“Putting a Project Manager in a Wheelchair – working with differing abilities”
Dec 28, 2011 – Sojorner Auditorium – online.

22 people attended.

Agenda

1. Differing Abilities
2. Pairing
3. Agile Project Management
4. Flavors of Agile
5. Daily Agile Scrum Meetings with Agile Hopscotch
6. Alternate tools for Distributed Teams

Credits:
Gentle Heron, the leader of the Virtual Ability Community for organizing and transcribing.  Gentle is a Linden Prize winner.  The Virtual Ability Community hosts 600 people interested in assisting people with disabilities and their care givers and proponents.

Thanks also go to the rest of the Virtual Ability, Inc. team for orienting attendees (Ladyslipper), scheduling work fo the event (iSkye), and Gentle (for real time transcription).

We also had good participation from the Audience ranging on comments on Scrum, Lean, Myers-Briggs, and also live demonstrations.

Format:
This is a transcript of a 3d web online event.  Participants were able to visually interact with each other, the venue, and shared models.   Because we deal with health issues, we protect them by showing part of their chosen pseudonym.  They are free to reveal more if desired.   I did need to give them credit for their comments.   I’ll show you some excerpts from the transcript, mixed with my paragraph summaries.

The talk began at 6:30 pm Pacific.   Gentle Heron spoke first.

(Gentle Heron)
Good evening, and welcome to Sojourner Auditorium on Virtual Ability Island. It’s nice to see everyone here tonight for this topic.

This is part of an ongoing series of events during December and January about the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We call this series Waiting for the World to Change.

The next presentation in this series will be December 29, The topic will be “Redefining Disability: The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health.” ALiesel & Alzimarie, Thomas Jefferson University, Occupational Therapy graduate students will present on this topic over on Healthinfo Island
[18:34] Gentle Heron: Tonight AgileBill Firehawk will speak with us about “Putting a project manager in a wheelchair – working with differing abilities.”

His credentials for presenting tonight include working as a developer, teacher, and consultant for over 20 years. He has worked at IBM and now works in the health care industry.  After coming to Virtual Worlds in 2009, he updated his career to teach project management using imersive 3d concepts and to promote people with differing abilities. Bill has served on the Board of Directors of Rockcliffe University Consortium, and is a graduate of the University of Washington certificate program on virtual worlds.

[18:35] Gentle Heron: Bill is willing to take clarification questions during his presentation, but please keep them short.  He will be presenting in voice and typing some of what he says, and I will be transcribing to text the other material for those who need that mode of input.

(AgileBill begins speaking)
I will put a project manager in a wheelchair.: Or the other way around, put someone in a wheelchair in a project manager job.  If you are in a W/C you have skills that you could use with distributed teams.

So many teams now are global.  I’ve spent years working with distributed teams, at IBM, Rockcliffe University Consortium, and in the health care industry.  As part of the Virtual Ability Community, you work remotely every day.  That gives you mad skills for today’s distributed teams.  You know the challenges.  But you are ahead in some skills – out of force of necessity..

Topic 1 – “Differing Abilities.”
((Bill begins class sitting in a wheelchair, then stands)).
I am lucky I can stand up and get out of the wheelchair.   But not everyone can. I hope we can train people to take advantage of your skills.  I wanted to share what I learned in 2 years of pushing distributed tools.   I want to give you practical knowledge on how to do project management with distributed teams.

Let’s start with project management (PM).  I specialize in the Agile style of project management and software development.  But it goes beyond software.  It works well for many kinds of projects.

(The audience commented here that so many project failed we needed to come up with new way to manage projects – thanks Any1).

Topic 2 – “Pairing”
There are three ways to product work.  By yourself, or “Solo”,  Inspect it after it is initially done, or work together at most times with a partner.  We call this last method “Pair Programming”.    That name is a misnomer because it is so useful beyond just programming.

Old way – working Solo with inspections
We are trained in school that working together is cheating.  Actually, in industry it is teamwork and has many benefits.   The old way to work is to work on your own, perhaps being confused and making mistakes.  You go to an inspection meeting, find a list of defects, then go off on your own to fix them, being nearly as lost.   This assumes people actually hold inspections.

[18:45] any1: any individual developer is too productive… in a bad way… pair development provides quality assurance and it works like a charm

I will show you the other way.  We take turns.

[18:44] AgileBill Firehawk: come with me Ahroun
[18:44] Gentle Heron: Now Bill and Ahroun are sitting together.
[18:45] Gentle Heron: Two people work on one computer.

Ahroun might be thinking big picture strategy.  I might think of details.  Then we help each other if we make mistakes.  We fix mistakes before going on.  It’s self pacing.  It’s tiring, so we’ll switch roles.  I will think big picture, and Ahroun will do the details.

It’s effective.   It helps you invent things.   It helps you removed defects right away.  It helps make sure everything is inspected.   It increases quality.

[18:46] any1: communication is inherently creative… because it’s imperfect
[18:46] AgileBill: That’s our demo of Pair Programming.
[18:46] AgileBill Firehawk: Thanks Ahroun!
[18:46] Ahroun Maelstrom: No problem.

Sub Topic –  “Pairing Beyond Software Development.”
It’s been effective for building together in 3d models. Together we change and add to the build.  Always 2 pairs of eyes looking and improving.  That is an Agile concept that works well in 3d building.  I recommend the book “Pair Programming Illuminated” by Robert Kessler and Laurie Williams to learn how.

http://www.amazon.com/Pair-Programming-Illuminated-Laurie-Williams/dp/0201745763/ref=sr_1_1

Topic 3 – “Agile Project Management”
In Agile, we work in 2 week cycles.  These are usually called iterations or sprints.  The purpose of an iteration is to force ourselves to confess if we are really done or note.  It is also easier to plan details two weeks at a time and adjust.  We still have a bigger picture plan saying how much stuff we will do during the project, and perhaps some stretch goals.  But planning *details* farther than two weeks out is not only a waste, but can slow your ability to fresh realities.  “Planning is Essential, the Plan is Worthless.”

Some people use shorter or longer sprints, but 2 weeks is recommended and now the most common length.  Here is a summary of what happens in the 10 working days of an iteration.

Day 1        - plan the next two weeks worth of work.
Day 2 – 8   - “Do” your test, code, build.  Note that we don’t put off the testing to the end!
Day 10       - Demonstrate your work to get feedback on the product, then hold a lessons learned or “Retrospective” to improve the process.  Make the process smoother.

[18:49] any1: risk driven development… test incrementally as you develop… don’t go to far … without verifying quality –  improve the processes… constantly….
[18:50] any1: it’s like a Japanese car factory (Toyota Production System)
[18:51] any1 : interact with ur customer… check in often.. rather than creating in a vacuum

The reason we do this style of PM is we can improve risks and satisfy customers, improve quality, go faster.  It is a way to manage work to absorb change.  It makes change a competitive advantage.
[18:51] Candice smiles at that

Sidebar – “Sustainable Pace”
[18:51] Pamala- if you do this at a sustainable pace, your employees will benefit.

Sometimes with long time frames, people are lackadaisical, and the work is done all at the end. Nothing was paced out, nothing distributed through time.  With Agile, it’s not 80 hours one week and 4 the next.   If you “over-stuff” your iterations, you cannot keep up with the pace.

[18:52] Joel: and then in the last two weeks, everyone realizes it’s only half done
[18:52] Candice: You haven’t worked in the ad business where everything is like that
[18:52] Trion: A schedule needs to be in place that gets work done in stages
[18:52] AgileBill Firehawk: lol, so true Candice
[18:52] any1: facilitate productivity.. rather than rush development at the end for the deadline

Topic 4 – “Flavors of Agile”
I use the “A word”, or  Agile. But there is no such thing. You have to do specific methods. There are several agile methods.  Agile is an umbrella term for Scrum, XP, and Kanban.

Scrum focuses only on Project Management.  Like all Agile methods, it features short time-boxed iterations.  You may take 4 months to create a product your customers will install, but you demo to them every 2 weeks.  That helps you make sure you are building what they want.

Pamala and Bill both hold certifications in Scrum, which is one of the most popular Agile methods. Lots of people are hiring this style of management now.

Extreme Programming, or XP, also does this, but adds some technical practices, such as Pair Programming, Continuous Integration, Refactoring, and Test Driven Development.

Kanban does not have the two week deadline.  Instead it focuses on how long tasks take, and watches that you don’t start too many things at once.  It focuses on ‘pulling’ work through the system.

(At this point in the talk we went into a bit of a tangent and we started to discuss Lean and Six Sigma, I think that i would like to take the time here to explain a bit more fully what each of those are.)

Lean is a set of project management techniques.  They evolved from work by the Toyota Motor Corporation, W. Edwards Deming, and have been adapted to software in the books by Mary and Tom Poppendieck.   Lean can optimize what you do.  You can use Lean with everything.  For example, it teaches how to reduce 7 forms of waste, like wait time and extra features.  It’s a good compliment to Agile.  Six Sigma is about statistical quality control.

Pamala- How close is Lean and SixSigma?
[18:55] Trion: Lean is a way of thinking
[18:55] Gentle Heron: SixSigma is statistical quality control.
[18:56] Trion Ormenthal: Kanban is a lean tool

Kanban is also cool. It focuses on flow.  You don’t have a 2 week deadline.
[18:56] AgileBill asks “How many of you have a To Do List?”
[18:56] Bathsheba: I have a to do list of to do lists
[18:56] Aiyana: raises her hand
[18:56] Gentle does! it’s a ToDo Encyclopedia though.
[18:56] Aiyana: lol
[18:57] iSkye: raises both hands
[18:57] Pamala- Like the Franklin Day Planner.
[18:57] NANA: I have list to don’t.
[18:57] Gentle Heron likes that Nana!
[18:58] Ti has 8.67 billion items on her to do list

(Bill chuckles, and continues)
The idea is to prioritize.  Some people use MoSCoW methods. This stands for “Must Should Could Won’t”.  But it really turns out to be Must , Must, Must, Must..  Don’t bother.  Rank your requirements with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 499th, etc.   In Agile, we *pull* the from the list.  We take the top priority ones first.

[18:58] any1: Kepner Tregoe … Situation Analysis… can prioritize any messy situation

For Agile, you need them prioritized. Top to bottom. You can pick the good stuff off the top, and do them in order.

Let’s pretend a 6 month project.  That’s 12 two week “sprints”, or iterations.
Some people like to focus on architecture first.  Either way, our focus is to build high quality stuff every two weeks.  It is done, Done, DONE!   That means we can’t say ‘I’m done, but have a few things to finish up next week’ (like I usually do, lol).   It means no repair later.  If you can’t get it done without bugs, put it back on the To Do pile, to be re prioritized into a future iteration..  Our sprints are Done! in terms of quality, but we will still add function to the release later.

[18:59] any1: what about Kaizan events? are they magic or what?
[19:00] Abal: 3 week development 1 week test
// Bill *coughs*, and says “Note- that is a mini waterfall, and is not what we are really hoping for.  We want 1 day of planning, 8 days of similar tech days, then one day of demo/retro”

Subtopic – “Planning Your Team’s Hours”
I like to plan 54 hours of work every 2 weeks, per person.  54 hours is a sweet spot because it leaves time for important work beyond the scheduled tasks.  It’s not possible or worth it to plan for that extra work.   Ironically, it will slow you down if you stuff too much on your schedule.  That is because you lose 20% of productivity for each task you juggle.
(http://psychology.about.com/od/cognitivepsychology/a/costs-of-multitasking.htm)
That means it is optimal to divide your day into some focused ‘on task’ time, but also admit we need time to handle phone calls, requests for help from team mates, mandatory company meetings, and unexpected repair work (*gasps*).

Two weeks times forty hours per week
That leaves 30% of time for email or meetings.   There is some math Let’s look at that in a bit more detail.
Two weeks at 40 hours a week  = 80 hours.   70% of that is 56.   Or you could look at it this way
- 4 hours for a planning meeting on day 1
- 2 hours for 8 15 minutes one day for planning (4 hours + 2 hours for 8 15 minute stand up meetings).
- 2 hours for a demo on day 10
- 2 hours for a retrospective on day 10
The rest of the time is for e-mail,

Or you can say the scrum will require meetings and a review at the end.
Successful teams do 54 hours of work every 2 weeks.
The trick is you will burn out if you do more.

Here is a task board.  In each 2 week period, we look at the Task board- yellow stickies and a white board.  One eletronic aid for this is a tool called AgileZen (http://www.agilezen.com).  I like it because it is free for an individual, and very inexpensive for groups.  It shows columns for work, such as not started, in progress, and done.  You can customize these.   You can drag boxes representing work from column to column.

One agile concept is the team swarms on the tasks when needed.  That gives you a benefit from collaboration that you may not see if individual heroism is the focus.

In the old management styles, the busy boss assigned work to individuals. and at the end of the year you are rated on how much you got done.  The top folks get bonuses, and the bottom folks get fired each year.

How does over rewarding individuals promote teamwork?
[19:04] Joel: Darwinian management
(we had a visit from a gamer at this point who plays a vampire game, so we joked and made an analogy about people turning off their minds and feeding their vampire overlords.  Then our event host team ushered the visitor to the appropriate place – Thanks team!)

Let’s get back to our task-board.  At the end of the day look at how much work Remains.  In our example, let’s use 54 hours per person per two weeks times a 6 people.  That’s a total of 324 hours of work before our demo.   We don’t care how much work was done.  We don’t care about partial credit.  We only care how much is left now.   That reflects the reality that our estimates are approximate, and focuses our time on the current situation.  We graph the remaining work each day to get a picture of the trend.  The end of our graph should land on zero work left by our deadline!

[19:05] Iso: you know, this sounds like it would be a good work strategy for ANY work situation

Topic 5 – “Daily Agile/Scrum Meetings with Agile Hopscotch”

Let me show you a tool called  Agile Hopscotch  (Agile Hopscotch is © 2011 by Agile Dimensions LLC).  Bill and Pamala invented it.

Let’s have a demo!

[19:06] Iso: more fun too
[19:06] Gentle: Bill is making room for a demo.
[19:06] Gentle Heron: Pamala invented Agile Hopscotch for Agile Dimensions LLC.

Both Extreme Programming and Scrum use daily 15 minute meetings.  Agile Hopscotch makes the meetings more effective.

Let’s say we have a team of 8 people, who are spread across the globe.  In Scrum, the most popular Agile method, we have daily 15 minute meetings.

1)  You state two things you finished yesterday
2)  Then the two things you want to get done today.
// important correction – it’s not what you ‘want’ to do, it is what you *commit* to do for your team mates, TODAY.
3)  The next step is any difficulties, or ‘blockers’. When I stand on this hopscotch square and state my problem, the team should give me some quick solutions, or set a time to talk after the short meeting.

*Demonstration*  We walk on the Agile Hopscotch map.
Here Pamala and I had some role play demonstrating a quick meeting on the Agile Hopscotch floor mat

Example:
[19:09] Bill- Yesterday I prepped my talk and worked on a build.
[19:09] Today (tomorrow I will finish) a blog post and will work on a build.
[19:09] The blocker is how to export a build in Unity
[19:09] Does anyone know Unity 3D?
[19:09] Pamala- I have a Unity tip for you.  I’ll pass it to you after the meeting

Bill- using Agile Hopscotch is cool because helps people focus.
If you say you have a daily 15 minute meeting, they babble.
This structure focuses people.  It makes meetings high energy.  It keeps people focused on the tasks at hand..

They won’t try to do 8 things at once.  You lose 20% productivity for each thing you juggle.
[19:11] any1: that’s a big deal imho

Topic 6 – “Alternate tools for distributed teams”

[19:11] Gentle Heron: Bill- I want to show you something else.
I will show you a block diagram of the agile process.  But it is actually a living space where you can do Agile in a spatial context.  I am showing a custom space I designed for Agile teams using a tool called Sococo.  The layout of the space is useful, and also reminds you of the Agile process.

I would like to *do* project management in 3d.  But many people percieve 3d platforms as a game.  Platforms like Second Life that mix gaming and education further confuse business minded audiences. But tools such as Sococo are very clearly for efficient work.

There is a range of tools.  Other 3d environments include Web.alive, VenueGen, SpotOn3d, OpenSim, ReactionGrid, InWorldz, Habo, and Twinity.  But a flat 2d yet simple view offered

Digression – Correlation of Myers-Briggs preference with appetite for 3d
[19:12] Candice: Bill . how does MBTI work within this .. not everyone can focus …
[19:12] AgileBill: MBTI stands for Myers Briggs Type Indicator, and is a psychological test to show your preferences.  If you create too fancy a build, it’s not good because some people may be over stimulated.
[19:14] Candice: Yep
[19:12] AgileBill: But if it’s too simple, it’s boring.

(Showing picture of the Sococo tool)

I showed prospective users the 3D avatars, but some were uncomfortable.  Sococo is a mix of the instant communication we expect with tools like Skype, and a spatial context we get from tools like OpenSim and VenueGen.  (http://www.sococo.com), I have piloted it’s use with 200 people.  It can work well when timezones are overlapped enough.  For example, I work with people from the US and the Ukraine.   With team mates from India it’s a bit harder since for me there is over a 10 hour time difference (vs 7 for the Ukraine).  But within a few hours distance, it works great to form a vitual ‘bullpen’.  This can approach the feel of a team working toghether without cube walls, without the cost of refitting a physical space.  This allows for the “Osmotic Communication” very helpful for agile teams.

But it is hard to get people to use even a simpler tool such as Sococo.  They are very used to face to face, telephones, and even webcams.   In Sococo, you are represented as dot rather than a 3d avatar.  But even this more simplistic version is a stretch for some people.

Some people like 3d avatars.  You can see an example of me interviewing Grady Booch at http://www.agiledimensions.com  and http://bit.ly/BillGrady1.   Compare that with the simple dot ‘avatar’ offered in Sococo.  Yet the dot works for more people, at least in these beginning days of the 3d web frontier.

If you do project management from your home, if you are a good organizer…… that is project management.    Look how Virtual Ability pulls off events. You can do that from office or house.  But many people you would work with do not “get” 3d.  For those cases, Sococo is useful because it combines a ‘spatial context’ with simplicity.

It also has headsets, text, video, screen sharing.  Users can share control of applications.  And with my custom floor plan for agile teams, you can *do* agile in a spatial context designed for agile.

[19:17] Candice: Wouldn’t part of it be “marketing” the skills .. phrasing it so people understand what you’ve done .. kind of like a resume based on skillset?
[19:17] AgileBill – yes, explaining the differences is the key,

Let’s look at the picture of Sococo.
In this room I can tell I have 4 programmers.  I can see the manager in the corner office.  If you want to talk to him, click on his office.  The metaphor is simple enough to use, and also delivers the spatial context needed.

Let me give you more context.  20% of our population at work is in our biggest office, the rest is spread around the world in smaller pockets.   So I introduced them to virtual worlds. They didn’t like it.  They felt it was a game.  Then I introduced them to simpler tools, such as Sococo.  That one stuck, and we are one of the top users of the tool as we discussed.

I suspect it may be correlated with people’s mental preferences, which can be shown with the Myers-Briggs type indicator.  For example, some people gather information about their world with numbers, and decide based on logic.  Some gather information based on models and intuition, and may be more likely to “get” more complicated virtual environments.  This is being researched in SL’s Science Circle.   But it is good to have people on your team with diverse tastes.

[19:20] Bathsheba: they also perhaps fear human resource problems from working in an environment that is less protected?

Okay, so let’s summarize.  The message of this talk is that there are tools beyond virtual worlds.

I hope to be able to continue to teach you more about project management in upcoming classes.

[19:20] Candice applauds
[19:20] Dabici: TY Bill
[19:20] Bathsheba: thanks!
[19:21] Iso: applauuuuuuusssse
[19:21] Dabici: great talk
[19:21] Treasure: Great Presentation
[19:21] AgileBill: thanks!!!
[19:21] Ahroun: INTP ftw. *claps warmly*
[19:21] Iso: thank you Bill and Gentle..

Bill- I will do more talks until we get a project manager in a wheelchair.
[19:21] Ladyslipper: Thank you!!!
[19:21] Iso Huet: excellent
[19:21] Iso Huet: !
[19:21] AgileBill: .-’`'-. APPLAUSE APPLAUSE .-’`'-.

Read more!
http://www.virtualability.org
http://www.agiledimensions.com
http://www.sococo.com
http://www.agilezen.com
http://bit.ly/BillGrady1

The timbers are down, mats unrolled, walls in place.   I have placed training stations for assorted lessons around the room.  What’s a Dojo you ask?  It is a Japanese word that means “place of learning” – often for martial arts.   After getting my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, I feel it’s more than just a school or building.  There is something mental about it beyond the structure.

I have built a Dojo using virtual worlds so we may meet, and let our mind consider questions ranging from project management, Agile development, and Lean process.  I hope it captures the feel of a learning place for you

Now all we need are students.

I built this for our user group meeting.  Checkout http://www.meetup.com/agile3d.com

Outside

As a special feature sneak peak, here is an example of what it looks like outside the Dojo (Taken at Agile Coach Camp 2010, Bill, Bill, and Mike shown)

 
Agile software development is a combination of techniques that are designed to do just that.  Some the techniques can apply beyond software projects as well.  Scrum, for example, is an agile project mangement method that works beyond software.  Lean is a way to optimize many processes.

So why another Agile website?  There are a decent number of gurus already.  But what’s different is the word ‘dimensions’.  We teach in 3D.  In addition to tradtional face to to face instruction, we offer immersive distance learning – not just to save airfare, but to provide a richer experience.  Students will grasp more, develop better networks, foster deeper understanding, and retain more so they can truely leverage what they have discovered.  We use modern pedagogical techniques to serve students with diverse learning styles.

But it’s not just style.  Bill Krebs, our principal consultant, has 25 years of experience as a programmer geek, performance engineer, and consultant.  He’s taught over 1,050 engineers and managers at IBM and beyond.  No matter what pain you feel, he can relate and advise.

Investing in training is more important now than ever.  If you’re with a company you have to improve to continue to save cost.  If you’re transitioning between jobs you need to update your skills to triumph in the next step of your career.

How can Agile Dimensions Help Your Business?

What?  You’re education budget has been slashed?  You have no travel budget?  AgileDimensions offers cost effective training with you in mind.  So, contact us for your choice of classes!

• Free 2 hour Primer (such as Agile 101)
• Private course  (any length you want – 3 hours to 3 days!)
• Private consulting
• Certified Scrum Master Training

For further information and detailed information about training and pricing, simply contact AgileBill@AgileDimensions.com.

Did I say 3D?  No.  It’s really 4D.