and product owner. My job is to take the output of the Scrum meetings and turn it into something useful and palatable for the product owner and the civilians he has to update each week on the project.

After some slightly heated discussion with the developers (who, just for the record, do not like to be called sheep), a brand new title was bestowed upon me. I am no longer Project Manager, Program Manager or that GO4%^&*# BAS%^&#$* with a Checklist!

BOW DOWN BEFORE ME... FOR I AM.

THE ANTI CORRUPTION LAYER

(Obviously I'll need to be setting to work on the cape and utility belt)