Scrum progress

Apparently I forgot to post this entry. I was searching for it to link to, and I couldn't find it. So a bit late but still relevant.

I posted about using Scrum as a uISV and wanted to follow up on the progress. At the time I said

Right now I plan on trying the following principals: a product backlog, a spring
backlog, the sprint and the daily scrum. I don't think I have to worry about
anyone being late to the daily meeting :) Also I might reduce the sprint
time to 2 weeks instead of 1 month. Maybe even 1 week, but that might be to
short.

I'm still working on the product backlog for both Omni Customer Support and Web Work Schedules. The product backlog is an ongoing progress as I think of new features or find bugs in the software. I need to break the tasks down into smaller pieces. For the first sprint, I was focusing on getting Omni Customer Support finished and out the door. I released version 1.0 and the sprint ends tomorrow. So my estimation of the work effort was accurate.

I have found that I'm a lot more focused now because of the daily scrum. I'm actually writing down my answers to the three questions which makes it me more accountable. I tend to keep that document open on my second monitor and I glance at it to remind my self a) What I'm working on b) What blocked me yesterday. I'm very honest with myself on what is blocking me. I've listed procrastination, my consulting work, and Omni blocking the scheduling app. It was painful to write down that I procrastinated instead of doing what had to be done. I've only had to write that once but I can still see it on the list. That's motivating.

Having a short sprint cycle is working well. I've only had the one sprint, so it is really to early to tell. The two weeks is a short enough window that I can feel the deadline and I can keep everything fresh in my mind that I'm working on. This has been increasingly important as I switch gears back and forth with the consulting.