Feb 21 Update

Things are getting busy around here.  We have three more albums to release and I still have a plate full of work to finish before March.   I'm looking into getting my PMP but not sure if I should spend the time on it now or not.  I am moving into a new job which will not require it at this time.  I will be working with an ecommerce company developing software in an agile scrum environment.  The PMP might not be worth it at this time.  I'll let you know. 

More stuff on Scrum

Here is another post on Scrum from Mike Cohn.

--Boehm's spiral model is risk-driven. To start each pass through the spiral
you determine the riskiest thing and do activities to resolve that risk
(normally code that part of the system). Scrum, on the other hand, is
customer-value driven. To start each sprint, the product owner selects her
highest priority work. This is a very key distinction because spiral model
leads to work on risky items that may not be needed. It also puts the
development team in a mode of avoiding risk instead of a mode of delivering
customer value. This doesn't say we ignore risk in Scrum and often risky
stories get prioritized quite highly but risk is not the only or the driving
factor.

--Spiral model is iterative but doesn't stress having the same length of
iteration each time. Scrum wants the same sprint length every sprint. This
creates a very nice rhythm to the project--every 30 days the team knows it
will deliver.

--Spiral projects may or may not produce working code each time through the
spiral. During the initial go-rounds it is entirely likely they won't
produce code, or at least won't produce code that lives in the final
product. Scrum teams will.

--The spiral model is really a shortened waterfall if you uncoil it. There
are distinct phases. They may overlap slightly but they are not
highly/totally concurrent as with Scrum.

I hope that helps,

--Mike Cohn
Author of User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development
www.mountaingoatsoftware.com