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One of the most important responsibilities of the ScrumMaster is to remove impediments or obstacles impacting the Scrum team. If they are already affecting the Scrum team’s productivity, they can be classified as issues. The sprint retrospective is a formal ceremony or meeting where the team inspects how they did during the last sprint, including…

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Yesterday we had a very successful Meetup for our Delaware Valley Agile User Group – our Summer 2017 Social event. I gave a presentation with the topic “Using Agile for Non-Profits – A Case Study”. Earlier this year, we successfully used the agile methodology to support fundraising activities for PALS (Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society),…

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At the beginning of my career, right out of Drexel University (with a year and a half of co-operative education experience in my field), I saw a chart which resonates with me to this day.  That chart is included with this article, and represents how the cost of identifying and fixing a defect increases dramatically…

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We just held our annual fundraising dinner and silent auction event for P.A.L.S. – Kocktails for Kitties. With significant contributions from our fundraising efforts delivered via Agile and Scrum, our annual fundraiser was a tremendous success raising over $65,000! Outside of the biggest takeaway (or “lessons learned”), which is to begin fundraising activities closer to…

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Geographically distributed or dispersed teams can impact the effectiveness of a Scrum development team – especially in the way in which they communicate and collaborate.  Teams are ideally located in an open, co-located space and globally dispersed resources should be on webcam.   The top three geographically dispersed team challenges are: Time Zones We may…

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Our Agile and Scrum approach for our non-profit fundraising project is doing really well! Our development team is comprised of volunteers (as are we all). Frequent collaboration among our team and in between our team and the ScrumMaster, myself and our Product Owner, has helped tremendously, as delivering each fundraising sprint is key towards the…

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We are members of a non-profit organization called PALS. It stands for the Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society. They’re the largest full-service, no-kill animal rescue in the Delaware Valley. They have an annual fundraising event scheduled for April, and we have volunteered to spearhead fundraising activities. Since we both have project management background and are…

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I am often asked by people in my workshops as well as by companies:  “How can we transition to agile?  What do you suggest?”  The challenges that companies will likely need to address during the transition to agile are focused on the major differences between waterfall and agile mindsets. However, by understanding these characteristics, teams…

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I am managing 50 projects SIMULTANEOUSLY (yes, you read that right), which may seem frightful (especially the current time of year) but I’ve categorized them into four key programs and am now managing each of the programs. Since I started working for this pharmaceutical company, my role has evolved from project manager to program manager…

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So I inherited this big mess of a program about 5 months ago. Ever been in that situation? Where you’ve been given the reins of a project or program, along with a sympathetic look that says “better you than me. Good luck”? Well, I’ve never been one to turn away from a challenge (or in…

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