When I saw Robert’s tweets popping on my TweetDeck inviting one and all for a virtual front row seat to his webinar on SCRUM for Managers, I was quick to accept. So did many others and it was worth every minute spent.

Robert Dempsey is a Certified Scrum Practitioner, Agile Trainer, MBA, and the CEO & Founder of the Atlantic Dominion Solutions. He introduces SCRUM to the new age Managers who are faced with a unique challenge these days - agile management. In order to manage a team in an agile environment, it is important to understand the basics of SCRUM. Robert does that wonderfully in his online presentation.

He was more than willing to share his deck with me for the 13apples readers, one which I think is one of the best SCRUM primers I have seen in recent times. So, sit back and enjoy the slideshow. Then post your questions as comments and Robert will be here to answer our questions.

Here is an excerpt from the interview:

How difficult was it to take the exam after just taking classes for 2days? Is that all the preparation you need to take?

This is a question everyone who is interested in SCRUM certification seems to be commonly wondering/asking. Yes, 2 days of training is all you need to learn and fall in love with SCRUM. In these 2 days you implement SCRUM from ground up and you practice it. You end up learning a lot and most importantly you will question your fundamental beliefs and learning’s from the past.

Click here to read the complete interview. Do comment and share you take on it. Thanks.

Lets see what the most common definition of “resources” is, shall we?

Wikipedia: “A resource is any physical or virtual entity of limited availability, or anything used to help one earn a living”

Merriam-Webster: ”something that one uses to accomplish an end especially when the usual means is not available”

Are people resources? Are team members something we use?

I hate the word “resources” when used in context to a team. I think it is de-moralizing and de-motivation to the team. When I was a developer a long time ago, I remember an argument I had with my Project Lead when he referred to me as a ‘resource’. It infuriated me. I was not a resource, a thing you use.

If you are working in IT or the software industry, I am sure you have had a similar situation when you’ve reacted to such a reference or at least felt bad about it. The sad part is that it has become some sort of an industry norm now. It is common to address employees as resources. We have the “Human Resources” department. We do “Resource Management” and “Resource Planning” and measure “Resource Utilization”.

I am guilty too. The incident with my Lead did not stop me from making the same mistake when I became a Manager of teams. The usage was so common that I got infected by it and my true feelings got buried. It became a habit that seemed absolutely normal.

A few months ago, in August, I took the CSM (Certified SCRUM Master) training in Bangalore. During those 2 days of training, this issue was discussed. The trainer made us realize how disrespectful it is to consider and term people as resources. I was given a rude awakening. My feelings that were buried deep inside resurfaced. From that point onwards, I decided that I will break away from the habit and get a treatment for my disease.

Today, I am proud to tell you that I am 60% cured. It took almost 2 months of conscious effort to correct my spoken and written usage of the word “resources” to “people” or “folks” or “team”, just as my CSM trainer taught me. I am in process of correcting all my reports and documents that address my team as resources.  I have requested my peers and team members to make an effort to do the same.

In a way I am trying to change my world,  one person at a time. It’s doable. A day will come when there are no more “Human Resources” departments, only “People Management Teams”. Join this cause. Please help me humanize our teams. Spread the word.

CCPM is a framework build around the critical path concept. To me it is an effective scheduling technique that enables project managers to truly plan a project instead of merely stringing tasks together to an end date. True planning calls fot a great deal of thought that should go into executing a project and steer it towards success. But to do that, we need to first understand project failure.

Why do projects fail? According to Allan Elder’s whitepaper (link below), most projects fail to meet deadlines on time, on budget, and on scope (OTOBOS) due to the following 5 reasons or diseases of project management:

(a) We are victims of “Bad Multi-Tasking“. In short, we have too many tasks on our plate mainly due to a lack of planning from the task assignor/delegator – your Manager or ‘You, Inc.’ – thus leading to bad task prioritization to procrastination to burnout.

(b) Parkinson’s Law i.e. Work expands so as to fill the time available for completion. The safety we’ve built into our estimates with an intent to avoid the worst case scenario somehow transforms into being our best case scenario. And we are not incentivized to do otherwise.

(c) The ‘Student Syndrome’ is in us and we cannot escape it. So, lets accept the fact that due to the above 2 reasons we are not going to work on that task until the 11th hour – the time we need just enough to complete the task and meet the deadline. We dont know how we do it but we do.

(d) Task Dependency for the wrong reasons. Project completion is dependent on all its tasks being completed on time (task completion date) and on budget (resource availability) but when tasks are integrated, projects get penalized due to time wastage and resources being under-committed.

(e) Task Completion != Task Delivery. We tend ignore those sneaky little unplanned and unforeseen events that cause delays in the delivery of completed tasks. Project progress is measured based on the tasks completed and not task hand-offs.

CCPM is based on the ‘Theory Of Constraints’ methodologies and is said to have proven a high rate of project success when implemented right. I have not tried it out yet but am in the process on learning how to. Walk with me on this critical path to success and we’ll find out how to keep our projects OTOBOS.

In my follow-up to this post, I will dive more into how CCPM works. Meanwhile, please do read “The Five Diseases of Project Mangement” (PDF) to understand the above reasons in detail. This whitepaper is a keeper.