Archive for April, 2010

First Malaysia SCRUM User Group for Innovation Seminar

Posted by Johnson Yike on April 16, 2010

First Malaysia SCRUM User Group for Innovation Seminar (12 March 2010)

By Johnson Yike, PMP CSM

2nd Batch of Certified Scrum Masters (CSM)

Welcoming address by SK Khor PMP CSM

SCRUM is not new to Malaysia as there are a few established organizations that have been using SCRUM. Information is definitely widely available from the Internet; and I just had the pleasure of attending a three days course, ‘Mastering Agile Project Management using SCRUM’ by Dave Prior, PMP CST and Mike Sutton, CSM CSPO CSP. However there is no common platform for individuals from different organizations to share their working knowledge and experience.

Today marks a momentous day in Malaysia’s history. It is the day the Malaysia SCRUM User Group (MSUG) is formed. This was made possible by the initiative by Advanced Technology Studies Centre (atsc) with collaboration with MSCPMP Circle, MSC Malaysia and support from Dave Prior PMP CST, Mike Sutton CSM CSPO CSP and Scrum Alliance . There were over a hundred participants in the hall which included the first batch and second batch of Certified Scrum Masters (CSM), and from organizations that are interested in being part of this User Group. The event started on time with a welcome address delivered by MSUG volunteer SoonKheng Khor (SK), PMP CSM.

The agenda for the day was as follows;

Opening Address by Ms. Aiza Zeyati PMP

Agenda

230pm-245pm Welcome – SK Khor PMP CSM
245pm-300pm MDeC COO’s Opening address, and Scrum Alliance Special Address
300pm-315pm CSM Recognition Ceremony
315pm-400pm SCRUM for Innovation, Mike Sutton
400pm-445pm Evolving Waterfall to Agile, Dave Prior PMP CST
445pm-530pm Expert Panel discussion: How we can bring Agile into our organization capability?
530pm-600pm Photo / Networking / Lucky Draw

The event started on a very positive and encouraging note with the opening address by a representative from MDeC, Ms. Aiza Zeyati PMP. Multimedia Development Cooperation (MDeC) directs and oversees Malaysia’s national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) initiative, the MSC Malaysia. It has been responsible and gracious to provided grants and funding to many professional certification courses such as PMP from Project Management Institute and CSM from Scrum Alliance. During the opening address, Ms. Aiza relayed MDeC’s Chief Operating Office, Ms. Ng Wan Peng’s message that MDeC will support the newly formed Malaysia SCRUM User Group.

The participants had a special treat when they were informed that the Scrum Alliance Chair, Tom Mellor made a special video presentation for the participants. This means that not only does the Malaysia SCRUM User Group have the backing of the local government but also the International community, SCRUM Alliance as well. The wide range of resources from Scrum Alliance will also be made available to the Malaysia SCRUM User Group and its members.

The next event on the agenda was the CSM Recognition Ceremony where nicely framed CSM certificates and a pin specially made by SCRUM Alliance for this occasion were presented to the first batch of CSMs from Malaysia.

CSM Recognition Ceremony

Mike Sutton, CSM CSPO CSP

Our first speaker of the day was Mike Sutton, CSM CSPO CSP;

As an experienced and talented agile coach, Mike advises and consults with some of the biggest global brands to help them succeed and improve through agile and lean practices. His experience extends to the financial, defense, travel and telecommunication sectors.

Enterprises like British Aerospace Systems, News International (owners of Sky TV), Amdocs, Teléfonica and TUI Plc have all benefited from Mike’s unique approach and passion for helping teams and organizations revolutionize the value they get from their software development investment.

As a respected international speaker, Mike regularly presents at major international Agile conferences including Scrum Gatherings and Agile 2008 and 2009. (extracted from http://www.asiaictpm.org/mpc_event.php?id=95)

Mike shared on the topic, ‘SCRUM for Innovation’ and in relation on how using Agile methodology and SCRUM can help cultivate innovation. He also shared from his experience as a Software Engineer and how he trained and developed his teams to work together towards successful completion of projects.

Our second speaker is Dave Prior, PMP CSM CSP CST;

Dave Prior, PMP CSM CSP CST

Dave Prior has been managing and leading technology projects for the past 15 years and has been working with Agile since 1995. He also has extensive experience in project management and has been instrumental in establishing a stronger relationship between the Project Management Institute and the Scrum Alliance. Mr. Prior has been teaching Project Management for over 10 years and has held classes and lectured in Asia Pacific, Europe, Central America and North America. He lives in Oklahoma City and became a certified Scrum Trainer in the Spring of 2009. In addition to his work as an Agile coach and trainer, he has served on the board of the IT & Telecom SIG in PMI since 2002 through 2009. Mr. Prior received his PMP in 2002, an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2005 and became a Certified Scrum Master in 2007.
(extracted from http://www.asiaictpm.org/mpc_event.php?id=95)

Dave shared on the topic, ‘Evolving Waterfall to Agile’. This is a very interesting topic because in Malaysia, I will say most (if not all) still follows the traditional software development life cycle (SDLC) methodology or more commonly known as ‘Waterfall’ approach. Though the Waterfall approach has been proven through time and space that this approach has a very low rate of success when applied to projects that deal with a significant amount of uncertainty or risk, many organizations still cling on to it. As a project manager myself, we know the importance of Change Management and acceptance of something new (methodology), there is still a sense of fear to let go of the old and embrace the new, in this case, SCRUM. Dave’s sharing of his experience helped chipped away some of those fears and provided some sense of confidence that this new approach works.

The third session of the day is the Expert Panel discussion on the topic ‘How we can bring Agile into our organization capability?’ and it was facilitated by SK Khor PMP CSM, and the panel consist of Dave Prior, Mike Sutton and John Ng from Dell Malaysia. It was a lively and engaging session with the participants asking questions on how SCRUM can be incorporated in different kinds of environment, how to overcome obstacles, managing clients, and increasing acceptance of Scrum in an organization.

(from left to right: John Ng, Mike Sutton, and Dave Prior)

A few people shared their experience. Generally they did received their fair share of resistance and obstacles but one thing was true is that it had improve with time.

(left to right: Jim Khong, Boon Choong Foo, Lee Chee Keong, Fork Kiang Seong)

As the evening drew to a close, the participants were still fired up for the next item to come, the lucky draw for the grand prize of a paid entrance to the Scrum Gathering sponsored by Scrum Alliances in Shanghai, China (April 19-20, 2010). The prize went to Schwarz J.W. Pok.

In conjunction with this event, Dave Prior did some podcast interviews with few latest CSM in Malaysia and the podcast will be posted separately.

I would like to stress that for a non-for-profit organisation such as Malaysia Scrum User Group, it can only be successful with the help of volunteers chipping in their ideas, lending their hands in promoting events, and I am sure more can and will be done later.