January 2020

Scrum Level Up™ Assessment

for

Team ACME

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Report Contents

Engagement Overview

State of Scrum Snapshot for Team ACME

Detailed Findings by Practice Area

Summary of Recommendations

Engagement Overview

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Construx uses a structured process to conduct our Scrum Level Up™ assessment:

Understand the Team’s Current State. We learn the Scrum team’s current state with a set of structured but lightweight activities:

Conduct a brief online web survey with each team member about your current Scrum practices

Review existing Scrum and other project artifacts, including the Product Backlog, Definition of Done, and Sprint Burndown Charts

Interview the Scrum Master and Product Owner

Observe the Scrum events over a Sprint transition

Analyze and Assess. We evaluate the Scrum team, and compare it to a healthy Scrum team and an average Scrum team.

Report and Recommendations. Based on your current state, we have provided focused, targeted recommendations, which will help your Scrum team achieve a new level of effectiveness and performance.

Your findings and recommendations are based on our work with more than 500 Scrum teams in organizations world-wide.

Engagement Overview

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Jenny Stuart, VP of Consulting

Jenny Stuart oversees Construx’s consulting services, focusing on proven software development best practices. Jenny has 20 years’ experience in process improvement, software testing, and quality assurance techniques. Her expertise in incorporating software development best practices has helped numerous companies dramatically improve their software development and quality assurance processes.

Jenny is an expert in quality practices, such as developing quality and test plans, and has a deep knowledge of software testing, process improvement, and quality assurance techniques. She is the author of numerous Construx client studies and Construx white papers. Jenny has a BSEE from the University of Washington. She is a member of the Computer Society of the IEEE, the Association for Computing Machinery, the American Society for Quality, and the Quality Assurance Institute. In 2000, she earned the highest score in the United States on QAI’s Certified Software Test Engineer (CSTE). She also has CSDP certification, is a Professional Scrum Master (PSM), and is a SAFe Program Consultant (SPC).

Scrum Level Up™ Lead Assessor Background

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Product Owner: Jeff• Located in San Jose

Scrum Master: Sanjeev• Located in Seattle

Six members of the Development Team• 5 in Seattle • 1 in Boston

The ACME Team

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A PowerPoint overview of the product

A subset of the team’s Product Backlog including

• 15 user stories with acceptance criteria and UI design guidance

• 8 defects

• 7 technical debt or technical items

The Definition of Done

The Definition of Ready

The Working Agreements

3 Sprint Backlog items from Sprint 22 including all tasks and other information

A screen shot of the current Sprint task board

Sprint Burndown Charts for the last three Sprints

Defect trend data from the last project and this project

Eight web survey results

Reviewed Materials

State of Scrum Snapshot

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Overview of ACME’s Scrum Operation

The ACME team has a healthy Scrum adoption that is significantly better than average and healthy in nearly all respects.

We found all Scrum roles, events, and artifacts to be working well.

ACME’s mission going forward will be to strengthen an already-strong Scrum implementation, rather than to correct a deficient implementation.

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Detailed Ratings of ACME’s Scrum OperationTeam Practice

Healthy Team

Average Team

Your Team

Gap Analysis Interpretation

Sprint Planning 7 4 6 Slight weakness

Used with mixed effectiveness; Better than average; Fairly healthy

Daily Scrum/Standup 7 6 9 Marked Strength

Used consistently and effectively; Much better than average; Very healthy

Sprint Review 7 4.5 9 Marked Strength

Used consistently and effectively; Much better than average; Very healthy

Sprint Retrospective 7 4 9 Marked Strength

Used consistently and effectively; Much better than average; Very healthy

Product Owner 7 2 8 StrengthUsed consistently and effectively; Much better than average; Very healthy

Scrum Master 7 4 8 StrengthUsed consistently and effectively; Much better than average; Very healthy

Cross-Functional, Self-Managing Development Team 7 6 8 Strength

Used consistently and effectively; Better than average; Very healthy

Product Backlog; Refinement 7 5.5 7 Mild strength Used consistently and effectively; Better than average; Healthy

Sprint Backlog 7 5.5 6 Slight weakness Used with mixed effectiveness; About average; Fairly healthy

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Greatest Strength(s)Daily Scrum/StandupSprint ReviewSprint Retrospective

Greatest Weakness(es)Sprint Planning

Prioritizing Strengths and Weaknesses of ACME’s Scrum Operation

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Team Perceptions of ACME’s Scrum Adoption (1 of 2)

Team PracticeConstrux

RatingLowest Self-

RatingHighest Self-

RatingAverage Self-

Rating

Sprint Planning 6 5 7 6

Daily Scrum/Standup 9 6 8 7

Sprint Review 9 8 9 8.5

Sprint Retrospective 9 9 9 9

Product Owner 8 8 9 8.5

Scrum Master 8 7 9 8

Cross-Functional, Self-Managing Development Team 8 6 9 7.5

Product Backlog; Refinement 7 5 7 6

Sprint Backlog 6 5 7 6

Overall Rating 7.8 6.6 8.2 7.4

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Team Perceptions of ACME’s Scrum Adoption (2 of 2)

The team’s self-rating was biased slightly on the self-critical side

This pattern of a team being overly-self-critical is common among high performing teams; we regard it as healthy and do not recommend changing it

Detailed Findings by Practice Area

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Sprint planning scored 6, which makes it a slight weakness Sprint planning was the most significant weakness observed in this

assessment (along with a related weakness in sprint backlog), but that is in the context of an otherwise strong implementation

Survey comments consistently stated that surprises occurred throughout the Sprint. During our observation of Sprint Planning, we found it rushed and that the team members did not feel confident in their plan

To improve in this area, we recommend the team have deeper discussions about what they need to do this Sprint as they develop their Sprint Backlog. Some additional task creation and decomposition would be valuable to ensure that discussion occurs

Sprint Planning

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Daily Scrum/Standup scored 9, which makes it a marked strength We do not recommend any changes in this area, other than minor

refinements that will continue to be identified through the normal retrospective process

Daily Scrum/Standup

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Sprint Review scored 9, which makes it a marked strength We do not recommend any changes in this area, other than minor

refinements that will continue to be identified through the normal retrospective process

Sprint Review

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Sprint Retrospective scored 9, which makes it a marked strength We recommend the team explore bigger picture changes in the

retrospectives, as described on the next page

Sprint Retrospective

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Members of the ACME team expressed concern that retrospectives were becoming stale. They have found and implemented all the low-hanging fruit changes.

We recommend that the ACME team establish a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG). Examples include decreasing build time by 75%, increasing velocity by 50%, or reducing customer reported defects by 30%.

The team can use the next retrospective to

• Establish a shared goal

• Determine how to measure progress towards the goal

• Select the first change the team will make and estimate what contribution they believe that change can make in two weeks

Retrospectives then focus on evaluating the impact and making decisions about what to try next until the team achieves its BHAG. The team can then establish a new goal.

Explore Bigger Picture Changes in the Retrospectives

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Product Owner scored 8, which makes it a strength We do not recommend any changes in this area, other than minor

refinements that will continue to be identified through the normal retrospective process

Product Owner

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Scrum Master scored 8, which makes it a strength We do not recommend any changes in this area, other than minor

refinements that will continue to be identified through the normal retrospective process

Scrum Master

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Cross-Functional, Self-Managing Development Team scored 8, which makes it a strength

We do not recommend any changes in this area, other than minor refinements that will continue to be identified through the normal retrospective process

Cross-Functional, Self-Managing Development Team

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Product Backlog; Refinement scored 8, which makes it a mild strength One major concern express by Jeff, the Product Owner, is the ACME team has

numerous stakeholders and the team sometimes feels they aren’t delivering what those stakeholders want and need

We recommend quantifying stakeholder goals, as described on the next few pages, to help focus the business and the team on value

Product Backlog; Refinement

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We recommend that ACME capture and quantify the top three goals for their product. For example, one goal Jeff expressed was to Improve End User Satisfaction. Assuming this was a top goal across all stakeholders, ACME could then quantify it by establishing:

A scale: What is being measures / the units of measureA meter: How it is measured / how to place results of the scaleA target range: The range of acceptable outcomes (see next slide)

We recommend that Jeff interview the current stakeholders to understand their wants and needs. Sanjeev, the Scrum Master, and Jeff can then conduct a half day working session to prioritize and align everyone on the top three goals for the product in 2020.

Quantify the Stakeholders Goals (1 of 3)

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We recommend that ACME capture the following target ranges for desired outcomes Minimum: The level necessary to avoid some form of failure Target: A level representing good success Outstanding: A desirable level that could be achieve if everything went perfectly

Quantify the Stakeholders Goals (2 of 3)

MinimumTarget

Outstanding

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Example Quantified Goal

Quantify the Stakeholders Goals (3 of 3)

Improve User Satisfaction

Meter: Monthly User Satisfaction Survey

Scale: Net Promotor Score

Minimum: >=20 Outstanding: >=50Target: >=35

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Sprint planning scored 6, which makes it a slight weakness Expanding the discussions occurring in Sprint Planning will help the team

have more confidence in their Sprint Backlog Quantifying the goals will help ensure the most valuable items are in the

Sprint Backlog

Sprint Backlog

Summary of Recommendations

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The ACME team is performing well overall. Based on the team’s current state and its stated goals, we have recommended the following:

1. No changes in most areas, other than continuing refinements arising through the normal retrospective process

2. Expand the discussions occurring in Sprint Planning so that the team feels comfortable and confident with the Sprint plan

3. Explore Bigger Picture Changes in the Retrospectives 4. Quantify the Stakeholder’s Goals

Summary of Recommendations

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Construx was founded by Code Complete author Steve McConnell to provide practical, evidence-based, real-world leadership to the software community

We have helped more than 1,000 Scrum teams in organizations world-wide

We believe that every software project can be successful We believe that developing the professional skills of

companies, teams, and individuals is the best way to make software projects more successful

Construx History & Focus

Construx Software is committed to helping individuals and organizations improve their software development practices.

For information about our training and consulting services, contact hello@construx.com.

10900 NE 8th Street, Suite 1300Bellevue, WA 98004

+1.425.636.0100www.construx.com

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