Agile begins again

We've begun doing Agile again. We hired an agile coach to come in and help us get back on track. Many years ago (about 12) I began learning about Scrum for the first time. Our teacher and mentor was Ken Schwaber one of the creators. After several weeks of learning the process I remember how obvious the exercise seemed to be - almost as if we should have been able to figure it out ourselves.

Over the years we forgot what we were taught, many left through natural attrition, and new PMP certified project managers hired. And slowly overtime we left agile behind and returned to Waterfall. Finally we became mired in the muck and doing Big Requirements Up Front again - program descriptions that included the kitchen sink, and having struggling to meet release dates.

We are all excited to begin again. A sort of reboot if you will. Training begins next week.

Some are fearful. We are able to ask questions faster than answers can be found. However we need to remember that we have the ability to find those answers and that we do know enough to push forward.

One important exercise is breaking seemingly immutable tasks into smaller tasks. Once you do this you begin to realize how you might have had too much design. When trying to move a mountain of sand, simply remember that you finish it by moving one cupful at a time.