VersionOne was kind enough to invite me as a presenter to a small conference event in Austin on December 7th 2009. The Austine keynote went well and I was lucky enough to be ranked as the best presenter at the event. There were 90+ people in attendance and 78 people filled in an evaluation.

Catch me in Austin, TX delivering a Keynote for the Agile Journal December 7th,  http://www.accurev.com/seminar/austin20091208-4

1. The PO says go.
2. The Teams says they are ready.
3. The SM has determined a time box for the sprint.
4. The team and PO agree to a time box
5. The PO understands and is prepared to talk about the stories

Comment: There are a number of things you should do before you can even begin planning.  The most important thing you can do is make sure that your Product Owner is prepared, and understands what the stories are about.  Remember that the Product Owner is a role here, so what we’re actually saying is that someone on the Team knows about each story; that is, each story has its own champion (Story Owner) who represents the Stakeholder’s needs/wants to the Team. This may require that the Product Owner (person) coordinates the efforts of all the Story Owners.

Comment: Changes to work forms an interesting tension.  At a fine grained detailed level it changes all the time. Each person’s individual to-dos often change toreflect their understanding of what it takes to get the job done. As the level of granularity increases to task then it is a change to the team’s plan. If the number of changes is significant and adds up to more than one story’s worth of work then you better stop and adjust your plan, usually you want the product owner in on that discussion. And if there are several new  stories that were  suddenly found and are so important they must be done right now, then call a stop and reset your entire sprint with a sprint planning session. Generally, the commitment by the team to the sprint should not change. Note: definition of team makes this an interesting discussion. Bottom Line: The goal here is to help the team get better at  expressing work they can do and following through on a commitment.

Previously, I had seen Luke deliver a couple of games and read his book. And I have tried, with good success, to apply many of his techniques. However, like all busy people one thing after another had crowded Innovation Games® out of my head and I was no longer using them as actively. The reason for this is simple: too many things to do, a busy schedule, time for mastery and lack of a deep appreciation for the techniques. So, my current thought is, Innovation Games are subtle, powerful and really require hard work to master and apply well. Innovation Games now has my full attention and I am actively applying them.

Luke is a Grand Master Facilitator. I have facilitated many meetings and discussion around product development and consider myself a good facilitator. After the 1^st morning of training on day one, my notebook was filled with quickly scribbled thoughts. Luke’s style, breadth and depth of applied experience as a facilitator were staggering. What could be learned by using the games became so much more apparent as the workshop progressed. When Innovation Games® are applied well many “hard to discover things” are teased to the surface through subtle artful facilitation and collaborative interaction. With trained observers these games can be used to capture powerful ideas for evolving products.

The workshop was a double success because many of my peers where there from the Scrum Alliance. We were all being trained to become Innovation Games certified facilitators. Our days were filled with Luke artfully facilitating numerous games. Most people would not notice the facilitator’s presence; however, because all of my classmates are professional trainers, coaches, facilitators we paid close attention. After each game we ran a retrospect and review of the numerous techniques being demonstrated. All of us were able to personally relate to numerous experiences we have had and could immediately see applications to improve our work.

Summary:

Master of the these games is aquired through application. I would encouarge anyone to try applying them and see what can be learned.

When the games are delivered by a skilled practioner they become a powerful set of techniques for figuring out product development needs. In Scrum the role of the Product Owner is well defined facing into the team. However, there is little to no help directly from Scrum for figuring out what to build. Generally, building the right thing is easy if we know what the right thing is. Innovation games are serious tools for determining what the right product should be.

It is not often that my head is left reeling from two days of intensive training. I am used to cramming information but, Luke’s training challenged my head in fundamental ways. These challenges caused me to reflect on how I was conceptualizing approaches to product development. My Big Thanks is too Luke and my classmates for making this possible. We make each other better through our collaborative interaction and Luke has raised the bar for me on what great facilitation can look like!

A BIG THANK YOU TO LUKE!

Recommended

If you are in the San Francisco Area then check out this conference. This conference is being organized by experts in the field of product development. They will be using the power of serious game play to identify what will make for a great product that people will love.  Those familar with complex product development already know that “building the right thing” is the greatest risk to development. This  conference offers unique skills to help you reduce that risk.

1 day – June 26th,  2009

Innovation, Design & Serious Games Exchange

Organized by Enthiosys and Other Great Companies

I will not be there because of prior commitments but, would highly recomed for ScrumMasters and Product Owners who face the tough challenge of building world class products that people love.

Register

Cost: $50-$90 (depending on options money well spent)