The Meta-Scrum, Host: Brent Barton, Thursday May 10, 2007, 11:15 Session

Participants

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The room was full. I tried to list as many people as I could (Sorry if I missed you!) Please feel free to edit/add any errors and omissions.

Bas Vodde, Bob Sarni, Bryan Stallings, David Cook, Evan Campbell, Francois Beauregard, George Schlitz, Jeff McKenna, Jeff Sutherland, Jim ?, Jim York, Jody Swarbrick, Kevin Neher, Laura Castle, Melanie Silver, Michael Tardiff, Nigel Baker, Paul Goddard, Peter Borsella, Vincent Spence

Summary Notes

The meeting purpose was to discuss what the meta Scrum is, what it should accomplish and how it can be used successfully.

A few people asked what the Meta-Scrum is:

Unlike the Scrum of Scrums (where teams synchronize and coordinate with the purpose of executing on the Backlog), The Meta-Scrum focuses on executing on the roadmap and the strategy while eliminating side channel conversations about the releases and the roadmap. It is a gap reduction exercise.

It is owned by the Chief Product Owner, who comes in with the plan. The participants act like a Board of Directors for the Product Owner who reviews and approves the plan. The participants must have the authority to make decisions. If someone is missing, that person must act in agreeement with the decisions made in the meeting.

Successful Meta-Scrums provide consistent answers to the question: "Does a Chief Product Owner's Product Backlog have consent of all the Stakeholders?"

We started describing what the plan is that the Chief Product Owner comes in with to in the Meta-Scrum, discussing what is meant by plan, roadmap, product backlog and other names. We stepped back and decided that what ever you use, have it clearly defined.

Indicators for when a Meta-Scrum is needed:

- Organization needs to reduce chaos

- Need consent at highest level of the organization

- Balancing multiple projects

- Multiple organizational areas need alignment

- You are in an environment where change happens (there are suprises)

When you have the ability to move the firehose of technology (Effective Scrum Teams) fast enough through the Meta-Scrum you can "hose the competition. Resistance is futile." (JS)

Next Steps

A small team convened to help finsh this work because the Meta-Scrum is not clearly defined.

Participants:

Brent Barton, Francois Beauregard, Jeff McKenna, Jody Swarbrick, Nigel Baker, Laura Castle

What we signed up to do:

• Document on Wiki
• Invite Others to participate
• Evangelize our progress so we can get more feedback; ideally examples from other companies using it
• Define Purpose better
  • Stay at level of principles and guidelines
  • State what it isn't
  • Focus on outcomes and goals
  • Determine ways to measure success
  • Create an improved graphical representation of the Meta-Scrum

When/How to report feedback

• Wiki
• Evangelism
• Next Gathering

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