Get yourself educated

Looking back at this project going scrum and agile, there are many mistakes done, many experiences won. But the thing that made the most importance was training and knowledge. I've read many blogs and books: for me one important lesson was not just following the advice of one guru but listening to many and choosing the right path for your organisation. Toyota states that going lean is not just following a book on Toyota and expecting everything to work. The solution has to work for that line of business, that company, culture and so on. I do not suggest just picking and choosing: it is important to have a clear strategy. And you do not get a clear strategy if you only pick small stuff without any thought.

The thing that made the greatest impact on me was attending the certified product owner class I took early this year. And now I don't mean the title and stuff, but putting it all together during two days was awesome. It made me really understand the objectives of the stuff I'd read on the blogs and books and in all the advice. Now I had the privilage of attending the class with Mike Cohn, a pragmatic and direct no-nonsence-guy with a huge experience. Also, he knows this is not about being into the cool stuff for the moment, it's about delivering the right stuff to the right price and with the right quality. He discussed not only how you arrange post its but the really important tasks, most prominently: communication (with stakeholders and team) and estimations (of cost and time).

I know there are two day classes and one day classes: for me a two day class was really good. Going home and thinking things through made room for some interesting questions day two and there was also room for all these exercises. These were interesting in two ways: they illustrated some chores in scrum and since there were 50 or so product owners present one could also see how different personalities work with that role.