28
TL; DR
Your question embeds some false assumptions about the linear nature of testing within an agile process. A mature agile team with cross-functional skill sets treats development and testing as intertwined activities rather than as sequential ones.
You should strive to integrate development and testing so that they are not fundamentally separate work ...
15
My question is, to what extent should the PO describe the requirements of a UI?
To the extent that the designers know what to design and the programmers know what to program. In your example, "as a user I want to see a list of dates so I can..." seems to be a good user story. Who else would know what the purpose of that user interface is and what data the ...
10
A resource manager as a organiser of day to day productivity has no place on an agile team. We know why they don't belong, it's in your question. They're trying to optimise things that oughtn't to be optimised. It's counterproductive.
It could be possible that this "resource manager" is more strategic role than it sounds. For instance, at a staff-...
9
Testing is Everyone's Job
Agile teams should strive to be cross-functional. Even when some members of the team specialize, everyone should be involved in some aspect of test execution or test development. For example, on a software project limited to the roles you've defined:
Designers should be involved in Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD), ...
9
I think the most useful advice can actually be found in the comment on your linked Question.
My manager was absolutely shocked to find out that we still had our stand up when he canceled it (a regular occurrence). My response to him was "The stand up isn't for you. It's for us. Whether you're here or not, we still need to sync up as a team.
The Daily ...
8
They could be doing a number of things. What they should be doing depends on your organization's Scrum/XP maturity but here are some common items:
QA work - yes devs can QA, whether thats writing new automated tests, upping existing test coverage or reducing test complexity, doing manual testing, or performance/load testing, devs can and should QA. The ...
8
TL;DR
Is the Scrum Master a "manager" in the traditional business sense of the term? No. However, the Scrum Master does in fact "manage" a number of things within the Scrum Framework.
Once you realize the original question is a definitional one, you are forced to accept that the vagaries of both the English language and the test-development process can ...
8
To answer this effectively, it is important to split roles, job titles, and skills. Scrum has absolutely nothing to say about job titles, so we can actually resolve that fairly quickly by saying: as long as a particular "job" does not expressly conflict with Scrum, it is "allowed" in the Scrum framework.That isn't to say that particular ...
8
There is no 'Resource Manager' role in Scrum
The question that you are quoting has the 'scrum' and 'scrum-master' tags. How do I manage development with testing and get proper reporting in JIRA?
So, I am answering this question in the context of Scrum.
Scrum has only three roles:
Product Owner
Scrum Master
Dev team
In addition, as @todd-a-jacobs has ...
7
One of the best ways to avoid micro-managing is to first realize that by micro managing you are turning yourself into a human bottleneck. Nothing will happen without you, and your productive time will be sucked away doing things and solving problems for others which they should have learned to solve on their own a long while ago.
Once you realize this, the ...
7
A manager who does the hiring, firing, performance reviews and has technical ability can still undermine the Team and force them to do things his/her way whether this person is the Scrum Master or not. For this person to take on the role of Scrum Master is just an additional burden on them.
The decision makers who chose to go the Scrum path hopefully know ...
7
TL;DR
If you're still thinking in terms of strongly-defined roles rather than cross-functional teams, then you're not making a successful transition to an agile process. Agile teams may need all of the skills you've listed, but each of those roles is actually the responsibility of the whole team rather than of individuals, and it is up to the team to ...
7
Firstly, you could use different methods/frameworks to run projects. Scrum wouldn't necessarily be the solution here as your prime concern is around the line in responsibilities between these two, both different and both required, roles. As well as getting the right level of communication set up.
I have grasped something from the tone of your question that ...
7
TL;DR
You have one or more process problems involving communication and prioritization. You need additional information in order to inspect-and-adapt your team's process in a collaborative and sustainable way.
Your Problems, Restated
You make the following points in your original post:
I say they are small requests because they aren't critical issues ...
7
If the role of Resource Manager in your organization is seen as maximizing measurable activity instead of produced value, you've got a serious problem. You're going to create more waste by keeping people busy on things that can't contribute to value at that time.
If you look at the QA situation, the time in a sprint when final QA is being performed (and thus ...
6
The ratio depends on the company and how software and project management oriented the management team is.
In my experience, the majority of staff in an agile software team were testers, because the corporation focused on user experience and prior to delivering the final product to the customer, they needed to ensure that the product was "bug free" and that ...
6
A Scrum development team is self-organising and avoids the traditional hierarchical roles such as lead developer.
The idea is for team members to lead by setting an example and by gaining the respect of the other members of the team. For example, in the case where you have a very experienced develeper on the team they may often take technical leadership ...
5
It seems like the company has decided to go this way even though you understand that this undermines some of the basic principles of Agile. So I'll stick to some of the caveats that should be watched out:
Missed deadlines/goals by the team should not get attributed to your hiring/firing decisions. Hiring process maybe changed to have a peer-interview ...
5
TL;DR
In our current project we have pushed documenting it (other than deep technical detail) out to the end of our sprints. Is this a sensible plan?
Nope.
Technical Writing for Agile Teams
The Agile Maifesto values:
Working software over comprehensive documentation...[T]here is value in the items on the right, [but] we value the items on the left ...
5
TL;DR
Within the Scrum framework, you are a member of the Scrum Team (which includes the Scrum Master and the Product Owner), and also a member of the Development Team that forms a third of the Scrum triumvirate. You have no other title within the framework, and the distinctions you are making are invalid within the team-oriented structure of Scrum. Extreme ...
5
In my organization many PMs get very little say in Human Resources decisions for their projects. The functional manager says who they can spare that fits the criteria and that is who the project manager gets. This said I don't think there is anyone who doubts our PMs are in fact PMs. I think the same holds true for costs. If you are managing projects you ...
5
Lead by example. You can't force people to do what they don't believe in, particularly in your role. But if you work the way you believe is right, and if you quietly show results, then you should eventually win people over to your side. Don't force anyone, simply work in the way you believe is right, mention your positive results, and if they are interested ...
5
In the PMBoK Guide (Fifth edition) it is written following:
Matrix organizations can be classified as weak, balanced, or strong
depending on the relative level of power and influence between
functional and project managers. Weak matrix organizations maintain
many of the characteristics of a functional organization, and the role
of the project ...
5
You want to be the most efficient and effective person you can be, but you wear multiple hats. You know you need to give some up...how you decide which hats to give up?
1) Classify your Skills
Write a list of the skills/roles you perform eg:
Business Analyst
Programmer
Project Manager
QA Analyst
Business Administrator
Account Manager
2) Quantify your ...
5
TL;DR
You are the victim of legacy command-and-control thinking. The roles you describe have responsibilities, but they are not "leaders" of the team in the traditional sense either alone or in combination.
Scrum Teams Have Roles, Not Leaders
According to the official Scrum Guide:
The Scrum Team consists of a Product Owner, the Development Team, and a ...
5
TL;DR
Companies have many choices in project management frameworks. However, if they choose Scrum, then they have chosen to abide by the framework's methodology. This includes enforcing the Scrum roles and rules of engagement. Anyone who disrupts the process in unconstructive ways must be removed from the team.
Failing to remove disruptive team members ...
5
Scrum Master and Development Team Roles Can Conflict
Is it OK if the Scrum Master and Architect is one person?
Presumably the Architect is considered a member of the Development Team. The Scrum Master role is a distinct role with the responsibility to be a process referee, whereas the Development Team is charged with implementation.
While it's ...
5
I can speak from some experience, as I'm currently both Scrum Master and development team member (such as an architect, who is 'just' a development team member in Scrum terms). Though often frowned upon, this is possible and not explicitly forbidden. For me, this part in the scrum guide is the most indicative and grants us some freedom:
The Scrum Team ...
5
The Scrum Guide states that a Scrum team should have all the skill necessary to deliver a product increment.
The idea is that a team will take one or more features and fully implement them by the end of a sprint. Scrum teams own the features they are working on and this will include system testing and deployment.
When you have multiple Scrum teams working ...
5
Each Scrum Team Tests Its Own Work
A lot depends on your scaled framework, but in general the answer will be that each individual Scrum team is responsible for testing its own work. For example, when using Nexus:
The Scrum Teams are responsible for developing Increments of potentially releasable software, as prescribed in Scrum. [NB: A completed ...
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