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	<title>Agile Scout &#187; Misc Tools</title>
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		<title>Atlanta ScrumMaster Training &#8211; Action &amp; Influence Growing the Atlanta Market</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/atlanta-scrummaster-training-action-influence-growing-the-atlanta-market/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/atlanta-scrummaster-training-action-influence-growing-the-atlanta-market/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 23:12:19 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[About the Scout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Agile Scrum Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[All Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Misc Tools]]></category>
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		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agilescout.com/?p=8565</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>In Atlanta, GA news: Action &#38; influence, Inc. announced today that they are hosting more Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) and Certified Product Owner (CSPO) courses in Atlanta due to increasing demand. As the only company in Georgia to have a local Certified Scrum Trainer, Peter Saddington, they want to bring even more value to the Agile [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8565">Atlanta ScrumMaster Training - Action & Influence Growing the Atlanta Market</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/atlanta-scrummaster-training-action-influence-growing-the-atlanta-market/">Atlanta ScrumMaster Training &#8211; Action &#038; Influence Growing the Atlanta Market</a>
</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In Atlanta, GA news:</p>
<p>Action &amp; influence, Inc. announced today that they are hosting more Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) and Certified Product Owner (CSPO) courses in Atlanta due to increasing demand. As the only company in Georgia to have a local Certified Scrum Trainer, Peter Saddington, they want to bring even more value to the Agile community and local Atlanta companies who want to leverage Agile or Scrum to bring quicker development value to their software and services. Having a local CST gives Georgia companies a great advantage, as their employees can attend local courses without incurring the costs associated with travel. Peter Saddington is one of the 140 Certified Scrum Trainers in the world and about half of them reside in the United States. Peter Saddington is the first CST to reside in the state of Georgia. Saddington says, &#8220;Our local clients who are looking towards Agile and Scrum have greatly enjoyed having a local trainer who can service their needs without flying in another trainer from out of state. Most of our clients in Atlanta have private courses for their entire development teams and organization.&#8221;</p>
<p>You can quickly find local Atlanta Certified ScrumMaster classes, <a href="http://atlantascrummaster2013.eventbrite.com/">http://atlantascrummaster2013.eventbrite.com/</a>and sign up as an individual, team, or company.</p>
<p>According to one of Action &amp; Influence&#8217;s students, Mike Rucker, who recently took a Certified ScrumMaster course in Atlanta said, &#8220;I was very pleased to find a local group that offered such a wide choice in class days and times. It was very easy to find a class that fit within an already busy schedule.&#8221;</p>
<p>Other testimonials of Action &amp; Influence, Inc. classes:</p>
<blockquote><p>&#8220;Peter&#8217;s mastery of the subject matter coupled with his excellent presentation and communication skills made for an outstanding learning experience.&#8221; &#8211; Jim Olwine from Atlanta</p>
<p>&#8220;Peter REALLY did change my life. He provided such great instruction on Scrum and the duties of a ScrumMaster. He gave lots of clarity on my career direction. Great job!&#8221; &#8211; Aletha Hill from Atlanta</p>
<p>&#8220;VERY INSPIRING. [Peter Saddington] is one of the best instructors I have ever seen in my life.&#8221; &#8211; Parveen Yadav from Atlanta</p>
<p>&#8220;I can honestly say that the ScrumMaster class has changed my view on software development, and breathed welcome fresh air into some tired sails. I am genuinely looking forward to the second half of my career now, with hopes to embody in my work all that Peter laid out in the class and the skill set of a true servant leader in the technical world.&#8221; &#8211; Mike Rucker from Atlanta</p></blockquote>
<p>[HT: <a href="http://www.prweb.com/releases/scrummaster/atlanta/prweb10438519.htm">PRWeb</a>]</p>
<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8565">Atlanta ScrumMaster Training - Action & Influence Growing the Atlanta Market</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/atlanta-scrummaster-training-action-influence-growing-the-atlanta-market/">Atlanta ScrumMaster Training &#8211; Action &#038; Influence Growing the Atlanta Market</a>
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		<title>[Agile Tool Review]: Conferencing calling made easy by free online tool &#8211; Speek!</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/agile-tool-review-conferencing-calling-made-easy-by-free-online-tool-speek/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/agile-tool-review-conferencing-calling-made-easy-by-free-online-tool-speek/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 13 Feb 2013 13:11:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sameer Bendre</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Agile Scrum Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Misc Tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agilescout.com/?p=8521</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Interested to know about an easy to use, No Bridge/PIN requiring conference call tool? Check out Speek[.com]! Note: Currently they only support callers within USA. &#8220;..there HAS to be an easy way!..&#8221; One of the biggest challanges of being a volunteer lead on distributed virtual teams is &#8211; Communication. With various teams I volunteer with, [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8521">[Agile Tool Review]: Conferencing calling made easy by free online tool - Speek!</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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</a>
<hr></p></div></p><p><hr />
<a href="http://agilescout.com/agile-tool-review-conferencing-calling-made-easy-by-free-online-tool-speek/">[Agile Tool Review]: Conferencing calling made easy by free online tool &#8211; Speek!</a>
</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Interested to know about an easy to use, No Bridge/PIN requiring conference call tool? Check out Speek[.com]!<br />
<strong>Note:</strong> Currently they only support callers within USA.</p>
<p><strong><em>&#8220;..there HAS to be an easy way!..&#8221;</em></strong></p>
<p>One of the biggest challanges of being a volunteer lead on distributed virtual teams is &#8211; Communication. With various teams I volunteer with, keeping up with the calendar, conference bridges and pins is a tough task. I&#8217;ve sometimes joined the meetings late due to fiddling with the &#8220;smart phone&#8221; or used incorrect numbers..In my quest to find a FREE simple option, Somehow, I found out about http://www.speek.com/</p>
<p><em><strong>How it works?</strong></em></p>
<p>Speek team has pretty good video, audio help to get us started. I would recommend starting here:</p>
<ol>
<li><a title="Speek Intro, Features" href="http://vimeo.com/46097710" target="_blank">Features/Ad</a></li>
<li><a title="Register your link" href="http://vimeo.com/43418358" target="_blank">How to Register your Speek Link</a></li>
<li><a title="Joining a SPEEK call" href="http://vimeo.com/43421132" target="_blank">How to join a Speek call</a></li>
</ol>
<p>In addition here are few self explanatory screen shots for your reference:</p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-LandingPage.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8529" alt="Speek-LandingPage" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-LandingPage-570x281.png" width="570" height="281" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-Signup.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8530" alt="Speek-Signup" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-Signup-570x349.png" width="570" height="349" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-JoinACall.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8531" alt="Speek-JoinACall" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-JoinACall-570x377.png" width="570" height="377" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-JoinACall2.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8532" alt="Speek-JoinACall2" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-JoinACall2-570x248.png" width="570" height="248" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em><strong>Dashboard &amp; Bridge Info:</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-Dashboard.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8533" alt="Speek-Dashboard" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-Dashboard-570x335.png" width="570" height="335" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-BridgeInfo.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8534" alt="Speek-BridgeInfo" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-BridgeInfo-570x288.png" width="570" height="288" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-OnACall.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8537" alt="Speek-OnACall" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Speek-OnACall-570x352.png" width="570" height="352" /></a></p>
<p><em><strong>My Experience:</strong></em></p>
<p>I&#8217;ve had calls with our PMI Atlanta volunteer team, with few agile coaches, and we all found it:</p>
<ul>
<li>very easy to navigate,</li>
<li>intuitive,</li>
<li>Call quality was clear and</li>
<li>Call Summary email after the end of call!</li>
</ul>
<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>What can make it BETTER:</strong></span></em></p>
<ol>
<li>If Speek could add a Screen/Desktop share utility in addition to file share and</li>
<li>I know they already must be working on this, but making it <strong>GLOBAL</strong>!</li>
</ol>
<p>What do agilescout readers use to keep in touch with your (distributed) teams? Were you aware of Speek before reading here? Let us know.</p>
<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8521">[Agile Tool Review]: Conferencing calling made easy by free online tool - Speek!</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/agile-tool-review-conferencing-calling-made-easy-by-free-online-tool-speek/">[Agile Tool Review]: Conferencing calling made easy by free online tool &#8211; Speek!</a>
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		<title>Agile Designers &#8211; Marketplace for Awesome</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/agile-designers-marketplace-for-awesome/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/agile-designers-marketplace-for-awesome/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:02:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Agile Scrum Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[All Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Misc Tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agilescout.com/?p=8504</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>&#160; Are you an Agile Designer? Or just a designer looking for great resources? This webbie came up on our radar and so far I like what I&#8217;ve seen. Now, sharing sites are a dime a dozen these days, this is nothing new. What I do like is that designers register, drop web pages or [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8504">Agile Designers - Marketplace for Awesome</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/agile-designers-marketplace-for-awesome/">Agile Designers &#8211; Marketplace for Awesome</a>
</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/agile-designers-homepage.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8505" alt="agile-designers-homepage" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/agile-designers-homepage-570x496.png" width="570" height="496" /></a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Are you an Agile Designer? Or just a designer looking for great resources? This webbie came up on our radar and so far I like what I&#8217;ve seen.</p>
<p>Now, sharing sites are a dime a dozen these days, this is nothing new. What I do like is that designers register, drop web pages or things of interest for others and they get &#8216;accepted&#8217; by the community as valuable. Crowdsourcing at it&#8217;s best.</p>
<p>Don&#8217;t get it twisted though, this isn&#8217;t a FREE DESIGN TEMPLATE webpage. It&#8217;s more on the workflow, the process&#8230; helping a designer become more agile&#8230; or rather, able to be productive.</p>
<p>Worth a look.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.agiledesigners.com/">AgileDesigners.com</a></p>
<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8504">Agile Designers - Marketplace for Awesome</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/agile-designers-marketplace-for-awesome/">Agile Designers &#8211; Marketplace for Awesome</a>
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		<title>Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Guide &#8211; Fifth edition is now available!</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/project-management-institute-pmi-pmbok-guide-fifth-edition-is-now-available/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/project-management-institute-pmi-pmbok-guide-fifth-edition-is-now-available/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Jan 2013 13:04:34 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Sameer Bendre</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Misc Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Sameer Bendre]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[View Points]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://agilescout.com/?p=8461</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<p>Project Management Institute&#8217;s &#8211; Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) Guide (Fifth edition) is now available! It&#8217;s an exciting an MUCH awaited news for (many) PMI volunteers who volunteered and worked hard on completing this! I have been a part of this significant project since August 2010. I worked with a distributed, dedicated, talented team [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8461">Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Guide - Fifth edition is now available!</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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</a>
<hr></p></div></p><p><hr />
<a href="http://agilescout.com/project-management-institute-pmi-pmbok-guide-fifth-edition-is-now-available/">Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Guide &#8211; Fifth edition is now available!</a>
</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PMI-PMBOKv51.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-8472" alt="PMI-PMBOKv5" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PMI-PMBOKv51-570x366.png" width="570" height="366" /></a></p>
<p><a title="Project Management Institute" href="http://agilescout.com/pmi-acp-exam-explained-tips-and-experiences-taking-the-agile-certified-practitioner-test/" target="_blank">Project Management Institute&#8217;s</a> &#8211; Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBoK) Guide (Fifth edition) is now available! It&#8217;s an exciting an MUCH awaited news for (many) PMI volunteers who volunteered and worked hard on completing this!</p>
<p>I have been a part of this significant project since August 2010. I worked with a distributed, dedicated, talented team of project management practitioners from across the globe as a Content committee member. It&#8217;s an inexplicable experience to see your name listed in this Guide referred by worldwide practitioners and PMP aspirants. Thank you PMI and my amazing team for the support and this awesome chance!</p>
<p>The challenges that our team faced were tough but every team member was committed and made sure our work timeline was never impacted and delivered high quality output. There were multiple such teams working in parallel, and leads of those teams synchronizing all the work! I can&#8217;t imagine the number of stories rest of the volunteers must have to share.</p>
<p>To everyone who helped create this Guide and volunteered your expertise, time and probably sometimes sacrificed personal time &#8211; I personally thank you for your valuable contribution. If you stumble upon this post and have contributed, please share your story, views and journey.</p>
<p>If you have friends, colleagues, bosses  - please spread the word around. (PMI members might already be aware about this). But, surprisingly I found MANY in the community who talk to me regarding PMP certification prep unaware about this. Project Management Professional OR PMP (R) is a world wide respected credential which is not restricted to JUST software development, but is common for non-IT fields and jobs &#8211; e.g.: Construction, Oil and Gas, Finance, Non-profits and many other domains.</p>
<p>If you are affiliated to a PMI chapter, make your chapter operations team and members cognizant about it. If you are a PMI-REP (Registered Education Provider), a trainer, consultant, blogger or simply a project management practitioner &#8211; this change affects you.</p>
<p>Share the news &#8211; by word of mouth, through emails, through twitter, Facebook - whatever media you can. Just help make the people making choice regarding project management as profession be aware about this change.</p>
<p>Check the <a title="Newly updated standards" href="http://www.pmi.org/GLOBALS/StandardsUpdate.aspx?WT.mc_id=www.pmi.org/standardsupdate" target="_blank">Newly Updated Standards Availability</a> page on PMI site, specifically:  &#8220;Getting Ready for the Exam?&#8221; section with Study Recommendation and Updated Exam Schedule sections!</p>
<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=8461">Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Guide - Fifth edition is now available!</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<hr></p></div><p><hr />
<a href="http://agilescout.com/project-management-institute-pmi-pmbok-guide-fifth-edition-is-now-available/">Project Management Institute (PMI) PMBOK Guide &#8211; Fifth edition is now available!</a>
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		<title>The Agile Pocket Guide &#8211; Peter Saddington &#8211; Now on Amazon for Pre-Order!</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/the-agile-pocket-guide-peter-saddington-now-on-amazon-for-pre-order/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/the-agile-pocket-guide-peter-saddington-now-on-amazon-for-pre-order/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 May 2012 14:18:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>Super excited that my next book: The Agile Pocket Guide is now up on Amazon.com for pre-order! It&#8217;s been a long road since I first got rejected by many publishers and finally self-published and then grabbed Wiley&#8217;s attention! #win You just finished reading The Agile Pocket Guide - Peter Saddington - Now on Amazon for Pre-Order!! [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=7139">The Agile Pocket Guide - Peter Saddington - Now on Amazon for Pre-Order!</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Agile-Pocket-Guide-Business/dp/1118438256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1337868769&amp;sr=8-1"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7140" title="the-agile-pocket-guide-peter-saddington-2012.05.24" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/the-agile-pocket-guide-peter-saddington-2012.05.24-570x437.png" alt="" width="570" height="437" /></a>Super excited that my next book: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Agile-Pocket-Guide-Business/dp/1118438256/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1337868769&amp;sr=8-1">The Agile Pocket Guide </a>is now up on Amazon.com for pre-order!</p>
<p>It&#8217;s been a long road since I first got <a href="http://agilescout.com/wiley-partners-with-peter-saddington-to-publish-agile-pocket-guide/">rejected by many publishers</a> and finally self-published and then grabbed Wiley&#8217;s attention!</p>
<p>#win</p>
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		<title>Business Optimization and Human Potential</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/business-optimization-and-human-potential/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 12:15:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>We are often blind. As Agile Coaches, consultants, and organizational improvers, we strive to help teams and businesses alike improve their performance, output, and even culture. The problem is&#8230; that we often come into a team or business blind, not understanding the full context of each team and each individual who makes up that team. [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=7000">Business Optimization and Human Potential</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://myai.org"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-7001" title="action-influence-iphone-agile" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/action-influence-iphone-agile-570x380.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="380" /></a></p>
<h2>We are often blind.</h2>
<p>As Agile Coaches, consultants, and organizational improvers, we strive to help teams and businesses alike improve their <a href="http://myai.org/why-ai/sample-scenarios/improving-team-performance/">performance, output, and even culture</a>.</p>
<p>The problem is&#8230; that we often come into a team or business blind, not understanding the full context of each team and each individual who makes up that team.</p>
<h2>This is a problem.</h2>
<p>To be the most effective we need to <strong>understand how people operate</strong>. <em>We need to understand how they work collectively, as a group, as a team, and as individuals. </em>The quicker we can assess and understand the contextual culture of our clients and teams, we are left to empirically deduce assumptions that most often are half-truths.</p>
<p>As we jump into consulting or coaching with any client, it would be great to know their cultural context, how people are behaving, and even how to engage with them best.</p>
<p>Easier said than done, until <a href="http://myai.org">Action &amp; Influence</a> dropped on the scene.</p>
<h2><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/action-influence-logo-black.jpg"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-7090" title="action-influence-logo-black" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/action-influence-logo-black.jpg" alt="" width="125" height="125" /></a>Action &amp; Influence &#8211; Business Optimization and Human Potential<span id="more-7000"></span></h2>
<p><a href="http://myai.org/services/">Action &amp; Influence</a> is simply this: A team and business assessment instrument that allows employees, managers, and stakeholders, the ability to understand how to communicate, collaborate, deal with conflict, and engage with each other better.</p>
<p>You now have the right levers to pull. You now have the ability to speak intentionally to each person because you know how they work and operate.</p>
<p>It is no longer an option to go in blind and guess. <a href="http://myai.org/services/for-individuals/">Know your people</a>. Know your clients. Know how to tap into each team members&#8217; potential.</p>
<p>[HT: <a href="http://myai.org">myAI.org</a>]</p>
<div id="attachment_7002" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 580px"><a href="http://myai.org/services/for-individuals/"><img class="size-medium wp-image-7002 " title="action-influence-snapshot-individual-agile" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/action-influence-snapshot-individual-agile-570x878.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="878" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">An Example of Individual Assessment Results</p></div>
<p>[Example Workshop Setup]</p>
<p><span class='embed-youtube' style='text-align:center; display: block;'><iframe class='youtube-player' type='text/html' width='570' height='351' src='http://www.youtube.com/embed/SrtiFEU0s5g?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></p>
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		<title>Achievements: An Agile Whitepaper</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/achievements-an-agile-whitepaper/</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:15:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>An Agile Whitepaper: Achievements By, Renee Troughton CELEBRATE WITH YOUR TEAM ACHIEVEMENTS Abstract: Agile Achievements can be used to track and celebrate both individual and team behaviors in adopting Agile values, principles and practices. Gaddie Pitch: You know how most teams find it difficult to know what they have to do when developing in an Agile environment? [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=6924">Achievements: An Agile Whitepaper </a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h2 style="text-align: center;">An Agile Whitepaper: Achievements</h2>
<p style="text-align: center;">By, Renee Troughton</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-agile-revolution.png"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6925" title="the-agile-revolution" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/the-agile-revolution.png" alt="" width="226" height="296" /></a></p>
<h2><strong>CELEBRATE WITH YOUR TEAM ACHIEVEMENTS</strong></h2>
<p><strong>Abstract: </strong>Agile Achievements can be used to track and celebrate both individual and team behaviors in adopting Agile values, principles and practices.</p>
<p><strong>Gaddie Pitch: </strong>You know how most teams find it difficult to know what they have to do when developing in an Agile environment?</p>
<p>Well what Achievements does is help to give clear goals about the expected behaviors for teams and individuals.</p>
<p>In fact Achievements can be fun and re-direct the focus away from the <a href="http://agilescout.com/the-perfect-scrummaster-job-description/">Scrum Master</a> or <a href="http://peter.ps">Agile Coach</a> to enable the team to encourage better <a href="http://myai.org">Agile behaviors</a>.</p>
<h1><strong>What is an Achievement?</strong></h1>
<p><span id="more-6924"></span>Unlike normal achievements that are often considered monumental milestones in a person&#8217;s life the gamer&#8217;s definition of an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achievement_(video_gaming)">Achievement</a> is more a small stretch goal outside of the <a href="http://myai.org/why-ai/sample-scenarios/improving-team-performance/">team or individual&#8217;s current behavioral norms</a>.</p>
<p>Within Agile when we apply Achievements we are commonly tracking particular Agile practices, artifacts, values or principles. Let&#8217;s take a look at an example of an Achievement:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/back-to-future-achievements-agile.png"><img class="alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-6926" title="back-to-future-achievements-agile" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/back-to-future-achievements-agile-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>Back to the Future</strong></p>
<p>Sprint Retrospectives have been held at the end of each Sprint for five Sprints in a row.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p></blockquote>
<p>We can see from this example that the Achievement name is easily recognizable as a pop culture reference, but the link to the relevant practice does not require a huge leap of the imagination. Whilst doing five Sprint Retrospectives consistently might sound like a simple and easy thing to do it does require discipline and the skipping of them is a common problem for teams. You can keep up the consistency through continuing the pop culture reference and introducing “Back to the Future II” and “Back to the Future III” Achievements, widening the number of Retrospectives held consistently and the gauging the effectiveness of them.</p>
<p>A critical thinker may be concerned that despite the Sprint Retrospectives being done were they actually effective? Or did the right people turn up to the Sprint Retrospective? These are important questions, but ones that could be covered off by additional Achievements if it was considered a problem for the team.</p>
<h2>Agile Achievements can either measure the:</h2>
<ul>
<li>Consistency of a practice</li>
<li>Quality of a practice and its outcomes</li>
<li>Existence of an artifact</li>
<li>Adherence against values or principle</li>
</ul>
<h2><strong>Agile Achievement categories</strong></h2>
<p>The focus of Agile Achievements can change based upon a number of factors:</p>
<ul>
<li>Team vs individually focused</li>
<li>Positive vs negatively focused</li>
<li>Method focus (for example Scrum vs Kanban)</li>
</ul>
<p>Other categories may exist. You are only limited by your imagination!</p>
<h2><strong>Team versus individual Achievements</strong></h2>
<p>As teams start Achievements for the first time consider using just team focused objectives rather than individualistic focused goals. Once the team gets the hang of how the Achievements technique works then you can discuss and agree as a team whether there is value in taking the next step of looking at tracking individual Achievements. Often teams will want to make this transition for one of three reasons:</p>
<ol>
<li>they are having fun and want to boast about what they are doing and how well they are doing it;</li>
<li>to compete against each other; or</li>
<li>one or two individuals are suspected to be holding the team back</li>
</ol>
<p>An example of individual achievement would be:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/speed-demon-agile-achievements.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6927" title="speed-demon-agile-achievements" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/speed-demon-agile-achievements.png" alt="" width="120" height="126" /></a>Speed demon<br />
</strong>The person has contributed to ten stories that were completed inside of the iteration.<strong></strong></p></blockquote>
<h2></h2>
<h2></h2>
<h2><strong>Positive vs negative Achievements</strong></h2>
<p>Whilst a positively re-enforcing Achievement would be celebrating the success of a practice well played, a negatively focused Achievement would be more about attempting to “name and shame” a person into practice compliance. This is a risky thing to do and can potentially backfire on the Achievement technique implementer if the environment is not conducive or safe to call this out. Arguably such an environment is a “smell” in itself. An example of a negatively focused achievement would be:</p>
<p>An example of individual achievement would be:</p>
<blockquote><p><strong><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/i-see-dead-walls-agile-achievements.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6928" title="i-see-dead-walls-agile-achievements" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/i-see-dead-walls-agile-achievements.png" alt="" width="124" height="137" /></a>I see dead walls<br />
</strong>Less than 5 cards moved inside of the iteration.<strong></strong></p></blockquote>
<h2></h2>
<h2></h2>
<h2></h2>
<h2><strong>Scrum versus <a href="http://agilescout.com/kanban-is-great-for-beginning-agile-teams/">Kanban</a> Achievements</strong></h2>
<p>Due to the practice differences between Scrum and Kanban you can vary the Achievements based upon which method you are using. For example, if you take into account how you measure progress, you can implement an Achievement around the appropriate measurement artifact.</p>
<blockquote><p><em><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/kanban-only-way-up-agile-achievements.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6929" title="kanban-only-way-up-agile-achievements" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/kanban-only-way-up-agile-achievements.png" alt="" width="127" height="122" /></a><a href="http://agilescout.com/kanban-is-great-for-beginning-agile-teams/">Kanban</a></em></p>
<p><strong>The only way is up!</strong></p>
<p>A Cumulative Flow Diagram has been consistently updated for each day for four weeks.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><em><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/make-them-meet-agile-achievements.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6930" title="make-them-meet-agile-achievements" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/make-them-meet-agile-achievements.png" alt="" width="132" height="131" /></a>Scrum</em></p>
<p><strong>Make them meet</strong></p>
<p>The Burn Up Chart demonstrates that they scope cannot be achieved in the number of iterations left. Consequently the team has formed a new plan.<em></em></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/venus-agile-achievements.png"><img class="alignleft size-full wp-image-6931" title="venus-agile-achievements" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/venus-agile-achievements.png" alt="" width="134" height="133" /></a>Venus</strong></p></blockquote>
<p>A burn up chart of the team&#8217;s velocity against expectations has been produced and made visible (You&#8217;ve got it!)</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>What does an Achievement Board look like?</strong></h2>
<p>An “Achievement Board” or “Trophy Board” is a <a href="http://agilescout.com/gamification-making-work-a-game/">gamification</a> technique to record, celebrate and display the earning of Achievements as they relate to teams or individuals.</p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/achievement-board-agile.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-6932" title="achievement-board-agile" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/achievement-board-agile-570x388.png" alt="" width="570" height="388" /></a></p>
<h2>MAKE IT VISIBLE</h2>
<p>An Achievement Board is another big visible chart for your team&#8217;s area. Generally it will be displayed as one or more A3s. On these A3s would be the achievement name (short name) and either a blank space for the Achievement token to go on or a black and white picture of the Achievement token. When the team or individual has earned the Achievement you simply place the colored Achievement token on the blank space or over the black and white copy of the image. It is a good idea to keep a key of the achievement name and the trigger or goal for reaching the achievement nearby.</p>
<p>Achievement boards are also great for when managers and executives walk by. Uninitiated managers to Achievements will ask questions about what the board means and it will give the team an opportunity to bring the manager onto the behavioral journey that the team or individual is on.</p>
<p>The usage of Achievement Boards, if they go viral within your organization, can then be used as clout or bragging rights competitively against other teams.</p>
<p>Dependent upon the number of achievements and implementation method, the time it takes a Scrum Master or Agile Coach to track the team’s achievement progress on average it should not take longer than 10 minutes per week. Limit the number of Achievements that you want to strive towards by focusing on the problems that you are experiencing as a team. Focus only on practices that you hypothesize that greater adherence and effectiveness will make demonstrated improvements in both capability and ability to deliver outcomes with.</p>
<p>The examples provided above and within the Appendices are just that – examples. Setting up your own Achievement Board and defining the Achievements is a fun activity in itself and can be used as a team building activity when the team forms up for the first time.</p>
<h2><strong>Why would you use an Achievement technique?</strong></h2>
<p>The change to become more Agile is an often difficult journey.</p>
<p>Early adopters, frustrated with the current status quo will flock to a solution, any solution, as long as it pulls them out of the desperate situation that they seemed to have fallen into.</p>
<p>Others within the team may be less than willing to try something different. The motivation for them to change is not fostered.</p>
<p>Through the usage of Agile Achievements you can</p>
<ul>
<li>use a different framework to encourage the team to try a specific Agile practice that they have never done before</li>
<li>step up a team&#8217;s consistency against practices</li>
<li>create a safe means to be able to have a dialogue about individuals or teams not following the values, principles or practices</li>
<li>create a collectively re-enforcing peer pressure environment to enable change from the team rather than directly from the Scrum Master or Agile Coach</li>
<li>celebrate consistency</li>
<li>have explicit policies around behavioral change</li>
<li>have a means to be able to consistently measure Agile Maturity across teams within the organization; and</li>
<li>have a tight feedback loop to compare practice expectations to actual behaviors. This aligns strongly with Agile&#8217;s philosophy of &#8216;inspect and adapt&#8217;.</li>
</ul>
<p>As always quality working software, or outcomes, that meets real customer needs is always the true north or end goal, but by creating an environment that encourages better practices you should be encouraging the focus on working software – after all the practices are there to support the Agile manifesto and principles.</p>
<h2><strong>Disclaimer:</strong></h2>
<p>This article is by no means propagating Achievements as a must have practice for every Agile team. Some would argue that this detracts away from “working software”, but it is there only to encourage teams to strive to new heights. If you feel like this might be a technique that is valuable then give it a go!</p>
<p><em><strong>About Renee Troughton</strong></em></p>
<p><em>Renee Troughton is an Agile Coach with over eight years experience in implementation Agile within large and medium scale enterprises. Renee is an active Agile community member and contributes through both her blog at Agile Forest and through a fortnightly Agile podcast called <a href="http://www.theagilerevolution.com/">The Agile Revolution</a>.</em></p>
<p><em>You can contact Renee Troughton on renee@theagilerevolution.com.</em></p>
<p><strong><em>Appendix A: Example Positive Team Achievements</em></strong></p>
<table width="499" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152"><strong>Achievement Name</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="347"><strong>Trigger</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">All aboard!&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All core team members are on time for 10 stand-ups in a row (excluding planned leave)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Risky business</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Risks have been looked at for the last 5 iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Hot stuff!&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The average team temperature check has been &gt;= 8 for 4 iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Seekers of truth</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Customer feedback has been received for everyone in the team</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Show and tell&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The team has successfully demonstrated showcases to the customer three iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Working on all cylinders&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All planned stories for the iteration have been completed by the end of the iteration</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Superheroes!&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All planned stories for four iterations in a row have been completed by the end of each iteration</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Under the same roof&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All team members are co-located on the same floor, in the same area.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Socially bound</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">A social contract exists for the team</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">I don’t mind a good game of blackjack too</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All cards on the team’s story wall have estimates of their size against them (planning poker&#8217;ed)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Back to the Future&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Retrospectives have been held at the end of each iteration for five iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Back to the Future II&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Retrospectives have been held at the end of each iteration for ten iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Back to the Future III&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Retrospectives have been held at the end of each iteration for ten iterations in a row. Additionally, all actions raised have been raised as new stories and prioritized into the backlog or the next iteration or have been done by the next Retrospective</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">From Russia with love</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All cards in the backlog are prioritized (MoSCoW)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Forward thinking&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">For four weeks in a row all new cards added in scope have been prioritized and estimated</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Taking it as it comes&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">For four weeks in a row work is pulled from the backlog in order of priority. Stories don’t miraculously skip upwards.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Have a say&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Everyone within the retrospective participates by putting at least one post-it note up in an area for four retrospectives in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">The Borg&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">10 positive team achievements have been reached (you have been assimilated</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Venus&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">A burn up chart of the team’s velocity against expectations has been produced and made visible (you’ve got it!)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Yesterday’s weather was rain&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The team uses the velocity of the last iteration to predict what can be achieved in the next iteration. Consistently applied three times in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Like a G6&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">After five iterations the team is still on track to complete the must haves, should haves and could have scope items (you are feeling so fly!)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Make them meet&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The burn up chart demonstrates that the scope cannot be achieved in the number of iterations left. This has been escalated to the steering committee and a new plan formulated</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">The only way is up!&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">A Cumulative flow diagram has been consistently updated each day for four weeks (for Kanban)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Steady flow&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The Cumulative Flow Diagram has been used to identify incorrect WIP limits or resource assignments and the team has changed to even up the flow.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">It’s not the size but how you use it that counts</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Big Visual Charts exist for the stories, risks/issues and social contract for the team</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Pot of gold&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The team reflects on the confidence ratings on the project’s rainbow slider for four iterations in a row.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Make good&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The Big Visual Charts don’t use sticky or masking tape. Instead painters tape and blue tak is used. Additionally nothing is stuck to outside glass walls</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Keeping it brief&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">For five stand-ups in a row the team has kept to the 10 minute time slot.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">The empire strikes back&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All stories have a clear definition of done prior to starting them for three iterations in a row. (done done done da da done da da done)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">A worthwhile investment&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All stories follow the INVEST principles prior to starting them for three iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Breakdancing&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All stories to be completed inside of the iteration have been broken down to something that is achievable within four working days</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Once upon a time&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All stories for three iterations in a row are written using the standard story format. (As an achievement writer I want to define achievements so that people can have fun whilst they learn and deliver)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Tokenizer&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Tokens are being used by the whole team to represent key elements of the story – slow moving card, new, blocked, risk, urgent.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Jake Sully&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Avatars are used to represent responsible ownership of the card.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">I wont be outdated!</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Dates of importance are represented on all relevant cards on the wall.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Dance-a-thon&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The team has a means to celebrate success of completing stories, this means is used for four weeks.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Impedimentia&nbsp;</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Blockers are addressed and resolved before the next stand-up for all stories for three stand-ups in a row.</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong><em>Appendix B: Example Negative Team Achievements</em></strong></p>
<table width="499" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152"><strong>Achievement Name</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="347"><strong>Trigger</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">I see dead walls</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Less than 5 cards moved inside of the iteration (or 2 weeks for Kanban)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Only person at the show</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Less than three people turn up for the showcase</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Unbroken</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">A story has stayed in progress for four weeks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">On the wrong side of the track</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">There has been a cost, time, scope or quality change to the project that is inconsistent with the success sliders</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Red warriors</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The team has completed more than 10 stories that do not have any visible indication of their priority on them (MoSCoW)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Busy bumble bees</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">Five actions have not been progressed from previous retrospectives</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Sit-downs</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">One of more people sit down in the stand-up (with no valid Occupational Health &amp; Safety excuse)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Illadin</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">An iteration has been started with iteration backlog stories that haven&#8217;t been fully elaborated (you are not prepared!)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Hoarder</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">All stories for the iteration have been assigned out to team members at the start of the iteration</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">My GANTT chart is as big as a wall!</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The story wall is split up from month to month. Work is not flowing, it is just being done in the time period that was expected of it</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong><em>Appendix C: Example Positive Individual Achievements</em></strong></p>
<table width="499" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152"><strong>Achievement Name</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="347"><strong>Trigger</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">You don&#8217;t have to tell me</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has attended every standup for the last month</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Epic</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has completed all stories associated with an epic story</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">The offliner</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person sidelines/takes offline five bogged down discussions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Flatlining</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has canceled five stories as no longer being needed/important</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Speed demon</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has contributed to 10 stories that were competed inside of the iteration</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Storyteller</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has completed 25 stories</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Library owner</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has completed 50 stories</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Librarian</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has completed 100 stories</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Cheesy</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has achieved 20 positive achievements</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Careful Casper</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has raised 10 risks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Seeker</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has asked for feedback from three people</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Born Whippy</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has not exceeded their WIP limit for four iterations</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Showing off!</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has run the showcase three times</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Touchy feely</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person touches each of their in progress cards for five stand-ups in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Socialite!</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has the courage and confidence to call out deviations from the team&#8217;s social contract.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Two&#8217;s company</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has worked with someone else in the team, real time, to deliver a story.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Iron Maiden</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has had the courage to call out that the direction that the project is going is misaligned with the success sliders.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">It&#8217;s not you, it&#8217;s me</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person takes on a story that is someone else&#8217;s</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p><strong><em>Appendix D: Example Negative Individual Achievements</em></strong></p>
<table width="499" border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152"><strong>Achievement Name</strong></td>
<td valign="top" width="347"><strong>Trigger</strong></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">King of the turtles</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has five slow moving cards against their name on the wall</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">The feet dragger</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person, as a core team member, has skipped five stand-ups in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">MIA</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person, as a core team member, has skipped more than ten stand-ups</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">The creeper</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has increased the scope of 5 stories whilst they are inside of an iteration</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Distracted juggler</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has passed their work in progress limit (first time)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Snowed under</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has passed their work in progress limit for two iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Ball dropper</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has passed their work in progress limit for four iterations in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Talkative</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has spent too long talking for their turn at standups 5 times in a row</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Please hold the line</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has 8 cards in waiting/review at the same time</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td valign="top" width="152">Marshall Invisible</td>
<td valign="top" width="347">The person has discussed three items in their standup that aren&#8217;t visible on the wall</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
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		<title>Virtual Scrum &#8211; Scrum Wing 3D &#8211; Open Source Agile Tool</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/virtual-scrum-scrum-wing-3d-open-source-agile-tool/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/virtual-scrum-scrum-wing-3d-open-source-agile-tool/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:15:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Agile Scrum Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[All Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Misc Tools]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[<p>Scrum Wing 3D (SW3D) is an open-source Scrum project management tool, implemented using the Open Cobalt platform, a virtual space browser and toolkit. The idea of using Open Cobalt to develop SW3D comes from the author&#8217;s vision of combining the immersive training concept along with the Scrum framework. The SW3D User Experience Every day, the Scrum team members start Open Cobalt [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=6162">Virtual Scrum - Scrum Wing 3D - Open Source Agile Tool</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/virtual-scrum-scrum-wing-3d-open-source-agile-tool/">Virtual Scrum &#8211; Scrum Wing 3D &#8211; Open Source Agile Tool</a>
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				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/open-cobalt-virtual-workspace-scrum-wing-3d.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-6163" title="open-cobalt-virtual-workspace-scrum-wing-3d" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/open-cobalt-virtual-workspace-scrum-wing-3d-570x256.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="256" /></a></p>
<p><a href="http://code.google.com/p/scrum-wing-3d/">Scrum Wing 3D (SW3D)</a> is an open-source <strong><a href="http://agilescout.com/top-agile-tools/best-agile-tools/">Scrum project management tool</a></strong>, implemented using the <a href="http://www.opencobalt.org/" rel="nofollow">Open Cobalt</a> platform, a virtual space browser and toolkit. The idea of using Open Cobalt to develop SW3D comes from the author&#8217;s vision of combining the <a href="http://www.active.ist.ucf.edu/" rel="nofollow">i</a>mmersive training concept along with the <a href="http://scrumpocketguide.com">Scrum framework</a>.</p>
<h1>The SW3D User Experience</h1>
<p>Every day, the Scrum team members start Open Cobalt and join the <a href="http://agilescout.com/the-perfect-scrummaster-job-description/">Scrum Master</a>&#8216;s virtual space to hold the stand-up daily meeting, in order to review the sprint progress, what is done, what is the plan for the day and address open impediments.</p>
<p>Instead of being physically together, every team member sends her-his avatar to the shared virtual space to collectively manage user stories, plan a new sprint or update the sprint backlog. <em><strong>This is not a game: your avatar becomes your deputy into a highly-collaborative, 3D, sound-enabled, server-less workplace.</strong></em></p>
<h2>What SW3D is not?</h2>
<p>SW3D is not a web application: SW3D installs software components on your machine and as such, administrator privileges should be granted to users if they are not computer&#8217;s owner where you want SW3D to run. There is no need for any server. Artifacts are stored on binary files, so no database is needed. Everything goes into a single folder, so it is very easy to setup and remove.</p>
<h2><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/scrum-wing-3d.jpeg"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-6167" title="scrum-wing-3d" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/scrum-wing-3d-570x507.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="507" /></a></h2>
<h2>Which Scrum artifacts are delivered with Scrum Wing 3D alpha edition?</h2>
<ul>
<li>The capacity planner: including team member name, role, email and time availability.</li>
<li>The product backlog.</li>
<li>The sprint backlog: used for tasking estimates and daily sprint meetings.</li>
<li>The sprint summary and burn-down chart.</li>
<li>No taskboard is yet delivered. All artifacts are loaded with dummy data sets so you can browse a fictional project without spending time with manual input while evaluating this tool for the first time.</li>
</ul>
<p>Sounds pretty tight to me. I covered some other ideas around using <a href="http://agilescout.com/sunday-fun-agile-in-your-second-life-game/">virtual reality for Scrum</a>.</p>
<p>Viable?</p>
<p>[VIA: <a href="http://code.google.com/p/scrum-wing-3d/">ScrumWing</a>]</p>
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		<title>An Agile Virtual Office? Beam Me Up, Brody! &#8211; Sococo Virtual Collaboration</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-brody-sococo-virtual-collaboration/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-brody-sococo-virtual-collaboration/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Mar 2012 12:15:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ken 'classmaker' Ritchie</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Blog Series]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ken Classmaker Ritchie]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Misc Tools]]></category>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>HOW TO WORK REMOTELY WITHOUT BEING ISOLATED If you really work alone, without collaborators, then you can skip the rest of this post. It probably won&#8217;t matter much to you. I value agile collaboration. I work with others, at various times and places. If you do, too, then please continue reading&#8230; When you can&#8217;t be [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=6408">An Agile Virtual Office? Beam Me Up, Brody! - Sococo Virtual Collaboration</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/an-agile-virtual-office-beam-me-up-brody-sococo-virtual-collaboration/">An Agile Virtual Office? Beam Me Up, Brody! &#8211; Sococo Virtual Collaboration</a>
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				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<h1><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/team-space-agile-room-social.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-6718" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/team-space-agile-room-social.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="272" /></a></h1>
<h1>HOW TO WORK REMOTELY WITHOUT BEING ISOLATED</h1>
<p>If you really work alone, without collaborators, then you can skip the rest of this post. It probably won&#8217;t matter much to you.</p>
<p><a title="4 Values of the Innovative Team" href="http://agilescout.com/4-values-of-the-innovative-team/" target="_blank">I value agile collaboration</a>. I work with others, at various times and places. If you do, too, then please continue reading&#8230;</p>
<p><em>When you can&#8217;t be in the same room or building with your team and others, how can you work together?  </em><a title="Social Communications Company (US) www.sococo.com" href="http://www.sococo.com" target="_blank">Sococo Team Space</a>!  That&#8217;s how. You can be remote&#8230;yet visibly present and connected&#8230;very much so!</p>
<h2>Sococo, where were you when I needed you?</h2>
<h3>I spent most of my past <em>three years</em> working remotely&#8230;</h3>
<p>I was a full-time member of an awesome organization (NASA), staffed with amazing people (engineers and, yes, rocket scientists!) who engaged in plenty of collaboration around the work (Independent Verification &amp; Validation). I was hired to work from home, with travel as needed to various locations.</p>
<p>To be sure, we made good use&#8211;<em>heavy use</em>&#8211;of our phones, conference lines, screen sharing apps, content management systems, file sharing, secure virtual private network, messaging and email. That technology stack was <em>good enough</em> that some people would &#8220;dial in&#8221; to a meeting <em>from the same building!</em> <span style="text-decoration: underline">If you are working from a wheelchair, you already know how valuable that technology can be, especially on a <em>hilly, ice-and-snow-covered</em> campus of several buildings!</span> (West Virginia is known as &#8220;The Mountaineer State&#8221; for good reason!)<span id="more-6408"></span></p>
<p><em></em>Yet, in spite of our &#8220;connectedness&#8221; that technology stack didn&#8217;t quite achieve the level of collaboration support I hoped for. At first, I traveled half the time. That was a great jump-start for meeting new colleagues and building rapport. The next year, a week a month. But travel budgets continued to shrink. I made only two trips last year. Can you spell <strong>ISOLATION</strong>? Sometimes it felt that way.</p>
<h2>What I really <em>craved</em>&#8230;</h2>
<h1>Tangible Virtual Presence!</h1>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sococo-virtual-team-collaboration.png"><img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-6753" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/sococo-virtual-team-collaboration-570x288.png" alt="" width="570" height="288" /></a></p>
<p>As an &#8220;agile&#8221; engineer, I wanted easier <a title="4 Values of the Innovative Team" href="http://agilescout.com/4-values-of-the-innovative-team/" target="_blank">collaboration</a>, higher bandwidth, and consolidated multi-media access to collaborators&#8230;within reason. When I was &#8220;there&#8221; it was easy to &#8220;see&#8221; if someone was &#8220;in&#8221; their office, a meeting room, conference, or common area.  So, I&#8217;m spoiled already. I wanted something that was <em>as close to &#8220;being there&#8221; as possible.</em> <strong><em>To see and be seen, hear and be heard. Near-instant access to others.</em></strong> But more than just an instant messenger, a phone call, a Skype session, or web meeting. I wanted something more integrated, encompassing audio+visual+media+whatever, and&#8230;<em><strong>LIVE</strong>!</em></p>
<p><strong>I wanted a continuous, mutually-tangible and symmetric tele-presence. <em><br />
</em></strong></p>
<p>Enter Sococo.<strong> Paul Brody</strong> (@pjbrody) is CTO and co-founder of Sococo. The folks at Sococo have made it even easier than ever to engage and collaborate remotely&#8230;and it&#8217;s rich, really rich, in capabilities and nuances! The way it looks to me, you can have it all&#8230; and customize your space to adapt to changing needs. For example: cube farms, private offices, large conference rooms, small meeting rooms, a break room, and common area or a lobby. It works in 2D, with numerous visual and audible cues. With a single click, you can instantly &#8220;beam&#8221; yourself into a room&#8211;if the door is open&#8211;and engage with everyone else in that room. And not only audio. You can use multiple shared screens, virtual speaker phones, or other furnishings of the future. I can hardly wait to see what comes next!</p>
<p>It keeps getting better! Here&#8217;s a recent blog from Sococo:<br />
<a title="Blurring the Boundaries Between Online and Physical Presence" href="https://www.sococo.com/news-and-events/blurring-the-boundaries-between-online-and-physical-presence.html" target="_blank"> Blurring the Boundaries Between Online and Physical Presence.</a></p>
<h3>Kudos to Krebs for his kool kollaboration&#8230;</h3>
<p>Special thanks to my friend and colleague, <strong>AgileBill Krebs</strong> (@AgileBill4d) founder of <a title="Agile Dimensions | Travel less. Do more." href="http://www.agiledimensions.com" target="_blank">AgileDimensions LLC</a>, for leading me to Sococo! Bill is a passionate innovator and evangelist for distributed teamwork. He keeps finding new ways we can work better together. Recently, Bill created Sococo Team Space for the <a title="Agile3d Distributed Agile Congress. Agile without borders." href="http://www.meetup.com/agile3d/" target="_blank">Agile3d Distributed Agile Congress</a> meetups. If it weren&#8217;t for Bill&#8217;s invitation&#8230; I shudder to think how long I might have waited to get &#8220;beamed up&#8221; into an agile virtual office suite! Thanks again, Bill!</p>
<p>-Ken (singing) <em>&#8220;I get by with a little help from my friends!&#8221;</em> <img src='http://agilescout.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif' alt=';-)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
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		<title>[Review] &#8211; Mike Cohn&#8217;s eLearning Agile Videos</title>
		<link>http://agilescout.com/review-mike-cohns-elearning-agile-videos/</link>
		<comments>http://agilescout.com/review-mike-cohns-elearning-agile-videos/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:15:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>peter</dc:creator>
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		<description><![CDATA[<p>Online Agile Videos Mike Cohn recently announced that he&#8217;s providing a kick butt online eLearning tool to learn all about Agile. I reached out to him to see what it&#8217;s all about and we kicked a few emails back and forth. Regardless, I went ahead and got my hands on it. That&#8217;s what AgileScout is [...]<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=5926">[Review] - Mike Cohn's eLearning Agile Videos</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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<a href="http://agilescout.com/review-mike-cohns-elearning-agile-videos/">[Review] &#8211; Mike Cohn&#8217;s eLearning Agile Videos</a>
</p>]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/agile-elearning-mike-cohn-training.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5927" title="agile-elearning-mike-cohn-training" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/agile-elearning-mike-cohn-training.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="223" /></a></p>
<h1>Online Agile Videos</h1>
<p><a href="http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/">Mike Cohn</a> recently announced that he&#8217;s providing a kick butt <a href="http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/elearning/aep">online eLearning tool</a> to learn all about Agile. I reached out to him to see what it&#8217;s all about and we kicked a few emails back and forth. Regardless, I went ahead and got my hands on it. <em>That&#8217;s what AgileScout is here for:<strong> Do the heavy lifting for you <img src='http://agilescout.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </strong></em>.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;">[<a href="http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/elearning/aep">Mountain Goat Software Online eLearning Agile Course</a>] LINK</p>
<p>With so many Universities doing online learning these days, wouldn&#8217;t it be about time for <a href="http://peter.ps">Agile and Scrum Trainers</a> to start offering online training tools? You&#8217;betcha. Who better to do it than Mike?</p>
<p>Here are my thoughts and experiences after a full<em> 3.5 hours and taking all 9</em> of the tests:</p>
<h1>Agile Topics Covered</h1>
<ul>
<li>Introduction</li>
<li>The Problem</li>
<li>Iteration Planning</li>
<li>Story Points &amp; Ideal Days</li>
<li>Estimating the Product Backlog</li>
<li>Release Planning</li>
<li>Other Topics</li>
<li>Conclusion</li>
</ul>
<div id="attachment_5928" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 580px"><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/mike-cohn-agile-elearning-intro-goat-training.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-5928" title="mike-cohn-agile-elearning-intro-goat-training" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/mike-cohn-agile-elearning-intro-goat-training.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="296" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">I was captivated by the introduction video of a goat running around. Fantastic!</p></div>
<h1>Review of Course Presentation<span id="more-5926"></span></h1>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-agile-elearning-profile-video.png"><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-5931" style="border-style: initial; border-color: initial;" title="mike-cohn-agile-elearning-profile-video" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-agile-elearning-profile-video.png" alt="" width="180" height="143" /></a></p>
<p>I couldn&#8217;t start this section without mentioning the quality of the videos. They are absolutely fantastic. We&#8217;re talking about:</p>
<ul>
<li>A nice BIG video player @ 981 x 791 pixels</li>
<li>Professionally done transitions and video editing</li>
<li>Bright colors and contrast to each video</li>
<li>High-Def Resolution pictures and graphics</li>
<li>Plus a nice big view of the man himself at certain points</li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-video-player-details-agile-elearning.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5932" title="mike-cohn-video-player-details-agile-elearning" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-video-player-details-agile-elearning.jpg" alt="" width="570" height="321" /></a></p>
<h1>Review of Course Content</h1>
<p>In terms of course content, the full narrative of the topics went smoothly from transition to transition. The course content outline was logical and there wasn&#8217;t any odd breaks from topic to topic. Mike spoke with clarity and conciseness (as expected) and it was very easy to understand exactly what he was talking about during each segment.</p>
<p>Each video is about 3-4 minutes long, with the longest being 8:40. This is nice because it breaks up the content into logical segments and enables you to watch at your own leisure, not feeling compelled to sit through 30 minute chunks at a time.</p>
<p>In my estimation, all the basics of Agile were covered (though a lot of the ideas are scrummy). It&#8217;s a healthy dive into Agile for noobs.</p>
<h1>Review of Test Questions</h1>
<div id="attachment_5933" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 568px"><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-agile-elearning-pass-test.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-5933" title="mike-cohn-agile-elearning-pass-test" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-agile-elearning-pass-test.jpg" alt="" width="558" height="317" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Dude...</p></div>
<p>The test questions were solid&#8230; what I really mean is they were solidly from the content in the videos, almost word for word. What made some of the questions &#8216;tough&#8217; were that there were extrapolations from what Mike said, and in turn, you had to put your thinking cap on to make sure you selected 3/4 of the options to get it right. Which is why on one of the tests I got 3/5 because I didn&#8217;t &#8216;choose&#8217; all of the right choices (check box). Huh. It does hurt your ego a bit. What is super nice, though, is that when you get something wrong, you get hit with 2+ paragraphs on the correct answer and <em>WHY</em>. This is super helpful.</p>
<p>Another oddity around the questions was that in a couple sections, I found quiz questions that weren&#8217;t covered yet by what Mike had taught. For example: <em>During the first planning eLearning section, I got a question on Sprint Planning, which isn&#8217;t covered until the next section</em>. If you know anything about Agile, you&#8217;d still get it right&#8230; but it didn&#8217;t flow 100% with the content.</p>
<p>Maybe I&#8217;m just being picky&#8230;</p>
<h1>AgileScout Bottom Line:</h1>
<div id="attachment_5948" class="wp-caption alignright" style="width: 160px"><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/peter-saddington-mike-cohn-certificate-agile.png"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-5948" title="peter-saddington-mike-cohn-certificate-agile" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/peter-saddington-mike-cohn-certificate-agile-150x150.png" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">I Passed!</p></div>
<p>You have two purchase options:</p>
<ul>
<li>[Streaming-only] License at <strong>$200 bones &#8211; </strong>*License expires after 6 months*</li>
<li>[Streaming + Download] at <strong>$300 bones &#8211; </strong>*My choice&#8230; cuz you get to keep the video*</li>
<li>These prices scale if you buy more licenses</li>
</ul>
<div>This may just do the trick if you&#8217;re looking for an alternative to classroom training. Though, I would advise that you don&#8217;t go that route if you&#8217;re looking for a<strong> full experience</strong>. Agile, in my opinion is all about experiencing it. Gettin&#8217; down and dirty into it. Understanding and seeing the team nuances and seeing the exercises and workshops and having those internal lightbulbs go off.</div>
<blockquote><p>I would say, nothing beats hands-on training. But, if you don&#8217;t have that option, this might just be the next best resource.</p></blockquote>
<p>For those that <strong>want a refresher</strong>, or those that want a <strong>quick introduction to Agile</strong>. This may just be your best bet. It isn&#8217;t cheap by the way, but do you have any other alternative?</p>
<p>I thoroughly enjoyed my time listening and watching Mike go at it. It was an enjoyable experience by and large. <em>Thanks again Mike for putting together a top-notch professional video resource for the Agile community. Rock on!</em></p>
<blockquote><p><strong>So what do you think? Online Agile training for the win?</strong></p></blockquote>
<div>=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-</div>
<div><em>Extra Course Details Below from Mountain Goat Software:</em></div>
<ul>
<li>Based on the instructor&#8217;s years of teaching this course at locations worldwide, this eLearning course offers you all the benefits of in-person training but with the convenience of watching whenever and wherever you want, including on your iPad, iPhone or Android device.</li>
<li>All the important topics are covered&#8211;from iteration planning to release planning. You&#8217;ll learn about story points and ideal days and the advantages to each. You&#8217;ll leave knowing how to produce fixed-date, fixed-scope, and fixed-price plans you can be confident in as well as how to avoid anchoring and other common pitfalls. An ideal course for ScrumMasters, agile project managers, product owners, team leaders or anyone who needs to produce or understand a project plan.</li>
<li>After finishing the course, you will earn 4 PDUs that can be applied toward the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner (<a href="http://agilescout.com/pmi-acp-exam-explained-tips-and-experiences-taking-the-agile-certified-practitioner-test/">PMI-ACP</a>) or toward Scrum Alliance membership renewal.</li>
<li>Participants also earn valuable certificates of completion, which are available in a variety of sizes suitable for your personal website, resume or online profile. Certificates are also stored online within your profile at Mountain Goat Software and your page on our site can be used to showcase your participation in Mountain Goat Software&#8217;s online and in-person courses.</li>
</ul>
<p>-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>[Have you made it this far down the blog post? Congrats. You get the easter eggs]</em></p>
<p>If you <strong>fail</strong> a quiz you get greeted by Mike Cohn&#8217;s version of a <em><strong><a href="http://www.whatisfailwhale.info/">fail whale</a>.</strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-fail-whale.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5942" title="mike-cohn-fail-whale" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-fail-whale.jpg" alt="" width="445" height="172" /></a></p>
<p>If you <strong>pass</strong> a quiz you get greeted by Mike Cohn&#8217;s <strong><em>resurrection Jesus goat</em></strong>.</p>
<p><a href="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-pass-quiz.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-5943" title="mike-cohn-pass-quiz" src="http://agilescout.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/mike-cohn-pass-quiz.jpg" alt="" width="394" height="162" /></a></p>
<div class="tentblogger-rss-footer"><hr /><p>You just finished reading <a href="http://agilescout.com/?p=5926">[Review] - Mike Cohn's eLearning Agile Videos</a>!  Consider leaving a comment!</p><p><hr>
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