For Christmas 2011, my brother Martin gave me a Team Canada hockey jersey autographed by the entire 2004 World Champion Canadian team. We don’t officially exchange Christmas gifts, just when we see something just right. This one was perfect. That Christmas I had already been really sick for a year and half, desperately trying to get well. That jersey became my symbol of hope.

For almost a decade my brother and I have been spending the Christmas and New Year season following Team Canada at the World Juniors. Each year getting together to watch Canada go for Gold – most years they achieved that goal, but not always with ease. Many times our hope becoming reality as Team Canada came back from behind. Like in 2010 when Jordan Eberle scored to tie the Russians with 5.4 seconds left in the Semi-final game. In 2011/2012 Canada scored 4 unanswered third period goals only to lose 6 to 5. In the dying seconds of the game, Canada, never giving up hope, hit the post. Sometimes you get a miracle, sometimes you hit the post.

It’s the start of 2013. Once again Team Canada aims for Gold at the World Juniors. My symbol of hope hangs on the wall by the tree. I know this year in my life I may at times fall short and hit the post but I’ll always hope for miracles.

Happy New Year!

I figured a good way to start my blogging experience as a Product Owner is to list the top 5 tools I have in my toolbox as a PO.

1. Microsoft OneNote
I use this just as it was intended, as my notebook.  My binder is full of everything I need to know to direct the projects I own.  This great little Microsoft tool provides the ability to create tabs (Sections) in my binder.  I have a tab for each project.  And, just like a physical binder I can add pages to each tabbed section.  On these pages I can write, paste, insert links or documents or emails, anywhere.  I can create tasks which are linked to Outlook with all the reminders and features Outlook provides.  I keep track of sprint schedules by team.  I then create a page for each team's sprint commitments and update these as the ScrumMaster sends out daily statuses or from I learn in daily scrums.  I used to carry around a physical binder with all this stuff, I'm now saving the lives of so many trees.

2. Microsoft Excel
Given most of my current projects area based on reporting solutions we write the details of most of our user stories in Excel.  We are a reporting solution provider so often our user stories deal with defining tables and charts which, when it comes to defining Acceptance Criteria, just don't fit on a 3x5 card (although I personally keep epic story cards for user story mapping).  We simply add a link to the Excel story from the Product Backlog item.

3. Axure RP Pro
To accompany our user stories or when we are scoping out a project, this wireframe and prototyping application is amazing.  A WYSIWYG / drag & drop editor with event handling is great for creating a 'functioning' wireframe or product prototype.  This increases more accuracy when the teams are estimating against the user stories.  It can also provide that high level view of the product. (Axure RP)

4. SharePoint Portal
When it comes to a central area for our Product Backlog or knowledge sharing, SharePoint has been the solution for us.  It's central and accessible by all 3 roles of Scrum. I'm on our portal all day long.

5. Google Docs
Similar to the way SharePoint provides that central and sharable solution for a Product Backlog or Knowledgebase, Google Docs provides that same functionality with the added feature that mutliple users can be accessing our planning spreadsheet at the same time.  This is great for planning day as well as estimating sessions.

Having a set of tools to increase my productivity is so necessary for the way my brain seems to work.

Cheers!

Ten years ago I abandoned my wife and new born son and locked myself away cramming for Microsoft certifications.  I passed the 4 exams and achieved my MCSD.

Now, ten years later, once again I have abandoned my wife and new born (if 10 months is considered ‘new) and locked myself away cramming for, this time, just a single Microsoft exam.  The exam was booked, up went the sign on my office door “Go away, I’m studying” and cram I did for an entire weekend. Occasionally eating the pizza kindly slid under my door. I used as my study tool the Microsoft Press Training Kit for 70-562 (.NET Framework 3.5 – ASP.NET Application Development).

Unfortunately it took longer than planned to get through the book.  So when Monday morning arrived, the day of my exam, I hadn’t even finished the book.  I skipped the entire chapter on Mobile development solely relying on what I could remember from the Mobile Toolkit – yeah, that was helpful.  I sped through a practice exam as I forced breakfast down my throat.  Needless to say, I failed.  Not by much but failed.  I would have rather failed then barely passed having not been properly prepared.

So back went up the “Go away” sign.  I finished the book and labs.  Having written the exam I knew better how the questions were presented and tried to study accordingly.  I started taking practice exams but rather than just test what I’ve learned, I used them to look up every answer - right or wrong.  Most often the wrong options were still valid so I ended up compiling a list of hundreds of code snippets. These certainly helped as I re-wrote the exam today.  Having been prepared now for mobile questions, I ended up only having 1 question on it and it wasn’t a problem.  I don’t recall a single WCF question compared to a couple on my first exam.

It was such a relief to pass this time, I could finally have my life back.  Goal achieved.  It certainly was a lot of work to cram a lot of content into my tiny brain.  The stress from that feeling there was so much more to read or study or practice.

I just may have to reconsider the next exam . . . . in 2020.  If I never go through this again it will be too soon.  Oh, and if I have another new born in 10 years, please smack me.

Cheers.

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation.  We are what we repeatedly do.  Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."  ~ Aristotle

I remember shortly after graduating from high school attending a presentation by a motivational speaker of sorts, Stephen R. Covey.  After about the 3rd geometrical shape that was to transform me into a highly effective person . . . my brain was going to explode.

Setting and achieving goals does not need to be complicated.  Nor does it require a Doctorate in upside down shapes.  As we prepare to set a new year of goals, here are a few goal setting tips:

1. Choose a task that perhaps you are already doing but not often or efficient enough.  Make the goal to increase the frequency and | or efficiency of the task.

2. Choose something important to you.  Don’t choose a goal because everyone else has set that particular goal, it needs to be important to you otherwise it could be difficult to be motivated to put forth the effort.

3. Don’t forget to stretch.  Stretching is as important to goal setting as it is to a pre-game warm up.  If it doesn’t stretch you, you’re wimping out -- pick another goal.

4. Write your goal down where you’ll see it regularly.

5. Track your progress.  A goal isn’t a goal unless it can be measured.  Review and track your milestones along the way.

Cheers.

Two sport fishermen had a successful weekend of remote fishing.  When the bush pilot arrived to retrieve them, he soon notified them that with the added weight of the fish they had caught and all their gear, he would have to make a return trip.  Not wanting the extra trip, the sportsmen convinced the pilot to pack everything in tight and offered him extra cash.  Reluctantly he agreed.

As the plane took off the weight was too much for the plane to handle and they crashed beyond the end of the lake.  No one was seriously injured and as they came to, one of the fisherman asked, “What happened?”  To which the other responded, “We crashed . . . . . about 100 meters further up than last year.”

Scrum as an agile framework isn’t just about being agile enough to be able to create great software products but also allows Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and developers as individuals and as a team to learn, grow and adapt.

Scrum provides us the Sprint Retrospective at the end of each sprint providing each team member to share their perspective on such things as:

What worked really well for us as a team?
What could we change that might make the team better?
Can we make the processes more enjoyable?
How can we adapt our definition of "Done" to improve quality?

But simply meeting, providing answers to these questions, and having them recorded isn’t enough. Teams are only a sum of each individual member.  So for a team to adapt for the better, each individual must take it upon themselves to improve.  Otherwise, whether one or all, and thereby the team (where we go one, we go all), will continue to be at risk to fail or to become stagnant.

If your team has chosen Scrum as its development framework and with it the Sprint Retrospective. Embrace it, learn it and be an active participate.  Else, I guess we’ll see you again next year . . .  crashed just beyond the lake.

Cheers.