Life After Marathons: A Running/barre3/Coffee/Life Journal

[SarahDisney]

Work Update: I've finally been assigned to a team!! Our scrum meeting is the last one of the "scrum hour." Which means slightly more time to run in the mornings. But only slightly ... I still want to keep it below an hour, preferably below 45 minutes when I can. We'll see how I work things out for the next plan.

 

[run.minnie.miles]

Work Update: I've finally been assigned to a team!! Our scrum meeting is the last one of the "scrum hour." Which means slightly more time to run in the mornings. But only slightly ... I still want to keep it below an hour, preferably below 45 minutes when I can. We'll see how I work things out for the next plan.

I don't know what scrum means... but yay for a team!!

 

[SarahDisney]

I don't know what scrum means... but yay for a team!!

Scrum is a methodology for product development that's very popular in the software development world.
To simplify it a bit ... a scrum meeting is basically a 10 minute team meeting that you have every day (or four days a week in my case). I don't have set hours, but I do have to be at work in time for my scrum meeting.
And thanks!

 

[KSellers88]

Scrum is a methodology for product development that's very popular in the software development world.
To simplify it a bit ... a scrum meeting is basically a 10 minute team meeting that you have every day (or four days a week in my case). I don't have set hours, but I do have to be at work in time for my scrum meeting.
And thanks!

Do you have a scrum master?? We have those where I work and I think it is the coolest job title ever. LOL.

 

[SarahDisney]

Do you have a scrum master?? We have those where I work and I think it is the coolest job title ever. LOL.

We have a bunch of teams within the department, so we actually have more than one scrum master (each team only has one scrum master, but each scrum master handles more than one team's scrum).
There's also someone who is in charge of the scrum masters. I didn't ask her what her job title is, but I assume it's scrum overlord. (If it isn't, it should be)

 

[KSellers88]

We have a bunch of teams within the department, so we actually have more than one scrum master (each team only has one scrum master, but each scrum master handles more than one team's scrum).
There's also someone who is in charge of the scrum masters. I didn't ask her what her job title is, but I assume it's scrum overlord. (If it isn't, it should be)

YESSSS!!!! I want that job. I am not qualified at all, but who cares.

 

[SarahDisney]

YESSSS!!!! I want that job. I am not qualified at all, but who cares.

Qualified or not, I think you would be an excellent scrum overlord.

 

[ZellyB]

Do you have a scrum master?? We have those where I work and I think it is the coolest job title ever. LOL.

I am a newly minted Scrum Master!!! It's a new thing for us to use in health care to try and ensure new projects get implemented in 90 days. We'll see how it goes. It's not my main job though, still have my regular job and am just being scrum master for a current project.

Congrats on being assigned to your team!

 

[SarahDisney]

I am a newly minted Scrum Master!!! It's a new thing for us to use in health care to try and ensure new projects get implemented in 90 days. We'll see how it goes. It's not my main job though, still have my regular job and am just being scrum master for a current project.

Congrats, Scrum Master!
I think our scrum masters have other responsibilities too ... it's doesn't really seem like a full-time thing.

Congrats on being assigned to your team!

Thank you!
I'm still waiting to be told what I'm supposed to be working on, but ... at least we're making progress.

 

[KSellers88]

I am a newly minted Scrum Master!!! It's a new thing for us to use in health care to try and ensure new projects get implemented in 90 days. We'll see how it goes. It's not my main job though, still have my regular job and am just being scrum master for a current project.

Congrats on being assigned to your team!

How cool! I am not a scrum master, but I assist our scrum master in the communication and training of new initiatives they are working to put in place with the project team.

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm wondering if maybe we need to implement an agile methodology to get me to update this thing (I mean real updates, not updates about how I'm doing nothing at work). We have a scrum master and a scrum master communication and training assistant. What else do we need? Do you guys use JIRA boards? (personally, I prefer Trello, but it doesn't have all the same functionality).

I'm taking this way too far, I think. Can you tell I'm bored at work? (I know what team and project I'm on, but still not what my role is on that project ... yeah. So I'm still waiting to be told what to do. This has to be the slowest start to a job ever.)

 

[FredtheDuck]

I'm a project manager, so you have one of those, too. JIRA and Trello both don't quite do what I want (and have too much weight in some areas). So I worked with DH to build a custom web-based platform that works the way I think and plan. We call it GC (his is Grand Central, mine is Ground Control).

 

[ZellyB]

I don't know what JIRA and Trello are, but if it's part of the scrum discussion I'm prepared to master it!

 

[SarahDisney]

I'm a project manager, so you have one of those, too. JIRA and Trello both don't quite do what I want (and have too much weight in some areas). So I worked with DH to build a custom web-based platform that works the way I think and plan. We call it GC (his is Grand Central, mine is Ground Control).

I forgot that you're a PM. Perfect! Our team is really starting to come together.
And yeah, custom built tools are really the only way to get everything you need. I'm working on a custom training log right now (when I'm done, the hope is that it will pull my data from Strava and tell me if I'm within my proper pace range, allow me to add notes, and maybe a few other random features) ... maybe a custom project tracking board will be next

I don't know what JIRA and Trello are, but if it's part of the scrum discussion I'm prepared to master it!

JIRA and Trello are probably more project management than scrum (Although the two kind of go hand in hand) ... they're web-based boards that allow you to track parts of projects, issues, etc - you can assign people to tasks, move them to different categories (like from "in progress" to "completed") and stuff like that. They're helpful for scrum stuff, but not necessarily essential, and sometimes more trouble that they're worth.

 

[FredtheDuck]

I'm working on a custom training log right now (when I'm done, the hope is that it will pull my data from Strava and tell me if I'm within my proper pace range, allow me to add notes, and maybe a few other random features) ... maybe a custom project tracking board will be next

Oooh, now you have my wheels turning. DH says my birthday present was supposed to be a Garmin 645, but they haven't shipped yet (so no present for me!). I could totally see building a custom platform to track training once I have better data to use. Right now we just incorporate all of our training runs onto our family dashboard so we can see everything at-a-glance, but it's just a list of scheduled runs/paces, not how we performed against the plan... hmm... ideas...

and sometimes more trouble that they're worth.

This. So much this. Especially if your team hasn't fully adopted. Mine have some old school guys who still rely on email and Outlook calendars, so I didn't want to deal with managing dual tools.

 

[GollyGadget]

I feel so old school. Back when I was in a scrum team we used a whiteboard and post its. Pretty advanced, eh?

These days I'm in a new role and stay out of most of the planning. I have no idea what they do and as long as they're delivering the work we need, I'm going to stay out of it.

 

[SarahDisney]

Oooh, now you have my wheels turning. DH says my birthday present was supposed to be a Garmin 645, but they haven't shipped yet (so no present for me!). I could totally see building a custom platform to track training once I have better data to use. Right now we just incorporate all of our training runs onto our family dashboard so we can see everything at-a-glance, but it's just a list of scheduled runs/paces, not how we performed against the plan... hmm... ideas...

Right now I'm doing it all in a Google Sheet, but I have to type in everything manually. The more I can automate things, the easier it will be for me.
What I have is pretty basic right now, but maybe if I can get it to a place where I really like it, I'll share it on here so that people can use it and/or look at it for inspiration.

I feel so old school. Back when I was in a scrum team we used a whiteboard and post its. Pretty advanced, eh?

These days I'm in a new role and stay out of most of the planning. I have no idea what they do and as long as they're delivering the work we need, I'm going to stay out of it.

Whiteboard and post its ... that is old school. (Although I've used whiteboards for early planning and/or together with one of these tools).
Staying out of it if you can is definitely a good idea

 

[SarahDisney]

Sorry about all the work-related side discussions, guys. Long story short ... things at work are pretty terrible, and I don't have anyone I can talk to it about it (I tried talking to my boss, but ... he wasn't in today, and I don't think he understands the problem), so posting mini-updates here is kind of the only outlet I have for my frustration. It doesn't seem to help at all, but I'm probably going to keep doing it anyway.

In running news ... we're 12 days away from Race Day, and I'm working on a pre-race update was we speak. I have 7 sections planned and 4 written ... which means not much more to write. Hopefully it will be up tomorrow night or Thursday.

 

[ZellyB]

I’m so sorry things are terrible at work.

Is it just because it’s new and you don’t know anyone really yet? Or not challenging enough? Are they things that will improve with time?

 

[SarahDisney]

I’m so sorry things are terrible at work.

Is it just because it’s new and you don’t know anyone really yet? Or not challenging enough? Are they things that will improve with time?

Long story short ... everyone seems to think that I'm very much needed, but nobody seems to know what I'm supposed to be doing (or if they do, nobody sees a reason to tell me). I've basically been sitting around making up my own work to do because I don't know what to work on.
I assume it will get better once I have an actual assignment, but I'm not convinced that that will ever happen. I tried to ask my boss yesterday, and his response was to tell me what my team is working on (which I already knew from my morning scrum), but not what my role in the project is (and my team didn't seem to know that either).
It's just really frustrating.