Categorise conflict (relationship or emotional level?)
Take conflict from an emotional to an objective level
Structure the conflict
Consider, evaluate, select and implement possible solutions
Take advantage of the conflict to introduce new approaches
Agile close-out
Closing out projects in agile environment. This includes:
Handover of the project deliverables
Tidying loose ends
Lessons-learned
Agile estimation
Relative estimation of the workload for the entries in the Product Backlog based on story points etc., usually in a team.
Agile project management
A set of management techniques for planning and realising projects by increasing agility. This includes all non-linear project planning methods, e.g. Scrum, Kanban, Lean Management, Crystal Clear, Extreme Programming.
Conflict management
Measures for conflict prevention or resolution.
Conflict spiral
Misunderstanding
Confusion
Anger
Blame
Alienation
Resentment
Cross-functional (= interdisciplinary)
Presence of different expertise areas within a work environment.
Daily Scrum (= daily stand-up meeting)
15-minute event for the Developers. Here the progress towards the Sprint Goal is inspected and, as necessary, the Sprint Backlog is adapted as well as adjusted for the upcoming planned work. Daily Scrum improves communication, identifies impediments and promotes quick decision-making.
Definition of Done (= DoD)
A list of activities or criteria that have to be performed or met so that the user stories in any one iteration can be defined as done.
Definition of Ready (= DoR)
A term for Product Backlog Items that have been understood by the developers and are ready for implementation in the next Sprint. Usually, these are the entries listed at the top of the backlog, which must meet the definition of ready.
Developers
The employees (e.g. developers, engineers, architects, etc.) of the Scrum team. They
create a plan for the Sprint (Sprint Backlog).
instill quality by adhering to a Definition of Done (DoD).
adapt their plan each day toward the Sprint Goal.
hold each other accountable as professionals.
Extreme programming (= XP)
It is an agile software development discipline based on values (simplicity, communication, feedback, courage and respect), as well as specific principles and practices. Main roles in XP:
Customer
Product owner (internal, often project manager) and
Development team
Four-point conflict resolution
Identify the conflict
Address the conflict
Find a solution
Implement the solution
Goal development
Development and communication of the project goals. After the development of the Product Goal and the first version of the Product Backlog, the Developers should be fully informed about the project goals.
GRPI model
A process model to improve the efficiency of team development and team management.
Goals (definition and communication of goals)
Roles (assignment and description of roles)
Processes (what processes are taking place)
Interpersonal (state of interpersonal relationships)
Increment
An Increment is a concrete step towards achieving the Product Goal and the goal of each Sprint. An Increment is a tested, usable or saleable partial result. The Commitment to the Increment is the Definition of Done. All work that does not meet the Definition of Done is not considered an Increment.
Interpersonal relationships
Interpersonal relationships are characterised by reciprocal communication, mutual understanding and empathy.
INVEST criteria
Independent
Negotiable
Valuable
Estimable
Short
Testable
Kanban
It is a scheduling system for just-in-time production.
From the Japanese word Kanban, meaning "card you can see or touch".
Developed by Toyota.
Integral role in the Toyota Production System (TPS).
Kanban board
Tool for mapping and visualising the workflow and a central component of the Kanban method.
Kanban card
Contains all information for obtaining the required production items (e.g. tasks). Move between the supplier and customer processes. Materials flows are
all in a forward direction.
from supplier to customer.
Information flows are
in a backward direction.
from customer to supplier.
Complies with the pull system.
Lean development
Application of Lean principles (customer added value, pull principle, Kaizen or continuous improvement process) to product development. Lean development is the preliminary stage of lean production and focuses on the product development process.
Lean production
Production of economic goods with the greatest possible saving of labour, material and costs (e.g. through automation) to reduce waste.
Meetings in Scrum (= Scrum Events)
Meetings in Scrum projects take place in a fixed sequence, they are also time boxed to increase effectiveness. These include:
Backlog Grooming or Backlog Refinement Meeting
Sprint Planning
Daily Scrum
Sprint Review
Sprint Retrospective
Motivation
Motives for project team members to complete the work at hand. These can be:
positive
negative
extrinsic
intrinsic
Objectives of Kanban
Improvement of productivity and quality
Maximise production flexibility
Prevention of waste
Elimination of defects
Performing team
Teams that work together successfully and purposefully to accomplish tasks. Performing teams deliver good work results and are successful in their collaboration.
Practices (XP)
In addition to the values and principles, these Practices are meant to support the developers in behaving according to the Principles. They can be categorised as follows:
Management practices
Team practices
Programming practices
Principles (XP)
15 principles which are derived from the values and serve the basic understanding of XP.
Product Backlog
The Product Backlog is a prioritised backlog of tasks, activities, stories, epics, etc. which are called Product Backlog Items (PBI). The Commitment of the Product Backlog is the Product Goal.
Regular interval for reviewing and evaluating (= grooming) the Product Backlog. This involves going through the stories in the backlog to check whether they are still relevant and whether they still reflect stakeholder interests.
Product Backlog Item (= PBI)
All Items listed in the Product Backlog. These may include:
Tasks
Activities
Stories
Epics
Themes
Product Goal
Is a Commitment of the Scrum Team to the Product Backlog and serves as a compass for the development of the current product. It describes a precise goal, which is pursued with the Scrum project and generated within the Sprints.
Product Owner
He represents the customer or the stakeholders and is responsible for the product. As manager of the Product Backlog, he fulfills the following functions:
Developing and explicitly communicating the Product Goal.
Creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog Items
Ordering Product Backlog Items.
Ensuring that the Product Backlog is transparent, visible and understood.
Has authority to cancel a Sprint, if the Sprint Goal becomes obsolete.
Product Vision
Maps out the vision for developing new products based on economic criteria. This goes beyond the completion of the project and includes the product life cycle as well.
Project check
Points out the differences between a routine task and a project.
Project environment
The environment in which the project is formulated, assessed and implemented. This directly or indirectly affects the project and/or is affected by the project.
Release burndown chart
Empirical method for graphical release forecasting.
Release planning
Planning of the project close-out or the release of the project deliverable. This is possible as soon as the PBIs in the Product Backlog are consistent and the velocity of the Developers is known.
Role assignment
The role assignment in the team is determined among each other. It is up to the team to decide who will be called in to help with problems or questions.
Scrum
Scrum is a framework that originated in agile software development, but is now used to develop a wide variety of products. Specific for Scrum is the incremental approach to continuously generate added value by using recurring quality assurance measures as monitoring and control mechanisms during the whole project life-cycle.
Scrum artifacts
Represent activity(ies) or value(s) and are designed to ensure that key information is made transparent. Each artifact includes a Commitment that provides information in a clear and concise way to visualise progress. This includes for the
Product Backlog the Product Goal.
Sprint Backlog the Sprint Goal.
Increment the Definition of Done.
Scrum Master
Creates an agile environment within the company and thereby enables Scrum. As a contact person for the Developers, his responsibilities include:
Coaching team members to work in a self-managed and cross-functional way.
Supporting the Scrum team in producing Increments that meet the Definition of Done and that add value to the final product.
If the Scrum Team is hampered, removing the impediments.
Responsible for ensuring Scrum events are held in a way that is positive, productive and within the time box.
If necessary, he supports the Product Owner in the definition of the Product Goal, in the management of the Product Backlog or with the integration of stakeholders into the project.
Scrum roles
Product Owner
Scrum Master
Developers
Scrum Team
Small team of people with no sub-teams or hierarchies. Consisting of
one Scrum Master,
one Product Owner, and
Developers, generally
10 or fewer people.
The Scrum Team is
cross-functional, and
self-managing.
Scrum values
Five values in Scrum that the whole team shares.
Commitment to the rules of Scrum.
Focus on the task(s) at hand.
Openness to new things and to other team colleagues.
Respect all project participants.
Courage to stand by the values and to interact with each other in an open and honest way.
Sender-receiver principle
Communications theory, stating that all communications comprise messages being sent and received. This model proposes that it is impossible not to communicate – breaking off communication or refusing to communicate also sends out a signal.
Responsibility of the sender: Ensures (by asking the recipient) that the message has been properly received (repeat if necessary).
Responsibility of the recipient: Ensures correct understanding of the message (either by repeating the message in own words or by asking the sender what is meant).
Soft factors
Soft skills are personal attributes (e.g. human/ social/ communication skills, attitudes, mindsets) that enable people to navigate their environment or work well with others to achieve their goals.
Sprint Backlog
The Sprint Backlog is a backlog of tasks or activities which are going to be carried out in the upcoming Sprint. The Commitment of the Sprint Backlog is the Sprint Goal.
Sprint burndown chart
Sprint tracking tool.
Sprint Planning Meeting
The Sprint Planning Meeting is the initiation of the following Sprint. During this meeting, the work to be done during this Sprint is determined. At the end there will be a plan that has been created by the whole Scrum Team. Topics covered:
Why is this Sprint valuable?
What can be achieved in this Sprint?
How should the selected tasks be completed?
The duration of the Sprint Planning Meeting depends on the duration of the Sprint. The meeting lasts a maximum of eight hours for a maximum Sprint duration of four weeks.
Sprint Retrospective
Opportunity for Developers to improve productivity and processes in a Sprint, usually held after the Sprint Review.
Sprint Review
Collaborative meeting for inspecting the outcome of the Sprint and determining future adaptations. The Scrum Team presents the achieved work to key stakeholders and progress toward the Product Goal is discussed.
Sprint
A Sprint is a time-boxed iteration within which the Scrum Events (Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, Sprint Review and Sprint Retrospective) take place and the Product Owner's ideas are transformed into valuable results (= Increments). A Sprint lasts a month or less and a new Sprint starts directly after the previous Sprint has been completed.
Stakeholders
All people, organisations, etc. which are involved or affected by the project.
Stress management
Stress Management is a collective term for the methods applied to manage stress.
Tasks/ requirements (Kanban method)
Can be formulated as
User stories
Features
Use cases, etc.
Team building
Measures and methods for building effective teams.
Team building phases (Tuckman et al.)
Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning
Technical debt
A certain extent of improper technical implementation in relation to the User stories. Growth in technical debt with each new Increment increases the product's complexity and reduces velocity.
Theory of constraints
Theory of constraints refers to a set of thought patterns and methods for improving the performance of systems.
Three C's (CCC)
Card
Conversation
Confirmation
Time boxed
Specific fixed duration interval for actions (e.g. meetings) which stop at the end of the timeframe.
User story
Item in the Product Backlog that reflects the views of the customer as well as the end users of the product. User stories should meet the INVEST criteria and should not include technical implementation details.
Values (XP)
Five values to improve the work of the project team:
Communication
Courage
Feedback
Respect
Simplicity
Velocity
The amount of work done in a Sprint.
Work in progress (= WIP)
Tool for limiting the work speed as well as optimising the workflow within the Kanban method.