Over recent years, Agile development and Scrum have been championed by some
developers, and various consulting firms, with a quasi-religious fervour.
Initially, I was sceptical but Scrum has taken hold among the Red Gate
development and testing teams and, as I started to witness their "daily scrum
downs", I was moved to act. Why should Simple-Talk be left out? Dismissed as the
couch potatoes of the new Agile World? In no time, I had persuaded the
Simple-Talk team to form a Scrum and get ready for the next newsletter
sprint
| Scrum Master |
So come on team, where’s the SQL server indexing article?
|
| Andrew |
I passed that ball onto Tony 2 days ago. He stuffed it down the back of his
jersey and I've not seen it since.
|
| Scrum Master |
Ok Flyboy Davis, so what have you done since yesterday on this 'product
backlog' item?
|
| Tony |
Well, Andrew undercooked the pass a bit I'm afraid. I've moved pages 1 to 4
on to the flankers for a copy edit but still need to finish juggling pages 5 and
6.
|
| Scrum Master |
OK then, what about the LINQ-to-SQL piece? Have you achieved your sprint
goal?
|
| Tony |
Well it's done, if that's what you mean.
|
| Andrew |
DONE?! It’s a lot more than done. I finished the technical edit yesterday.
That article is DONE-done.
|
| Production gaffer: |
If it's DONE-done, why don't I have it for the newsletter?
|
| Tony |
Well, unfortunately, Microsoft has suddenly had a bit of a "change of heart"
on this particular technology. We'll have to put it on the burn down chart, I'm
afraid.
|
| Scrum Master |
No, no! This is just normal 'Requirements Churn'. An agile team must think
on their feet and adapt! Why don't we chuck this ball to our fleet-footed
winger, Phil Factor, and let him run with it?
|
| Tony |
Well, if you insist, but I think you’ll find that he'll just try to sell you
a dummy and end up impaling himself on the corner flag.
|
| Scrum Master |
Ok, OK, people, let’s try and prevent a complete scrum collapse here.
|
| Production gaffer: |
Cluck! Cluck! Cluck!
|
OK, so maybe for publishing, a "maul" is more appropriate than a Scrum. And
not just any maul but a proper rolling maul, with boots, fists, shouting for
blood subs and orange wedges, making agonising, inch-by-inch progress towards
the greasy touchline; Phil Factor at the centre of it, holding fiercely onto the
ball and Richard Morris blowing madly on his shiny Acme whistle.
And at the end of the match, a total of 15 tries, but just the one
conversion.
Cheers!
Tony.