Malaysia Scrum User Group Kick Off - Notes and Videos

Just over a month ago I had the great pleasure of making a trip to Singapore and Malaysia to teach Certified Scrum Master classes. It was my first time teaching in Singapore and it was a very cool experience to teach such a sharp bunch of folks. The highlight of the trip though was co-teaching in Malaysia with Mike Sutton and helping the folks at ATSC (http://www.asiaictpm.com/default.htm) with the official kick off of the Malaysia Scrum User Group. The class in Kuala Lumpur was pretty huge for a CSM class (56 people) and it would not have been possible without Mike Sutton who lives in the UK but has been spending time in Kuala Lumpur working on some projects for his company WizeWerx (http://www.wizewerx.com/). Mike and I have very different backgrounds and I think I probably learned as much from him as anyone in the room.

Along with starting up the Scrum User Group, ATSC has also started a special networking group called MSC Circle to help raise awareness and networking opportunities for the Scrum Masters in KL. During the event I had the chance to shoot some video interviews with a few of the folks who took the class. They are embedded further down in the post.

If you'd like to learn more about the Malaysia Scrum User Group please go to http://myscrum.ning.com/ and sign up to hear more about the great things that are underway there. My good friend SK Khor, who I have had the pleasure of volunteering with for a number of years through the PMI IT&T SIG where he has served as the Asia Pacific Regional Director is heading up the group with support from MDeC (http://www.mdec.my/), the Malaysia govt. group that is responsible for helping establish and promote the growth of IT in Malaysia. Based on the work SK did with the IT&T SIG, and the fact that we've been able to grow the number of CSMs in the region to 80 since December, I think there will be a lot of activity in the region in the coming months.

I had a really great time on the trip and being a part of the classes and the kick-off event. I have a bunch of people I owe thanks to for the experience. None of it would have been possible without Mike Sutton, the folks from ATSC - SK Khor, EK How and Nan Ping Lee, as the incredible support from MDeC COO, Ms. Ng Wan Peng and Ms. Aiza Zeyati. On top of all this, I would just like to say that the people at the Scrum Alliance (http://www.scrumalliance.org/) rock like Hagar. Jim Cundiff, Tobias Mayer, Howard Sublett, Maria Matarelli and Tom Mellor, who was kind enough to record a video welcome to the members of MSC Malaysia for our opening event are some of the most responsive and supportive people I've run across in my 10+ years of volunteering for professional organizations. I owe all of them many pints.

And now, on to the videos…

Project Potion 10 - 6 Ways to Beat Project Planning

Project Potion 9 - Dress for Success

The Art of War Chapter 1 - Entry 6 - "The Plan is useless..."

At the end of the first chapter of the Art of War, Sun Tzu gives direction that may make the strongest case for project management in the entire text.

"Those who triumph,
Compute at their headquarters
A great number of factors prior to a challenge"*

He goes on to explain that those who spend less time planning do not succeed. According to Sun Tzu, more planning = greater success, less = greater chance of failure and no planning at all pretty much guarantees you have no shot.

The first chapter of the Art of War ends with Sun Tzu claiming that by observing the time spent in "computation" he can determine whether or not one will succeed in their efforts.

From a PM's standpoint, this has relevance on a number of levels. The most obvious application would be to the idea of actually planning out a project, and if you follow the rest of the lessons of the Art of War, this is going to end up bringing in many of the elements included in a traditional project plan. Things like risk planning and developing a communication strategy are critical aspects of Sun Tzu’s formula for success.

One application that might not be so obvious is how this planning can play out on a smaller scale. Something as simple as a business meeting, offers a great opportunity to prove out some of Sun Tzu's claims. If you've ever been in a meeting where you arrived not knowing what was going to happen, or what you were going to say ahead of time, you are probably already all too familiar with the formula for defeat that is mentioned above.  For my own part, this is a lesson that took a long time to learn, but over time I have learned that if I make the time for "computation" before a meeting, things go much better. In terms of preparation, working out things like how the Five Measures fit within the context of the meeting, thinking through what will take place based on who is likely to be present, what objectives or motivators they might have, who might say what, how the others in the room will respond, and especially, how to raise the issues I need addressed as well as how to respond to the questions I'm likely to be asked, seems simple but it is unfortunately something most people don’t take the time to do. It may sound like a lot of work, but my experience has been that once you get into a habit of doing it, this tends to come fairly easily. Whatever your goals in the meeting, even if it is just to get through it with your job intact, putting in the time to prepare before hand is just basic risk management. It will give you the freedom to devote the time and attention necessary to cover the things you were not able to think of before hand.

If success in the meeting equals getting your issues addressed without losing credibility, taking the time necessary to be prepared to participate with confidence and ease is just basic risk management, the same as you’d do on any project. And as for the others around the table, as Sun Tzu says, examining they prepare will give you a lot of insight into their ability to succeed or fail once things get underway.

While it can be fairly simple to see how this applies to Project Management, it has a lot of relevance to an Agile approach as well. If taking an Agile approach is intended to offer the freedom to handle constant change while incrementally working towards a desired goal, The Art of War in right in step. The basics of things like forming the team, having the team determine how they will best work together, what the vision statement is, etc. are all part of the “computation” Sun Tzu is talking about. These practices have even greater application later on in the Art of War. In a later section of the book Sun Tzu talks about the need to be fluid and adaptable, in order to do this successfully, someone leading an Agile project, or an Agile team, still needs to take the time to understand the basic concerns mentioned in this chapter.

The bottom line is, success is determined by your ability to make the time to learn about what you are facing and considering what will happen when things get underway.

Or, as President Eisenhower put it, "The plan is useless; it's the planning that's important."

* Quote taken from "The Art of Strategy" by R.L. Wing

Project Potion 8 - The Fonzi - Isaac - Radar - Mr T Report

Are you tired of filling out those boring old Red Amber Green reports?


Introducing THE FIRM REPORT!

Last week I was talking with a co-worker about the status report we have to file each week. It’s called a RAG Report. He asks why it is called a RAG Report. I explained to him that RAG stands for Red-Amber-Green and we spent some time discussing the various merits (or not) of completing that type of report. The intent is clear – show red, amber or green to quickly convey a message about the state of the project, but in practice, the sad thing is that the simple color system easily lends itself to a situation in which an executive will simply look at the color and ignore the rest of the detail that has been painstakingly crafted and tuned by the highly developed creative spin tactics of the project manager (or lead).

So, that conversation got me to thinking that maybe a RAG format had outlived its useful(less)ness. Being the hard working, creative mastermind that I am, I started trying to work out a new alternative to the Red-Amber-Green… and now I am proud to give you…

(drumroll please)

THE FIRM REPORT!

The FIRM report embraces a new model for rating project health:

F = Fonzi
I = Isaac (your bartender)
R = Radar O’Reilly
M = Mr. T

Here is how this works:

If you get a Fonzi, that means “AHHHHHHEEEY”  -  things are very, very coolamundo!

If you get an Isaac (portrayed here with his classic “Double Issac” hand gesture), this means things seem to be more or less okay, but it would probably be a good idea to head down to the Lido deck and start having at the Mai Tais (yes that is the plural… I looked it up) post haste.

If you get a Radar you should be remembering all those times in the TV classic M*A*S*H (ATTN Gen Y… TV Land is your friend) when Radar (IMHO, the greatest PM ever portrayed in film or TV) cocks his head ever so slightly, and says “CHOPPERS!” This usually happens about 20 seconds before anyone else hears them. In other words, there is some seriously bad stuff in the air, some of which is bound to be missing a few limbs, and they are headed your way Sport!

Finally, we get to Mr. T… as in “I PITY THE FOOL!” which means… Dude, you are simply screwed, and no amount of gold around your neck is going to save you from the fact that someone is going to be taking you sweet, sweet iconic 1980's van away very soon.

More on this in the next episode of Project Potion… and I’ll be posting a status template for you to test your job stability with very soon. 

Stay tuned!

The Mike Sutton Sessions - Part 4 - Startup Diary

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of co-teaching a CSM class with Mike in Malaysia. In part 4 of the interview we shot he talks more about the work he is doing there and his startup diary, which can be found here.

Project Potion Special Interview with Thushara Wijewardena

Working With an Agile Offshore Team

Project Potion #6 - Dave Goes to Macworld

Where the ProjectShrink intervews the drunkenpm about his visit to Macworld and his efforts at setting up a PM Mac User Meetup

The Mike Sutton Sessions - Part 3 - ScrumFest

Part 3 of the drunkenpm interview with Mike Sutton, CEO of Wizewerx and founder of ScrumFest.

In this part of the interview, Mike talks about his work putting on ScrumFest in the UK and his plans to hold additional events elsewhere.