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Scrum Assessment Survey?

Last post 04:03 am October 11, 2019 by Ian Mitchell
2 replies
Molly B
06:01 pm October 10, 2019

Does anyone know of any assessments my team can take to see how well we are using scrum and to know our areas of strengths and weaknesses? 

I'm looking to start up something with my company where SM's meet quarterly to share our results on how well our team is doing and can then get advice and direction on areas where we aren't doing so well. Additionally, if common problems arise among teams, we can then raise that to upper management. 

Thanks!

Tony Divel
06:31 pm October 10, 2019

You could try working with your team to define what a high performing Scrum Team is to them. They could come up with 3-5 categories and decide on a scale in which they cam measure the progress against those. These goals can also become a good way to find retrospective items and provide evidence that the team is improving. 

It can also be a way to raise impediments upward if needed if there's organizational factors preventing the achievement of certain goals. 

Here's an example of a category 'Clear Goal' 

1 - Delivers software to production

2 - Ordered Product Backlog which is used to plan Sprints

5 - Team has a Sprint Goal that can be realized through implementation of PBI's 

7 - Sprint Goal can tie to a release goal and/or strategic direction of the company

10 - Team understands, can locate, and speak to all of the items above

 

 

Ian Mitchell
04:03 am October 11, 2019

Does anyone know of any assessments my team can take to see how well we are using scrum and to know our areas of strengths and weaknesses? 

That’s what a Sprint Retrospective is for.

An agile health check of some kind might be used by change agents to assist novice or struggling teams:

https://sites.google.com/site/agilepatterns/Agile%20Health%20Check.xls?attredirects=0

If a problem is highlighted and the team do not believe they can resolve it, then they can flag it immediately as red. If they believe they can remedy it before the next check, then they may flag it as amber. If it is still unresolved then it will become red. Through an agile health-check teams are thus given a mechanism, configurable to their needs, for escalating problems which may not be within their control.

Note that if intervention is needed it ought to be timely. That implies an inspect-adapt frequency of at least Sprint cadence rather than quarterly.

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