Εντυπώσεις απο την Εκπαίδευση

[Alexius.Diakogiannis]

Ποιες ήταν οι εντυπώσεις σας απο την εκπαίδευση?

[ioannis]

Το training ήταν ενδιαφέρον!
Προσωπικά ήμουν ήδη εξοικιωμένος με τις βασικές έννοιες (γενικότερα
ασχολούμαι λόγω θέσης με τις μεθοδολογίες ανάπτυξης λογισμικού),
ωστόσο μου άρεσε το approach όσον αφορά την ψυχοκοινωνική (!!!) πλευρά
του Scrum και των Agile μεθοδολογιών, βλέπε motivation και πώς
γινόμαστε καλύτεροι Developers, POs, SMs, ..., και άνθρωποι
γενικότερα!
Ωστόσο πιστεύω ότι θα έπρεπε να ήταν περισότερο hands-on. Εννοώ ότι
όπως στην αρχή κάναμε κάποιες ασκησούλες σαν ομάδες, έτσι θα έπρεπε να
είχαμε κάνει και για το Scrum προκειμένου να το κατανοήσουμε καλύτερα,
ειδικά το σημείο στο οποίο ο SM θα έπρεπε να επιχειρηματολογήσει και
να πείσει ως coacher. O Michel έδωσε κάποιες κατευθύνσεις αλλά νομίζω
ότι με συγκεκριμένα παραδείγματα θα μας γίνονταν πιο σαφείς (βλέπε
π.χ. τελευταίες διαφάνειες στο ppt που μας έστειλε, περί Scrum
Simulation).
Επίσης πιστεύω ότι γενικά έπρεπε να είχαμε περάσει λίγο και τα slides
(έστω στα γρήγορα), ειδικά για κάποιον ο οποίος δεν ήταν εξοικιωμένος
με τις βασικές έννοιες.

Γιάννης Οικονόμου
http://gr.linkedin.com/pub/ioannis-oikonomou/5/665/175

[elchetz]

Hi Alexis,

Well my overall personal impression was positive but I have a few
remarks:

The 1st day of training was like a "movie trailer"; Scrum is that,
does this, is great.... but not much of the "real action".
The 2nd day was "the movie"... but unfortunately it seemed like "part
of a series"... meaning that not all of the interesting stuff on
Michel's slides was covered.

So I guess I would have liked it more if the 1st day was also focused
on the techniques of applying scrum.

Regards,
Eleftherios

On Jun 3, 1:31 pm, "Alexius.Diakogiannis"

[George Moraitakis]

Hi everyone.

Regarding the comments received up to now on the user group and from
the assessment forms, I would like to share a few thoughts and I hope
this opens up further the discussion to ensure that all of us make the
most out of the training.

Here we go:

This official Scrum Master Certification course we followed is, as
dictated by Scrum Alliance, time-boxed to 2 days, meaning 15 hours.
Excluding the 2 hour-long lunch breaks and 4 short breaks of 15
minutes, the remaining time for delivering the content (true capacity)
is 12 hours. During this period, the instructor has to accommodate for
the following:
- Covering the course curriculum
- Taking time to answer all the questions raised and provide any
needed clarifications
- Provide some practical insight of the knowledge transferred

Aside from the first factor, the latter two can not be easily
predicted at the beginning, in terms of the time that will eventually
consume. Therefore, to ensure all participants get the best value out
of this course in the constrained time allocated, trainers may adjust
the speed and style of the content delivery which affects things like
the ratio of hands-on exercises, white-board and slides used.

Putting now all of the above into context:

During the training we had the opportunity to engage with Michel in a
number of discussions stemming from points we required clarification
of and putting them through the perspective of experiences we have in
our workplace. This in my opinion has been a very useful exercise in
getting answers in practical, real-life situations on projects we have
been involved and pertaining hypothetical scenarios. The content
delivery was further enhanced by the demonstration of practical
techniques e.g. in approaching the estimation of the product/scrum log
items, how to motivate the team etc. and I will agree with Ioannis
(Oikonomou) that the socio-psychologic aspects presented made the
whole subject fascinating.

In this way, within 12 hours we managed to go through the required
Scrum theory, cover as many of the questions/clarifications we had and
get practical insights/advice on its application in various scenarios.
Therefore all the prerequisites I mentioned earlier were fulfilled.

On some more specific points made:


Would more group exercises give us more understanding ?
It depends. Given the time constraints, if I had to choose, I would
opt for the Q&A sessions we had throughout the training which
ultimately have a very practical application in the real-life
situations we have in our jobs. I am not sure whether a group exercise
on how a Scrum Master can argue and convince as a team coach can
really fit in a 12 hour course. It involves various so-called soft
skills (leadership, persuasion, motivation, managing team-dynamics to
name a few) that are courses on their own right ! Just a 15 minute
group exercise followed by say a 15 minute discussion I have the
feeling would rather be misleading.

Should we have more of the slides covered?
Undoubtedly there are tons of interesting stuff in the 125-page
presentation and it is great that the participants are able to get
hold of it at the end of the training. For slides not covered (e.g.
the practical example in the end) again the time constraint is a
factor but in my view I do not think they would add more value
compared to the areas covered in the 12 hours available. For example I
did prefer the timeline that Michel showed us on the last day instead
of the example that the slides have in the last pages... the former is
generic the latter just an instance and perhaps not everywhere
applicable. I am also not sure whether some of the basic concepts for
people unfamiliar with Scrum would be covered more effectively through
their corresponding slides but I can not judge how each individual can
absorb better the knowledge.



Ultimately we all come from different backgrounds and familiarity with
Agile/Scrum techniques and had diverse reasons for joining the course.
As such, each one of us would have liked to have the trainer focusing
in certain areas rather than others (e.g. myself I would love to see
practical examples on integration with other methodologies). However,
as with all standardized group trainings, it is not possible to
achieve this in the limited time they run on, so a consensus over
personal objectives of the participants is aimed. In this context, our
opinion matters so similar trainings in the future are able to cover
as much broader interests as possible.

Will be looking forward to hear your take and hope we see each other
soon :-)

Take care,
George

[Xenofon Papadopoulos]

Well I really enjoyed the training, particularly the sociology parts, but I would also love to see some more concrete techniques demonstrated and explained. In a similar 2 days SCRUM workshop during an Agile Development course for my msc we focused much more on practical estimating and planning, which are crucial to software project management. We also had practical exercises of several core components (the poker game, velocity calculation, updating and monitoring the burnout chart and the daily scrum meeting). I should mention, however, that the workshop was part of a 5-days module, so much of the broader agile principles had already been answered. I felt the training complemented my course but I'm not sure how useful it would be on its own.

I also think that we lost much time repeating questions about applying SCRUM in our current business environment (evaluation, rewarding, reporting) and on software engineering issues (testing, building, integration). Maybe if we had more time to spend on actually learning SCRUM some of these questions would become easier to answer.

One crucial part that I still have no clue about is creating and grooming the product backlog. I understand this is supposed to be the Product Owner's job but obviously it's impossible for a typical product owner to be able to do that without guidance and training.

Btw when/how are we supposed to receive the certification?

2011/6/14 George Moraitakis <george.m...@zenika.gr>