PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE OF SCRUM THROUGH PROJECT-BASED LEARNING MEDIATED BY ICTIN A DISTRIBUTED TEAM

MASTER ICT IN EDUCATIONAcademic Course 2010/2011

Master ThesisAuthor: Sergio YazyiTutor: Prof. Dr. Francisco García Peñalvo

CONTENTS

● INTRODUCTION

● CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

● CASE STUDY

● PEDAGOGICAL PATTERN

● CONCLUSIONS

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION: MOTIVATION FOR THE RESEARCH

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Appreciate the value of project-based learning in ICT enhanced environments.

Reveal the educational benefits of agile methods.

Improve the efficency, efficacy and effectiveness in teams.

Focus collaborative work from a distributed team perspective.

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INTRODUCTION: RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

Analyse a project-based learning experience, carried out on-line, with a distributed team, using Scrum framework.

Conceptually describe the elements that converge around the experience.

Extract a pedagogical pattern that serves as a model of practice suitable for being replicated.

Establish further research perspectives derived from this work.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Project-based learning

DistributedTeams

Scrum▪ Characteristics▪ ICT role▪ Challenges▪ Benefits

▪ Principles▪ Roles▪ Artifacts▪ Meetings

▪ Characteristics▪ ICT role▪ Challenges▪ Benefits

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: KEY CONCEPTS

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

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Active learning strategy central to the curriculum.

Based on addressing key issues, authentic and from the real world.

Involve students and gives them a wide degree of autonomy in their development.

Oriented to the development of concrete and meaningful products.

Promoting the acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Characteristics

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

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Improve students motivation.

Preparation for professional work and life.

Development of key skills and socio-emotional competencies.

Foster collaborative work.

Appreciate the importance of different disciplines and subjects.

Practical/functional integration of technology.

Benefits Challenges

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New teacher role: facilitator and advisor.

Demand management and design skills.

Preparation and implementation effort.

Difficulties in the assessment process.

Demand new skills and attitudes both from teachers and from students.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

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Technology-mediated collaboration and communication.

Team members distributed across one or several dimensions: temporal, physical and relational.

Work is conditioned by the degree of task interdependence.

Synchronous or asynchronous communication.

Specific processes in selection, socialization and leadership.

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Characteristics

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: DISTRIBUTED TEAMS

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Overcoming physical and temporal limitations.

Remote talents mix.

Cost reductions.

More options to reach work and personal life balance.

Providing greater autonomy to members.

Contributes to innovation and synergy through complementarity and diversity of skills.

Benefits Challenges

Mediated communication.

Lack of team "visibility", fuzzy identity.

Obstacles to building trust (both for action and for relationship).

Demand "subtle control" : more influence than control.

Requires autonomous individual skills like self-discipline and time management.

Need of adequate attitudes: commitment, respect, perseverance and sincerity.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: SCRUM: IN 200 WORDS

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: SCRUM: CHARACTERISTICS

● A framework. Set of principles and practices.● Iterative product development.● Short work cycles.● Self-managed team with high level of interaction.● Continuous contact with the customer/end-user.● Close follow-up (daily). Advance visibility.● Complete deliverable/product (Increment).● Continuous improvement of teamwork process.● Sustainable: rhythm, continuity and focus on value.● Receptiveness to change. Flexibility and adaptability.

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CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK: SCRUM: ROLES, ARTIFACTS AND MEETINGS

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CASE STUDY

CASE STUDY: RESEARCH QUESTIONS

How to develop an experiential training in Scrum and exercise agile principles in a virtual environment with a distributed team?

How to implement collaborative learning online based on agile methods allowing to obtain the benefits from project-based learning combined with this types of methodologies?

How Scrum can benefit project-based learning as a framework within the pedagogical strategy?

What are the key elements that can be obtained from the experience that allow to reproduce it successfully?

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CASE STUDY: RESEARCH APPROACH

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CASE STUDY: RESEARCH OBJECT AND CONTEXT

▪ Scrum▪ PBL▪ Virtual team

▪ Skype▪ Google Docs▪ Google Wave▪ Gmail▪ Moodle

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▪ Professionals▪ Experienced▪ Committed▪ Homogeneity

▪ Coordination▪ Follow-up▪ Facilitation▪ Support▪ Feedback

▪ Continuous learning▪ Practice experience▪ Principles / practices▪ Virtual environment

▪ Objectives▪ Tasks▪ Planning▪ Resources

CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP APPROACH

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The simulated project consisted in the development of a promotional brochure for a training course of a hipothetical company.

Based on the requirements presented by the workshop tutor acting like a fictional customer, the team should represent the part of a group of professionals of a company specialized in advertising design, to take care of the proposal, draft and production of the promotional brochure according to the customer specifications. Managing the development process using the Scrum framework.

General description

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CASE STUDY:WORKSHOP APPROACH

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Participate actively in the group experiencing the different stages in the development of the product, following the practices of the Scrum framework, including:

● Negotiate and analyze customer requirements, defining the priority and business value in each case.

● Estimate collaboratively the efforts required for each task.● Breakdown the requirements ("user stories") in the different tasks needed to

accomplish a satisfactory product.● Contribute in the prioritization and allocation of the tasks according to the skills

and workload of each team member.● Communicate effectively among team members to complete the tasks properly

and on time.● Conduct retrospectives, meetings where each work cycle is analyzed critically

to propose improvements to the processes.● Participate in short and daily follow-up meetings, focused on sharing advances,

and early detect and resolve impediments.● Acquire fluency in the use of technologies (ICT) for synchronous and

asynchronous communication and collaborative work.

Objectives

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP APPROACH

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The main contents included in the syllabus design cover the principles and practices of Scrum framework applied to the context of the work proposed:

● Roles and responsibilities in a project: differentiation of the product owner, the scrum master and the development team.

● User stories estimation, prioritization and breakdown in tasks, allocation an coordination of execution.

● Follow-up, review and retrospective meetings.● Appropiate attitudes for teamwork in a distributed context, codes of conduct

(netiquette) and active participation in meetings in a constructive and cordial way.

Transversal contents emerge, like exercising skills in the use of technologies (ICT) involved like:

● effective collaborative work (Google Spreadsheet, Presentation, Moodle, etc.), ● synchronous communication (chat, conferencia, etc), y ● asynchronous communication (email, foros, etc.)

Contents

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP APPROACH

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A detailed work program of 10-days was established, with dedication of one hour per day, indicating the key days for joint meetings, and for reviewing project deliverables 1. A familiarization period with the activities and requiered times.2. Three events, in each one the different phases of a work cycle (sprint) are simulated:

○ meeting with the customer (product owner),○ cost and effort estimation,○ planification and allocation of tasks, ○ execution and recording of progress, ○ delivery of intermediate products (increments) and final release,○ retrospective analysis of each sprint.

3. Meeting for assesment and evaluation of the complete workshop.4. Participation in the discussion forums to share experiences, suggestions and conclusions.

Planning and schedule

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP APPROACH

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Participants are instructed about the technical requirements to perform the activities properly.

● Share an e-mail address to be able to communicate with the rest of the participants.

● Having access to broadband Internet to participate in meetings as teleconferences (audio only).

● Being familiarized, having the needed software installed and

active accounts in Skype y Google Docs services.

● Having available an hour a day during the 10 days of the workshop.

Technical and material resources

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP APPROACH

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The following evaluation criteria and requirements for accreditation were established:

● active participation in all activities of the project,

● having no complaints from the group for lack of participation or non-compliance with committed tasks,

● respect for the defined time slots for each activity,

● participation, at least collectively through a

representative, in the forums for conclusions and assesment of the experience.

Assesment

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

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● Young and/or experienced professionals. Interested in project management training, particularly in agile methods for its potential transfer to their professional field.

● High level of commitment and responsibility. The risk of concurrence with working / life demands is balanced through a low planned workload of the workshop to be compatible with other activities. Except for three defined events, key to the development of the simulation, the rest of the activities can be performed asynchronously.

Participants profile

CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

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● Composed of five (5) professionals with experience in project management.

● Geographically distributed within Spain territory.

● Some of them had previous experience with Scrum in co-located teams.

● High level of commitment to the activity.

Profile of the analyzed team members

CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

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The initial requirement from the customer (product owner) was specified in the OpenKnowledge training platform (Moodle based) and the team was notified through its forums.

● Because the team realized late of the close deadline and did not manage to meet synchronously, the team decided to start working asynchronously using e-mail.

● To achieve a better work dynamic the team proposed to use the functionalities of Google Wave. Thanks to this technology the first deliverable was ready on time and satisfying the requirements. For some of the team members it was the first time using that tool.

● The obstacles that were overcome in this first stage were the subject of the first retrospective.

The first iteration

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

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Subsequent meetings were carried out synchronously using Skype and Google Docs for collaborative work in a very effective way, allowing the members to know each other better, clarify doubts and make decisions quicker.

● The scrum master role was assigned by the team, and some specialized work roles were also identified (layout, graphic design, printing, mailing and activity record) to facilitate the allocation of tasks and work organization.

● Analysis of the user stories was carried out with the product owner (customer) and the team, determining value, estimating cost/effort, and then planning and allocation of tasks was decided by the team independently.

● Then the execution phase was held jointly and collaboratively, where the interaction was more intense and action-oriented within the time constraints.

● Finally, the retrospective was held at each stage, recording progress visually using a shared spreadsheet.

The second and third iteration

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CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

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● The level of proactivity and commitment of the members facilitated the spontaneously coordinated action, focused on the outcome and sticking to the time limits.

● Task allocation was done in very natural way, well balanced and without conflict.

● From one sprint to another different issues were addressed and improved raised in the retrospectives (team learning).

● More tools than the ones proposed were incorporated, learned and applied according the better fit in each situation.

● Working together with the product owner allowed to focus on the aspects of the highest value.

● Low level of "bureaucracy", most of the time was devoted to development activities.

● The focus on "how" things are done and the continuous self-analysis of the team to improve it.

● The experience of self-organization in a new group with members at the same level.

Positive highlights

CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP DEVELOPMENT

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● Keep in mind the schedule and key delivery dates.

● Control the time spent in planning/estimation avoiding dispersion.

● Last-minute changes on the deliverable.

● Achieve an appropriate balance between quality and effort, avoiding perfectionism.

● Control the time spent in meetings to avoid delays.

● Adapting to new tools requires additional effort.

● The lack of face-to-face contact leads to lose some nuances of communication that must be compensated with a higher virtual interaction, particularly among those who did not know each other previously.

Challenges found

CASE STUDY: ROLE OF ICT

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▪ Training platform Open Knowledge(syllabus design and forums)

▪ Asynchronous communication

▪ Synchronous communication(multi-conference)

▪ Sprint backlog

▪ "Burndown" chart

▪ Product(increment)

http://www.scrummanager.net/ok

CASE STUDY: WORKSHOP CONCLUSIONS

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● The simulated experience allowed to properly experiment in small scale the different aspects of the Scrum framework.

● Additionally skills related to collaboration and communication online were exercised.

● The tutoring feedback allowed to appreciate the importance of commitment and proactivity in achieveing coordination and self-managed teamwork.

● The lack of previous relationship among members needed a greater initial communication to compensate the absence of face-to-face interaction.

● ICT have an esential role in efectivity of communication and collaboration in a distributed team, but are not enough.

● With commitment all obstacles can be overcome but there's no tool that generates commitment.

PEDAGOGICAL PATTERNS

PEDAGOGICAL PATTERN:CONTEXT, PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

Problem

Solution

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▪ Selected students.▪ Geographically distributed.▪ Homogeneous team.▪ Time availability.▪ Basic knowledge on the framework.▪ ICT access and skills.

Context

▪ Exercise an agile method (Scrum) in a distributed team.▪ Facilitate assimilation and experience of the agile principles.

Forces:▪ ICT mediated communication▪ limited time available▪ lack of previous relationship▪ level of commitment▪ expectations regarding results

▪ Planification and schedule: detailed, accurate and accesible.▪ Synchronous meeting with all team members.▪ Clear and well defined allocation of time.▪ Limited participation of the tutor adjusted to the role assumed, facilitating self-management. ▪ Simulation of several complete work cycles ("sprints").▪ Recording activities: achievements, constraints, impediments and solutions.

Consequences:▪ Encouraged initiative, autonomy, shared responsibility and collaboration.▪ Obstacles arise early, accelerate cycle conflict-agreement-commitment.▪ Reflection and continuous improvement promotes self-esteem and increases cohesion.

Limitations:▪ Tutoring time demand, ICT skills, and low level of commitment can hinder coordination.

PEDAGOGICAL PATTERN: WORKSHOP DIAGRAM

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PEDAGOGICAL PATTERN: PATTERN IN ACTION

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CONCLUSIONS

CONCLUSIONS: RESULTS FROM THE EXPERIENCE

● Practical training in project management in a virtual environment with a distributed team is feasible, and the pedagogical pattern exposed captures the central elements emerged in this experience. - Potencial to develop key skills/transversal competencies. - ICT enhanced context allows to overcome different limitations. - Simulations and learning that can be transfered to everyday work and life situations. ● Scrum framework within a project-based learning strategy can benefit both the organization of the activity and the monitoring and value of the experience. - Principles and practices for teamwork: iterative, autonomous and adaptative. - Critical reflection and continuous improvement. Scrum master as a facilitator/catalyst. - Scrum can be used itself as a pedagogical pattern.

● Role of ICT as platform for social interaction and collaboration. - Development of a social and personal learning environment. - Learning tools motivated by the concrete need, natural and functional introduction. - Technology "sharing": selection criteria and proper application of tools.

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CONCLUSIONS: RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES

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● Relationship between tutoring and scrum master roles. Potential for teachers training on PBL. - The scrum master role as management skills training. - Potential to exercise PBL skills though workshops like the one presented.

● Opportunity to foster multi-cultural and inter-disciplinary teams development. - Distributed teamwork allows to design experiences of this type. - Explore the possibilities of more dispersed teams and with more heterogeneity. - Study implications of different communication alternatives.

● Best practices documentation through pedagogical patterns and pattern languages. - Potential to share practices and compare results and strategies. - Documentation and comparison of experiences based in the same approach. - Scrum as a pedagogical pattern within PBL, both for on-line and off-line learning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported.Decorative image based on "Fractal moose" by Martin Szyszlican generated with Chaoscope 0.3.1

An special acknowledgement to Scrum Managercommunity in particular to Claudia Ruata and Juan Palaciofor giving me the opportunity to participate in theirexperience and to conduct the case study presented here.

And also special thanks to the rest of theScrum simulation team: Leo Antoli, Javi Sanchez, Eduardo Ferro Aldama and Iago Fernández Bugallo

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

http://www.scrummanager.net

The complete work summarized in this presentation can befound in GREDOS, the Documental Open Repository under the identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10366/100082