Agility and Values-Based Leadership (Part 2): Focus

Andrew Burns, PMP, PMI-ACP is a Chief ScrumMaster in Edgewood, Kentucky.

  Agile   Estimating   Leadership   Scrum  

This is the second in a five-part exploration of agile frameworks from the vantage point of values, principles and practices. The dozens of agile frameworks available are catalyzed to action by corporation, customer and employee values. Understanding values allows selection of appropriate agile principles and practices. Literally hundreds of agile practices present opportunities to improve. However, all practices are not created equal. Extreme Programming’s Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD) receives rave reviews. Should our project use it?

Scrum espouses five values: courage (see Part 1), openness, respect, commitment and focus. In this series, each article explores one of these values. A deeper discussion of principles and practices ensues. Take pause and think about how to select the right practice from a crowded field by considering agile values, principles and practices in this series. This second article explores focus, the bewildering array of practices available…and a song from 1970.

Technology marches on. There’s been exponential growth in the number of ways to do things. Practices abound. For example, the family of estimating practices has grown. Venerable analogous, parametric and three-point estimating practices need to make room at the table. Fuzzy logic estimating with story points, ideal hours, confidence intervals, buffers, ideal …

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