While being in agile transition, teams look for information how to do agile correctly. Often the question sounds ’How to DO agile?‘ The guideline we prepared might be helpful to shorten your transfromation period and stabilize agile environment earlier.

Download full paper as PDF from http://www.scrumdesk.com/Download/Documents/AgileResources/ScrumGuidelines.pdf

We are proud to announce availability of ScrumDesk Lite for iPhone, iPod and iPad in Apple AppStore.

Lite edition allows read-only access to projects and backlog stories. The main goal is to provide an access for your stakeholders who do not need to change data while still need to have a visibility of the current status.

In addition this edition includes Planning Poker deck of cards that team might use in planning sessions.

ScrumDesk Lite is available for free in AppStore. Also, check ScrumDesk for iOS User Guide. Stay tuned for full access editions.

Do you need to learn more about agile and scrum fundamentals? We suggest to start with following  books.

For begginers

Free download, Slovak translation

If you are agile already

Presentations about Scrum

This presentation has been presented during StartUp Camp in Kosice, east of Slovakia.

Coaching of teams has been always great source of ideas for us. Many features in ScrumDesk have been implemented because of daily touch with real-life teams. You can benefit from that value built-in into our solutions what differentiate us from other project management tools.

In coaching sessions we observed typical patterns that appear in every team being transitioned to agile. They are so obvious that we are even able to predict the time when they start to be more visible and intensive. As we repeated the same answers for the same questions for quite long time. Because of that we decided to bring something new which tools should help with.

Our idea is to help teams all around the globe to improve. We know typical gaps. We want to  help you to indetify them and suggest helpfull advices. Therefore we  integrated an agile coach into ScrumDesk.

What is integrated coach?

Integrated coach in ScrumDesk validates project, backlog and other project assets. It does not just validate, but it provides suggestions how to solve gaps.  Scrum Master can identify problems sonner and solve them before they become a real problems that can stop the team.

In this first iteration we focused on:

• proper project setup
• team organization
• backlog prioritization
• and agile planning

All identified issues are displayed in the list on the left side with description of the issue, explanation how to solve it and furter resources (links) where more information can be found.

Color of the issue says how many percent of items in your project have the problem:

• green color for minor issue, issue is not repeated many times
• yellow color if most then half of items have the mentioned problem
• orange if more than 80% of items have the same problem

The items with the same issue are displayed in the list on the right side.  You can access and change details by double-click the item, in some case right in place.

Further plans

We plan to implement more rules to help Scrum Masters to identify gaps in flow in near future. These rules are based on our continuous coaching and very well known scrum checklists.

We also plan to provide configuration of rules to apply or prevent to be applied in the check (for example if you do kanban, iteration is not necessary). This will allows to create YOUR team rules.

Stay tuned!

Database is not necessary to update, only client application needs to be installed.

New features

• Agile coach
• WebAPI accessible in Repository dialog

Fixes

• Status of  a sprint indicated in Planning sprint list by color
• Double-click on release attachment in Search results do not open release detail window
• Double-click on sprint attachment in Search results do not open sprint detail window
• It is not possible to cancel split of stories
• Make  stories splitting question more clear + provide SPlit and Move buttons, not Yes, No
• Slow refresh on  reset of filter
• Filter by MoSCow doesn’t filter correctly in all cases
• Filter by Customer satisfaction doesn’t filter correctly in all cases
• Change of MoSCow or Satisfaction in filter will hide stories until filter is not reset
• Filter is possible to turn on/off by click on Filter button in all views
• Highlight of filter edit line is not cleared once filter is not applied
• Category written in retrospective idea is correctly saved now
• Search in Poker planning fixed
• Fixed availability of commands while switching tabs
• Color of combo boxes for all  documents in Reports/Documents section
• Taskboard – tasks is not possible to move if sprint is not started
• Team Manager – search for team member in hierarchy doesn’t work properly
• Double click on comment incorrectly opens links. It should be disabled.
• Spell checker settings are ignored in Sprint Notes field
• If  link format is incorrect, ScrumDesk says “File not found”
• Not updated statistics in Planning if project is switched
• Button X should not be available in Relations chart in story detail
• Community News window not closed correctly
• Search in Retrospective doesn’t indicate filter by orange color
• Release indicator in Planning is not updated when story is assigned to release
• Sprint indicator in Planning is not updated when story is assigned to sprint
• Deletion of retrospective idea Idea if sprint is done
• User name changed after Repository window is loaded
• Options  are not possible to change Spell Checker configuration
• Burn Down chart in SideView not updated if project is switched
• Deleted project appears in projects list
• Search in Add Team member window
• Change of role in team grid should be allowed for Scrum Master only
• Blocked ScrumDesk if no Non-working day is selected
• New story based on new story template is not correct
• Fill in Planning ends in crash
• Incorrectly allowed drag in task board if sprint is planned
• Retrospective ideas is possible to add, modify and delete even the sprint is closed
• Fix of Repository window, login name has been changed after window is displayed
• Long values in Planning view statistics bar not displayed correctly

Support is for us the most important way how to help our users.  To better understand quality our service, our every email  have a possibility to tell us if our advice was a real help for you.

In email sign you can rate the answer by click on such icons

For feedback we use  NiceReply feedback service provided by another Slovakian company WebSupport.sk.

Thank you for your feedback!

ScrumDesk company is proud to support non-profit organization  Heart of Borneo.

The Heart of Borneo Rainforest is one of the most important and least studied ecosystems on earth, but it’s disappearing at an alarming rate.

Organization Heart of Borneo works to protect this rainforest from futher destruction for the benefit of its inhabitants – both people and animals – and the wider world through a mixture of exploration, research, community projects and education.

Read more about this organization here. Would you mind to support them as well?

When defining a story, one can fill out an ‘effort’ and a ‘duration’. What is the difference between them?

Effort = size = Story points

Let starts with the story point.  Scrum is „little bit“ different  than other classic project management techniques.

When you want to develop some feature, you have to know the „size“ at first.  Imagine you want to go to a trip. You know your trip will be 1000 miles long. This is the size. Another variable is the time. You want to pass this 1000 miles in 5 days. This is a duration. It is possible to calculate planned velocity as 1000 miles per 5 day. Velocity therefore defines  how much of progress are you able to do.

When we are talking about story points, we are talking about the size.

This size  is evaluated in different units. Standard methodologies use „mendays, cost, etc.“.  Scrum prefers number without the unit. Starting with Scrum this is strange to people. What value I have to put in column „size“? Your first evaluation will be very hard and full of questions.

The best approach to start with relative estimation is to try some example on real life objects. Try to compare phone to laptop and LCD. Use following scenario.

1. Put all the stories (objects) in front of developers.
2. Let them to choose one story (object) that will get the number Effort=1. Typically it is small story like „I as a user want to save file to disk“.
3. Then compare all remaining stories relatively to referenced story and other, already estimated stories.

For example, Story 2 – „I as a user want to calculate average values per years for every customer“ is harder story than Story 1 mention above. I as a developer think that this story is 3 times harder than Story 1. Thus I will put Effort = 3 story points.

You will do this for every story that is in your product backlog. This estimation is done by developers and testers. Team sits together in a meeting room with the product owner and talking about stories, what he wants and needs. Product owner will say us as much as he can. We will ask him from a technology point of view. Some stories are changed during the discussion, some new stories can appear as well.

Product is typically estimated in 2-3 full days during the planning meeting. Maybe it seems too long to sit for  3 days, but this it is very effective time. Benefits: all your developers and testers known what product owner wants. Product owners meets with development team. He see developers hence closer relations can be build.

Size of stories is estimated in the Fibonacci scale. Why Fibonacci? Because it is hard to estimate if story is 20 times bigger or 23 times. Scale is 0,0.5, 1,2,3, 5, 8, 13, 20,40,100. If story is bigger than agreed limit (8, 13 or more) then it should be split into more smaller stories. Why? It is too complex to be developed. If story is smaller, developers can be more precise in theirs estimation. Product owner can be more precise in story definition.

Planning Poker®

During the planning meetings we “play” Planning Poker®. Every developer will get deck of planning poker cards with Fibonacci numbers.

Scrum Master will choose the first story. Every developers and testers will estimates they size of the story:

• John‘s estimation = 1
• Bill‘s estimation = 2
• Andrea‘s estimation = 13

During the game team members hide theirs card. When the round ends up, the team shows cards.

Now they might see that John and Bill are close with values, but Andrea says that given story will be 13 times bigger. Andrea should explains why she thinks is bigger.

They will discuss the reason for estimated number and later a new poker round will begins. These steps should be repeated until team agree on just one number because we look for team’s commitment . This is the number entered in the ScrumDesk story card then.

There is another estimation technique based on „ideal day“. When you are using this evaluation unit, your developers must think about the day when they are not disturbed by emails, meetings, they can work for 100%. Your team must agree what ideal day means in „real time“. For example, my ideal day is 6 hours, although my work day is 8 hours. I spend 2 hours is for meetings, phone calls, emails.

We were using ideal days beginning the agile transition, but later we have found it as a complex way for estimation. Every developer has different „ideal day“. Size in story point is better for estimation as it is smaller and enough for accurate estimation.

Mike Cohn about Agile Estimation

Resources

• Read „Mike Cohn: Agile Estimating and planning“. This is one of the best book about the project estimation.
• Another one is Henrik Kniberg: Scrum and XP from the Trenches. This book is perfect for Scrum begginers and it can be freely downloaded from a page. Must read book.

Stay updated by the latest development progress nearly every week. This beta edition is published to get your feedback earlier so we can improve the implementation of your requests before an official release. Go to http://www.scrumdesk.com/Download/FullNG/Beta/Publish.htm to install beta version.

January 9, 5.2.6.73

New features

• Rule: Impediments are not solved
• Coach – filter issues by role to better focus on improvements
• Number of calendar days till end of current sprint displayed near Impediments button

Fixes:

• Beta auto-update source location fixed
• Fixed Coach menu item color
• Incorrect version displayed in Beta upon upgrade.

Notice: Reinstall ScrumDesk from http://www.scrumdesk.com/Download/FullNG/Beta/Publish.htm in case beta auto-update doesn’t work.

January 4, 5.2.6.71

New features

• I would like to copy text from index cards once sprint is done.
• Impediments might be entered for tasks
• Estimated duration of stories displayed in Planning
• Team members sorted according to name in tasks and windows
• Upload an attachment that is open in other application
• Project logo should be posible to clear
• Projects logo are loaded in separate thread to not block the Project window
• Absences, impediments and other information not related to the current sprint are loaded in background

Fixes:

• Application freeze if team member is selected
• Import progress not hidden after import is completed
• Click on Restore in adminitration will logout user unintentionally
• Missing team members in Send connection window (administration mode)
• Filter by default color doesn’t work in some cases
• Backlog should be selected by default in Side View/Backlog
• Display of different sprint after Refresh will freeze application
• Adding of retrospective idea after Refresh doesn’t work in some cases
• The name od tab change to “Desk 0″ upon refresh
• Fast creation of story and then immediately task create the story with id=0
• Stories disapear after double refresh
• Story is not added to a sprint in planning view  if refresh has been done before
• Tasks are not related to the same sprint as story leads to error in timesheet report
• Search in administration doesn’t work in some cases
• Some issues identified by coach can not be fixed due to missing historical values min, max, last 8
• Title of issue in Coach does not display whole text

December 18, 5.2.5.63

New features

• Refresh menu item refreshes all data not just the current sprint backlog. Refresh will therefore take more time now, but sprints, releases impediments and absences are updated now.

Fixes:

• Adding the first user crash in some computer configuration
• Large project picture breaks loading of the project. Size limited to now.
• Filter: Reset will set filter by color to default color
• Filter: Highlight not always works by the first click
• Filter: Modified not cleared on reset
• Planning on the right side doesn’t display stories (in beta only)
• Yellow status circle missing in Reports above burn down chart

December 11, 5.2.4.60

New features

• Coach
  • Retrospective ideas displayed as cards
  • Rule Over-planned sprint
  • Rule Over-committed sprint capacity
  • Rule Capacity very low
  • Rule Sprint under-planned
  • Rule Big team
  • Rule One product owner
  • Rule No retrospective idea
  • Rule Retrospective ideas not solved
  • Rule No retrospective idea
  • Validation of capacity comparing to previous velocities Worst 3, Maximum, Minimum and Last 8 sprints

Fixes:

• Large project picture breaks loading of the project. Size limited to now.
• Crash if Community news page is blocked by network infrastructure
• Tab sprint visible sometimes in case a sprint has been deleted
• Highlight in Filter doesn’t work for Retrospective view in some cases
• SideView should be available in case of Homepage and BugTrack views are displayed
• Attachments for not active sprints are sometimes not available
• Incorrect warning if splitting of a story is cancelled
• A progress should be displayed for all sprints in planning view
• Repository login name is changed to repository name upon Load of connection file.
• Tools menu item available in more cases

December 3, 5.2.3.58

New features:

• Agile coach

Fixes:

• Slow refresh once filter is reset
• Double-click on release attachment in Search results do not open release detail window
• Double-click on sprint attachment in Search results do not open sprint detail window
• It is not possible to cancel split of stories
• Make  stories splitting question more clear + provide SPlit and Move buttons, not Yes, No
• Filter by MoSCow doesn’t filter correctly in all cases
• Filter by Customer satisfaction doesn’t filter correctly in all cases

November 27, 5.2.2.55

New features:

• WebAPI accessible in Repository dialog
• + one new feature. If you discovered it, send email to us and we will assign +1 license to one of you!

Fixes:

• Category written in retrospective idea is correctly saved now
• Search in Poker planning fixed
• Fixed availability of commands while switching tabs
• Filter is possible to turn on/off by click on Filter button in all views
• Color of combo boxes for Sprint and Release in Documents
• Highlight of filter edit line is not cleared once filter is not applied
• Taskboard – tasks is not possible to move if sprint is not started
• Team Manager – search for team member in hierarchy doesn’t work properly
• Double click on comment incorrectly opens links. It should be disabled.
• Spell checker settings are ignored in Sprint Notes field
• If  link format is incorrect, ScrumDesk says “File not found”
• Not updated statistics in Planning if project is switched
• Button X should not be available in Relations chart in story detail
• Community News window not closed correctly
• Change of MoSCow or Satisfaction in filter will hide stories until filter is not reset
• Search in Retrospective doesn’t indicate filter by orange color
• Release indicator in Planning is not updated when story is assigned to release
• Sprint indicator in Planning is not updated when story is assigned to sprint

November 20, 5.2.0.49

Fixes:

• Deletion of retrospective idea Idea if sprint is done
• User name changed after Repository window is loaded
• Options  are not possible to change Spell Checker configuration
• Burn Down chart in SideView not updated if project is switched
• Deleted project appears in projects list
• Search in Add Team member window
• Change of role in team grid should be allowed for Scrum Master only
• Blocked ScrumDesk if no Non-working day is selected
• New story based on new story template is not correct
• Fill in Planning ends in crash
• Incorrectly allowed drag in task board if sprint is planned

November 13, 5.2.0.47

Database is not necessary to update, only client application needs to be installed.

• Retrospective ideas is possible to add, modify and delete even the sprint is closed
• Fix of Repository window, login name has been changed after windos is shown

You can follow  us on  Google+ as well at  https://plus.google.com/b/115908245352279060282/.

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAF) is a proven, publicly available framework for applying Lean-Agile practices to the enterprise. It will soon be available to the general public in a structured format on an interactive website. SAF has been scaled to over 140 teams and 1,000 people, yet can still be applied to smaller companies preparing for growth.

In this one hour, free webinar, you’ll build a foundation in the Scaled Agile Framework so you can scale your company.

This is an intermediate level course. If you’d like to learn more about Agile basics, visit http://goo.gl/FPl5d.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

• 9:00 PM – 10:00 PM CET (Berlin)
• 8:00 PM – 9:00 PM GMT (London)
• 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM CST (Chicago)
• 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM BRST (Rio de Janeiro)

Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/934670512. Space is limited.

About Drew Jemilo

Drew has over 20 years of experience using Agile, Lean, and traditional methodologies in companies ranging from lean startups to global corporations. He has worked in the US and Europe applying technical and leadership experience in Agile program and portfolio management, change management, organizational design, coaching, and training. He is currently working with Dean Leffingwell and other scaling experts to make the framework publicly facing and more readily available to a larger audience.

Learn more at http://drewjemilo.com.

About Agile Knowledge Hub

This webcast is provided via Agile Knowledge Hub, a place to see, hear and ask about Agile.

ScrumDesk company is general sponsor of Agile Knowledge Hub. We offer agile project management solutions helping teams to do Scrum correctly and easy. See more at http://www.scrumdesk.com.

ScrumDesk company is looking for partners interested in collaboration in following areas:

• Consulting partners for trainers, coaches or mentors experienced in Agile, Scrum, XP or Kanban willing to share knowledge through Agile Knowledge Hub sponsored by ScrumDesk company and theirs partners.
• Business partners for resellers or anyone able to sell licenses and gain share on closed deals. Being business partner you can earn share every month!
• Technology partners for companies able to integrate ScrumDesk with 3rd party tools via REST API or develop specialized connector for full synchronization through our Synchronization Hub.
• Translation partners if you are willing to translate ScrumDesk to other languages.

See more in our Partnership program

We just published quick fix v.5.2.0.45.

Some customers informed us that in certain cases are tasks not saved correctly while working in Task board (kanban board). As this can be serious problem we decided to publish the fix asap.

This time you will be informed about the availability of update and ScrumDesk will be updated automatically. No database upgraded is necessary.

We highly suggest to install it.

An upgrade of database stored on SQL Server Release 2 is necessary to do using SQL script in Microsoft SQL Management Tool.

The script is available here. Download it to your local disc, connect to your database in Micorosft SQL Management Studio and run the script.

Symptoms

It is not possible connect to hosted database after desktop client has been updated to v.5.2.

Explanation

Your hosted database needs to be upgraded to support the latest ScrumDesk version 5.2. Hosted databases are upgraded upon request.

Solution

Contact our support to request the upgrade of database. In the email provide the database name, please.

Symptoms

Starting ScrumDesk dialog with information text “Application cannot be started. Contact the application vendor.” is displayed.

Explanation

This message indicates that an automatic upgrade is not supported by version v.5.2. Unfortunately we were not able to support automatic upgrade in this version.

Solution

How to upgrade current installation

1. Upgrade your database using the latest ScrumDesk Database Manager (for SQL Server 2008)
2. Desktop client must be uninstalled first from Windows Control Panel/Add Remove applications
3. Install desktop client application that is available here.

In newly released ScrumDesk we focused mostly on requirements of our users we gather in more than half a year.

How to upgrade current installation

1. Upgrade your database using the latest ScrumDesk Database Manager (for SQL Server 2008)
2. Desktop client must be uninstalled first from Windows Control Panel/Add Remove applications
3. Install desktop client application that is available here.

How to install new installation

1. Register on Download page to receive company license key
2. Install database using the latest ScrumDesk Database Manager (for SQL Server 2008)
3. Install desktop client application that is available here.

Major changes

• Database term renamed to Repository to better support multiple sources to keep data in
• Database connection window design changed
• Filters are improved
• Memory consumption is significantly improved
• Product owner is able to customize project details
• Selected error messages contain link for further details
• A new sprint is automatically scheduled to be started the next working day after the last sprint
• Double-click on index card will open detail window
• Missing letters while typing story subject or description

Repository  connection window

We simplified a layout of this window to configure connection for OnDemand (hosted) databases much easier.

The first step is to choose an edition you registered for – On Demand for hosted database, On Site in case you would like to connect to database installed in your environment

The second step is to choose service. In the current version only SQL Server choice is available, but we prepare an edition with support of ScrumDesk REST API.

Database, user and password are sent upon your registration for on demand edition or you can get them from your ScrumDesk administrator.

Filters

• Filters Save/Delete in the top left corner
• Apply saved filter selecting from Filters combo box in top left corner
• Support of <Any sprint>
• Support of <Unassigned sprint> to filter stories that are in project backlog only
• Support of <Any release>
• Support of <Unassigned> release choice
• Filter by Priority, possibility to filter range
• Filter by Effort, possibility to filter range
• Filter by Positive value, possibility to filter range
• Filter by Risk, possibility to filter range
• Filter by MoSCoW
• Filter by Satisfaction (Kano) value
• Fixed Reset of filter
• Filtering by tags works again

Stories grid

• Rank as column in stories grid
• Filter by Release & Sprint in stories grid
• Sorting by Release and Sprint in stories grid

Project Details

• URL longer than 255 characters are supported now

Documents

• [Sprint Overview] – possibility to select sprint
• [Sprint Stories] – possibility to select sprint
• [Release Overview] – possibility to select release
• [Backlog stories card)] – improved readability and layout of printed index card
• Release stories
• Move story into diff project & crash

Story details

• Story – full history of story/tasks attributes changes
• Ranges on Prioritization tab displayed in better format
• New task command enabled if story is done
• Fixed errors when newly created story is immediately accessed via story detail window
• Calculated Priority renamed to Rank

Absences window

• Editing of absences improved to make it similar to Microsoft Excel

Email

• Email notifications format simplified
• Changes are aggregated to not create spam
• Possibility to send notification to more recipients using CC field
• An integration with FlowDock & Yammer using CC
• Support of TLS/SSL for sending emails via Gmail or Microsoft Exchange

Minor changes and fixed defects

• Visitors as read-only users everywhere
• Keyboard supported in Select project dialog (navigation keys, Enter key to choose project)
• Select project dialog layout supports wide screen monitors
• Planning view fixes
• Planning poker fixes
• One click to change status of story/task without change of selection
• Tasks comments were lost in previous versions
• Fix of crash: Delete story from Detail window in planning view
• Deletion of story type doesn’t delete type correctly
• Deletion of projects
• Deletion of story with more tasks ends with an error
• Missing letters while editing stories in cards
• Type combo box visible in Story template if tasks are displayed
• Fix of changes notification
• Story templates editable by Scrum Master only
• Login window fixes
• An incorrect projects visible if different user logs in

Caution

Starting ScrumDesk you can see following error provided by Microsoft .NET framework:

This message indicates that an automatic upgrade is not supported by version v.5.2.
Unfortunately we were not able to support automatic upgrade in this version.

REST API is in Microsoft Information Server configured by default to transfer binary data of maximum size of 65KB.

The size is configurable by parameter maxReceivedMessageSize in web.config file located in API directory.

<standardEndpoints>
<!–Defines a standard endpoint with a fixed <webHttpBinding> binding that automatically adds the <webHttp> behavior. Use this endpoint when writing a REST service.–>
<webHttpEndpoint>
<standardEndpoint maxReceivedMessageSize=”4194304“/>
</webHttpEndpoint>
</standardEndpoints>