Agile CT is the place for Agile and Scrum in CT. We are a usergroup, dedicated to Agile training and Agile software development methods. We are focused on Scrum as the primary Agile framework. We meet for Agile training events, one per month. We are dedicated to spreading Agile methods and thinking through the corporate IT community in Connecticut.

NEXT MEETING:

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TUESDAY JULY 07 2009, 630PM to 830PM

MICHAEL DA LA MAZA ON EFFECTIVE AGILE GAMES

Michael de la Maza is a Technical Fellow at Dynamics Research Corporation (http://www.drc.com). Previously, he was VP of Corporate Strategy at Softricity (acquired by Microsoft in 2006) and a co-founder of Inquira. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from MIT and is a Certified ScrumMaster, Certified Scrum Practitioner, and an IEEE Senior Member.

See the NEXT MEETING page for dates and agenda.

Presentation: MICHAEL DE LA MAZA ON: LEARNING AGILE VIA AGILE GAMES

Learning Agile is about doing and experiencing. Books and lectures only take you so far-- you have to experience some Agile activities to really get it.

In this meeting we play games in teams, to learn specific Agile principles like inspect-and-adapt, fail-fast, determining highest-value activities, iterations, continuous improvement and so on.

See the NEXT MEETING page for dates and agenda.

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The primary best practice in Agile software development is Scrum—a set of methods, roles and rules that can increase software developer productivity by 10 times if you are willing to follow the simple rules. We teach and discuss Scrum and the art and science behind it.

Experienced Agile practitioners from throughout Connecticut attend and present at our meetings. We have educational presentations, a focus on Scrum training, and some informal networking time. We also have some very interesting group-level exercises in which we develop expertise and empirical experience in Agile and Scrum.

The leader of the group is Dan Mezick. You can learn more about Dan on this web site. Dan is a Scrum Coach who is an invited speaker to events like Agile2007 and Agile2008.

Anyone can attend a meeting provided you are willing to participate in making the meeting a success. We run mock exercises at the group level that are a lot of fun. Most of these revolve around Scrum tasks like planning, estimating and running Sprints. If you are looking for a very fun way to learn to more and more about Agile and Scrum, this is the place.

This web site contains everything you need to learn more and attend a meeting. Scrum and Agile are gaining a tremendous amount of traction recently. A recent search of DICE.COM indicated over 1000 jobs nationally with the word ‘Scrum’ and over 3000 jobs with the word ‘Agile’. Come to our events to learn how these methods are transforming software development worldwide.

Attending a meeting is simple: send us an email indicating your planned attendance, and show up. We meet at Microsoft office in Farmington CT. See you at the next meeting !

Click here to send an email question to Agile Connecticut - the APLN Chapter in CT.

The following enterprises currently Sponsor the meetings of Agile Connecticut:

New Technology Solutions Inc is a provider of Scrum Coaching services and Agile training programs in CT. Learn more at NewTech's Scrum Coaching page. The firm also provides training in Visual Studio development, primarily ASP.NET using the C#.NET programming language. Learn more at NewTech's .NET Training pages.

Scrum's NOKIA TEST

Any serious Scrum implementation must pass the NOKIA TEST before using advanced techniques such as Scrum-of-Scrums. Are you ready?

This test is the STARTING point for implementing advanced Scrum techniques such as multiple teams working from the same backlog.

According to the NOKIA TEST for Scrum, you are doing Scrum, if:

Iterations. You must be doing iterative development cycle of 6 weeks or less.
Testing.You must be testing as you develop software, and preferably, writing tests IN ADVANCE of development.
Agile Specification via User Stories. You'll want to be using user stories for requirements, keeping them small, independent, and testable.
Product Owner. You have one, preferably with a Release Plan, and one that writes the User Stories.
Product Backlog. You have one, PRIORITIZED by business ROI. Ideally, you an measure ROI based on real revenue, cost per Story Point, or othr metrics.
Estimates. You have estimates, developed by the WHOLE TEAM, ideally by using Planning Poker.
Burndown Chart. You have one! It is updated every day of a Sprint, and you report Stories, not Tasks, since Tasks are not a measure on "done-ness".
Team Disruption. You have only Scrum roles consisting of Product Owner, Team and Scrum master, and NO ONE is disturbing the Team as they work on the current Sprint.

SUMMARY

Scrum is simple to describe and hard to follow. It has the following structure:

Three Roles. The three Scrum roles are Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and Team. That's it!
Three Ceremonies. You have three main meetings in Scrum: the Sprint Planning meeting, the Sprint Review, and the Daily Scrum stand-up.
Three Artifacts. You have three essential documents in Scrum- The Product Backlog, the Sprint backlog, and the Burndown Chart. Remember that the main item is the User Story, estimated in Story Points......
Three Best Practices. Scrum as of 2008 now defines THREE best practices: the use of User Stories, the use of Planning Poker, and the use of the Scrum board.

Learn more....