Accidental Nonprofit Product Owner/Manager SCRUM Webinar (Video & Slides)

Gregory Heller Profile Photo
Gregory Heller

on

February 11, 2011

Accidental Nonprofit Product Owner/Manager SCRUM Webinar (Video & Slides)

in | 

A few weeks ago, Sadie Honey and Elizabeth Raley -- Certified SCRUM Masters, or Mistrixes? -- presented an NTEN webinar on the topic of SCRUM and Project Management for Accidental Product Owners or Project Managers.

The video of the webinar is available from NTEN via ReadyTalk, and the slide deck is available on SlideShare.

View more presentations from sadiehoney.

Share it!

jackalope February 13, 2011
Some of the strangest lingo seems to be around roles: sponsor, product owner, scrum master, etc. To me they either sound corporate or gimmicky, both of which I want to avoid! It might seem small or nitpicky, but when introducing a new management system to my clients I want it to seem as natural and in tune with their organizational culture as possible.Some ideas for alternative terminology:product = project (avoid the commodification of the work)product owner = point person (within the client organization)sponsor = bottom-liner(s) (get more to the point of what the sponsor's role is in the project, acknowledge that the non- or less-hierarchical structure of some organizatons means there's not one person at the top sponsoring the project)scrum master = project manager (getting away from the jargon, the cheese factor, and the possible confusion with Dungeons & Dragons)We'll see how these terms go over as we use them with our clients more. And of course, they're terms that I think work for Palante Tech and our clients - not necessarily one size fits all!
Gregory Heller February 15, 2011
The terms are actually really important.  A SCRUM Master is not a project manager. They may sometimes perform the role of a project manager as well as being the SCRUM Master, but the SCRUM Master is an actualy credential and role when you are running a poject through the SCRUM methodology, even if it does seem awkward.The problem with "point person" is that you might have a point person for the design, and another for the development department, and a third related to content.  The Product Owner is, again, a specific role in the SCRUM methodology. I could see shifting this term to "project owner" in the context of the kind of work that many web development shops work on."Sponsor" is a weird one too, and I am not sure if it maps directly to "bottom-liner", because again, you might have someone who is bottom-lining a particular aspect of the project.I guess that what I am saying is, if you are using the SCRUM methodology, it could be problematic to change names. If you are using your own variant of agile development that borrows some things from SCRUM you can create and define your own roles.
jackalope February 12, 2011
Many thanks to Sadie and Elizabeth for a great webinar. Palante Tech is actively moving towards Agile/SCRUM methodology, though with some tweaks to work better with our team structure, project type, and client base. The webinar gave me TONS to think on and work with; I've begun to incorporate some elements into our workflow and have already seen marked differences.One thing I'm thinking about is how to introduce Agile/SCRUM to clients. Just as we try to avoid jargon/geekspeak when breaking down technical aspects of Drupal and other systems for organizations, we want to do the same with Agile/SCRUM. Step 1, don't say the words "Agile/SCRUM" too often!Do you find yourselves adjusting your language, use of terminlogy, etc to be more accessible and organization-friendly when working with your clients?
Kev Walsh February 12, 2011
this is a really good point.  i often use the word "iterative", which is at least proper English, if a few too many syllables.i know there's more to Agile than just iterations, but i think it captures more about the process than anything else.As far as other lingo, my feeling is that once a client hears the term "sprint" a few times times, they get very used to it, and may actually enjoy the mental image of a bunch of developers running their asses of.  "Scrum" can easily be replaced by "update" or "checkin".   Any other ideas?