Meetup Roundup: London Scrum Usergroup (#LSUG) March 2012

The London Scrum Usergroup (LSUG) has had a bit of resurgence relatively recently. Most people who undergo some kind of Scrum Alliance training in London usually get encouraged top become part of the community, and often LSUG and the Scrum Alliance Google group are rolled out as options. I recently went along to the latest meetup.

Trying a different relative estimation approach

At TagMan, we use frameworks that facilitate the Agile mindset as much as possible. Some teams are currently using Scrum, while others are taking a more Kanban-like pull/flow approach. We are still learning both, and constantly look at how we can understand the outcomes of the frameworks, so that we can make them effective in the context of our particular environment.

One of the teams planning their next sprint with their Product Owner

Estimation in general is a double-edged sword. When you have a system that starts to flow well, it actually can become a form of waste. However, while we are still learning it's a useful means to allow us to understand our throughput each development sprint, and to better understand differences in complexity. From a scheduling point of view the main benefit of estimation is really just to allow you to plan releases effectively when you are using an iterative approach.

We have recently adapted our estimation approach to see if it makes the planning process more effective and enjoyable, and wanted to share our experiences with you!