Back in the saddle

We had our baby! Right when I was setting up for the sprint 3 planning meeting I got the call to go to the hospital. I was off for the last two weeks, hence no posts. The guys soldiered on, but the process seemed to fall apart. No scrums, little structure. But things did get done the old way, so time wasn't wasted. It does show, however, that the process needs a strong and present advocate to continue. Something of a weakness. I need to identify and train a backup scrum master.

The one thing that was "supposed" to happen during that period was a hard set of requirements would be done along with a functional spec by the new PM. To what should be no one's surprise, this did not get done. The PM lives across the country and turned what was supposed to be a full week planning into a one day meeting. In all fairness, it was ridiculous to hire someone and expect them to do a full assessment and product redesign in one month. The fault is in those that made this the plan. It's amazing how so few things change between companies.