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A common problem when adopting Scrum is that the early adopters often become zealots anxious to convert everyone else. What
zealots often forget is that it took them time to get comfortable with the idea of Scrum and the changes it requires. When others fail to convert instantly, zealots often perceive the delay as resistance. Because zealotry and pushing others to rapidly adopt new ideas can cause more harm than good, it is important for improvement community members to understand that their role is to consult rather than preach.

"Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum" by Mike Cohn

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It is critical that the sponsor demonstrate commitment to the transition effort
by participating on the ETC. Good sponsors do not initiate a transition, proclaim
support for Scrum, and then remove themselves from the effort of getting there.

"Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum" by Mike Cohn

 

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Iterating Toward Agility

Whether you are just starting to adopt Scrum or you are at the point where

you are ready to fine-tune your use of Scrum, you should manage the effort in an

agile way.

 

 

"Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum" by Mike Cohn

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Thessaloniki in the sun

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Maybe because it's this is the last train of my trip - sniff sniffm

The Slow Train by Flanders And Swann And Noel Coward

Millers Dale for Tideswell
Kirby Muxloe
Mow Cop and Scholar Green

No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Mortiehow,
On the slow train from Midsummer Norton and Mumby Row,
No churns, no porter,
No cat on a seat,
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Chester-le-Street
We won't be meeting again on the slow train.

I'll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw,
At Long Stanton I'll stand well clear of the doors no more,
No whitewashed pebbles,
No up and no down,
From Thornby Four Crosses to Dunstable Town,
I won't be going again on the slow train.

On the main line and the goods siding,
The grass grows high,
At Dog Dyke, Tumby Woodside, and Troublehouse Halt.
The sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate,
No passenger waits on Chittening platform of Cheslyn Hay,
No-one departs, no-one arrives,
From Selby to Goole,
From St. Erth to St. Ives,
They all passed out of our lives,
On the slow train,
On the slow train.
Cockermouth for Buttermere
On the slow train.
Armly Moor Arram
Pye Hill and Somercotes
On the slow train.
Windmill End.....

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Lunch

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IMG00061-20110322-1411.jpg

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The Chef

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Dinner

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I've found some marbles - unfortunately, I don't think they're mine...

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Some thoughts about the Greek "hole"

There was massive hole in the finances of Greece. The dreaded word bailout was used. Not only loudmouths like me but people who know what they're talking about shook their heads and lectured the Greeks on the importance of financially probity and anti-corruption and paying your taxes.

It was very pointed walking around the Acropolis museum yesterday to see a small sign pointing out that large chunks of the parthenon have been nicked.

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Mini Review of Cyrano de Bergerac, Greek National Theatre, Athens

I was very impressed with this production which struck me as far more visually creative and inventive than many I've seen in the UK. Using the costumes and players as the set pretty much all the way through was very effective.

It was also good that they didn't use swords which they had to be a lot more inventive in the fight scenes.

Just two gripes really.

For some reason Cyrano acquired a Mother, it sort of look like the reason might be to give the woman who played the mother a part.

Roxanne play with her boobs whenever she wanted to show she felt passionate about something, a little too much, even for me.
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This isn't the 'Athens' of anywhere - this is ATHENS

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On the balcony of the awesome new acropolis museum

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Not your average time team find

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Weather in Attica

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Sun comes out as we cross the isthmus into Attica

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Rainy Patras - Just in case you thought I was having too much fun

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All this talk about Greece

I dunno. It's just. Whenever I hear people on the news talking about Greece and it's financial problems I keeping hoping they'll just wrap up with a kind of opposite of the health warning on cigarette packs. Something like:

"Remember the Surgeon General has agreed - Greece is still one of the most beautiful countries in the world."

"If you're out in Athens with an Athenian and you're not at least tempted to dance on a table, you're probably dead."

Or the genuine health warning: 'If at some point you don't rudely reject Greek hospitality, they will feed you until you die.'
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Cradle of Civilisation a Bit Clouded Over and Breezy

Still, it's good to be back.
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I'm on the boat

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Bari

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Cafe just outside Bari port - maybe a nautical term I'm not familiar with...

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The Sea, The Sea!

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Florence in the mist

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Big New Balls in the Cafe Museum Vienna

Just had a fantastic schnitzel cordon bleu. The newly-renovated Cafe Museum is splendid.

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I want to be alone - seat at Barbes-Rochouart Metro

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Burn Baby Burn

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Flaming Brulee

Is there any possible chance that I'm not going order a Brulee that they set fire to at your table?
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Chicken Soup for the Shirt

So I was reading this book by Robert Dilts called 'Slight of Mouth' and in it there was a section talking about what difference is between things that we imagine and things that are real, so he had this exercise that he asked the reader to do, which I think is a really good exercise.

1) Remember something that you did yesterday (it shouldn't be anything cosmic, or very unusual, but it should be something that you actually did).

2) Imagine something you could have done yesterday (again, this doesn't have to be anything unusual or weird, it's better if it's just an ordinary thing that you could have done, but didn't).

3) Look at both of these things, as you look at them, as you see them in your mind's eye, how do you feel about them? What's the difference between them?

I've tried this exercise now several times in training courses. I've got lots of different answers, all of which are very interesting.

"I could have gone home and watched the telly but I took advantage of being on this course to stay with a friend and stay up all night drinking."

"I could have done a whole bunch of things that I would like to have done, but instead, I did the things that I absolutely had to do."

In my own case when I tried the experiment I considered the momentous issue of what I'd had on the previous day for lunch. The thing that I'd considered having was a bacon sandwich, but the thing that I'd actually had was a tin of chicken soup. And so I sat there trying to think what was the difference between these two things - an idea and a reality. How did I know that the lunch of chicken soup was real and the lunch of a bacon sandwich was just a dream? And then it struck me! I knew the chicken soup was real because I'd spilt it on my shirt!

And to me this was a big revelation. Engaging with reality means experiencing stuff going wrong. When stuff starts going wrong, that's one way of knowing it's really happening. Of course, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't always be trying to get things to go right. What it does mean is that you should treat evidence of things going wrong as feedback, to be literally fed back into the process. As Kent Beck says:

'The disease of software development is optimism, feedback is the cure.'

What it definitely doesn't mean is that you should treat stuff goimg wrong as a reason to stop trying to do things differently, as an excuse to go back to doing things the way you always did them.
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My European Itinerary

London - Paris

Depart: Monday 14/03/11 14:02 Arrive: Monday 14/03/11 17:23

Staying overnight: Hotel des Arts, 5 rue Tholoze, 18 Arr., Paris, 75018, FRANCE

Paris - Munich 

Depart: Tuesday 15/03/11 15:24 Arrive: Tuesday 15/03/11 21:36

Staying overnight: Philip's house

Munich-Vienna

Depart: Wednesday 16/03/11 11:27 Arrive: Wednesday 16/03/11 15:44

Vienna - Florence

Depart: Wien Meidling Wednesday 16/03/11 19:29 Arrive: Thursday 17/03/11 Firenze 06:18

Stay: Overnight on the train

Florence - Bologna

Depart: Friday 18/03/11 08:00 Arrive: Bologna Centrale Friday 18/03/11 08:37

Staying overnight: 

Bologna - Bari

Depart: Friday 18/03/11 09:50 Arrive: Bari Centrale Friday 18/03/11 15:35

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Profiteering from Terror

Luton Airport selling fast-track tickets through security for £3 and clear plastic bags for your 100ml toiletries for £1.

Bastards.
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