SCRUM Bag

I am a SCRUM bag which is an insult considering I was not trained in this role when I took the post. Being set up to fail to seem to be the norm in my case, perhaps because of my arrogant and know-it-all attitude that I get thrown into the deep end to fend for myself. No primrose path for me as my first boss told me. In fact, I was headed for disaster on day one when I came over and the current circumstances are just par for the course; back to surviving on my wits which really is the norm for any immigrant coming over to the new world.

Last week I learned that SCRUM is the methodology one uses to 'implement' Agile practices. I was familiar with the ceremonies and rituals as a squad member but not as a squad lead so I was winging it; copying the steps of my predecessor without knowledge of the underlying theory. Now I know better and my ignorance on the technical side of it makes it astounding that I lasted this long with my diminishing grit and experience. IBM network courses are a lifesaver for me and the other Coursera courses. In fact, I was only paying lip service to the theory.

Grooming the backlog is the crucial step we missed together with the product owner who also does not have a clue. The use of story points, pipelines, or swimlanes such as inbox and the cooler prior to the product backlog is an eye-opener for me. JIRA tool used in the office does away with this preliminary step; going directly to the Product Backlog though this is likely due to the old version of the tool. The Coursera courses utilize ZenHub and Gitlub which offers a fresh perspective on the SCRUM process.

Last night we watched Babylon - a 3-hour movie extravaganza of 1920-30 Hollywood which I thoroughly enjoyed. Waking early in the morning to read the biographies of silent-era movie stars who had trouble adjusting to the new Hollywood of sound in pictures. I had a brief inkling of being one of those fading movie stars who had trouble adjusting to the new reality. I am in the same situation of learning these new tools to survive in the modern workplace of interconnectivity, collaboration, and accelerated work in a lean and agile world.

It is easy to succumb to booze, drugs, and other distraction instead of learning new skills which some of the real-life silent stars tried to do. But I have done this shift many times before, such as writing this blog 20 years ago to learn the new technology.  I have to make another leap not only to learn new tools but in new ways of working; first as a squad member and then as a squad leader. It is a new world and the mind opens up so many avenues that one get gets lost in the different paths ahead. Don't be a SCRUM bag!

Home Alone

 Yesterday I seemed to be the only one at work with the group calendar showing most of the folks OOO - out of the office. Some are out of state enjoying their vacation. Most will be coming back at the start of the new year. I decided to stay or rather had no plans to travel out of state. Instead, I decided to stay home and do some work attend, online training, catch up on work and strategize for the coming year. 2022 had been a wild ride for me with my new role and I often seemed overwhelmed.

There is too much to learn and I started an online course on Agile and scrum made by the IBM network. I know most of the concepts but never in this manner. I did not have any training in my new role as scrum master and the training said this is the first mistake that companies make by not providing training to new people who come on board like me. In most cases, the thinking is that project managers can automatically become scrum masters and the biggest mistake is to adapt 'waterfall' methods to lean and agile sprints.

I did attend the lean and agiler journey but as a team member not as a scrum master. So I have a good understanding of the agile process but not as a squad leader. So the training is a good refresher. I am also attending short pieces of training on JIRA which is the tool used in our company. However, I get to use new tools like ZenHub and GitHub instead of JIRA. This is a refreshing change as gives another viewpoint on the process. One of the main concepts is kanban which is a technique to visualize work externally via visual cards. The use of dashboards and pipelines or swimlanes in these tools are good illustrations of the external mind.

I know I have to ramp up my skills with new thinking and methods and these training help me (because of a lack of a training plan due to the negligence of my superiors). I feel I am left on my own and to survive on my wits. Hence, I decided to spend my holiday vacation reflecting, learning new concepts, and trying out new techniques such as building a second brain and applying these new concepts using new tools like Notion and increasing my knowledge on MS suites like Teams, To DO, and Planner.

I started new meeting initiatives which also use planner dashboards that apply concepts like the external mind and second brain. There are also new thinking in my field that I need to ramp up on such as DevOps, Cloud computing, velocity, and cycle time. Being a squad leader also requires a different mindset ( following Agile philosophy) by applying the scrum process. One needs to be more of a coach and influencer rather than a manager. An entirely different role as compared to my former role as project manager. This is the paradigm shift.

From a biological point of view, I am learning to juggle, meditate, and be more mindful of my work methods and procrastination. My emotional reaction and mental bias and reactivity often take me to the wrong path so the challenge is to re-learn or replace my old mental models. This feels like a new world for me; a voyage of discovery has begun where I need to leave my mind and my mental rumination. In fact, I am trying too many things now that my mind has been opened.

The main challenge is really to focus instead on my usual scatter brain and opening up too much to new avenues that result in distraction and procrastination. This journey of self-control and focus will help me in my quest to be a novelist and entrepreneur. This is in preparation for my new career after I retire. There is too much to learn with all the available materials out there on youtube and online courses like Courserz. I plan to attend Google's digital marketing course and also several IBM courses.

Meditation Blues

Meditation and mindfulness exercises help a certain type of individual except for those who are prone to rumination and overthinking. Although the act does try to increase one's awareness of thought bubbles, after meditation the mind does go back to its circular thinking patterns if one does not consciously focus or recognize the mind has settled back into its usual process like a hand into a glove. One does brings attention to this predicament and tries to get out of the hole again.

Rumination swerves quickly to anxiety and worry that the next act is procrastination and distraction. Mediation does make one conscious of the thought bubbles but the result seems to be more procrastination; avoiding the work that one needs to do. This is another dilemma that compounds one's mental balance with the internet lurking in the background with its incessant feed and TikTok videos. One would think that meditation will make one more conscious of addictions but the inevitable effect is succumbing to distraction again.

This week was eventful with the supervisor away for another week due to covid though formally back to work though keeping a low profile. The movie star business leader is off making good progress with our help though our team was also busy completing the sprint demo and sprint planning for the next cycle of work. My mind dreads both the supervisor for her seeming feeling of superiority and the business needs leader's youthful drive to slay inefficiencies where ever he finds them. Both contribute to a slight tinge of worry which my mind always ruminates on.

In the meantime, I struggle in my own wheelhouse with my own thoughts of inadequacy and shortcomings. After each sprint is a retrospective where the squad gives their feedback on what went well, what did not, and what needs improvement.  As a squad leader, one needs to have a thick skin and roll with the punches, and avoid ruminating that one is inadequate. One soldier along with some victories such as the CSD meetings which one has initiated to try new tools.

But the onslaught of work, new information, and request keep coming into one's mental space. Active attempts to increase one's capacity via additional monitors, better work area, new techniques like building a better brain, and yes, meditation, tai chi, and exercise do continue. Sometimes it feels like a constant battle; to keep abreast of things and stay relevant and lead despite one rumination that all are against him with the silence of the supervisor which is either a lack of leadership that one is setting me up to fail. Or the onslaught of the business side who forever moves ahead for business efficiency; showing the squad's shortcomings and lack of initiative.

The answer is grace under pressure, to move like water instead of being an immovable mountain. Hence, back to meditation and mindfulness.  To be flexible and to continue increasing one's skills. Introspection and mind dump via journaling to express and re-frame one's experience is also important. Last week was another busy week in which we successfully completed our sprint, started a new one, and kept with the numerous meetings, chats, and email replies despite lack of sleep and lurking anxiety and procrastination.

New Work Set-up

I spent several hours setting up a new monitor; adding to the one I already had; placing the new one above the existing monitor to follow a recent model from LG called dual-up. I wanted to buy this monitor for about $ 700 but the package got lost in the mail.  It was a fortuitous loss as I built up my own by buying another cheaper monitor and fixing it in the wall. I used this new formation last week and I think more clearly. It's like moving up to a bigger desk after working in a much smaller space. 

This weekend I cleaned up the mess of cables with cable boxes and cord covers in both my PC laptop and Apple mini. I also have bought cable switches and HDMI splitters so I could use the same 2 monitors, keyboard, and mouse with both my work laptop and PC tower of my son. I even found a way to use the same wired LAN cable for both computers and improve my connectivity during my work where I had incidents of misconnections. The new physical formation complements my new way of working with building a second brain.

I should have done this improvement long ago though I only discovered that a larger computer screen improves productivity from the book 'The Extended Mind'. I am trying many new techniques like using Planner with external dashboards and using more One Note and Teams features which I learn from watching youtube. There is a new world of creator class who use youtube to start their own business and achieve their dreams. This is also my goal once I figure out what to share and express. Essentially figuring out who I want to be and what I stand for.

I listened to lectures about Carl Jung (how to realize your potential) and Cal Newport (on deep work) and wonder why I have not read these works before. Why I did not construct a good working environment at home with multiple monitors though many were already doing so. The pandemic led to work from home and isolation wherein solitude does help one be more introspective. Now that we are emerging from isolation and heading back to work one realizes what one has been missing for some time.