When I travel outside of town, I always bring my camera, mainly using focal lengths of 52.5mm and 135mm. Half a year ago, I bought the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8. I was unsure about taking photos with a 28mm equivalent focal length. I decided to add an enabling constraint to my recent journey – using only the 18mm side of the lens (equivalent to 27mm). As a result, all of my photos in Fukuoka and Oita were taken at the 18mm side. During the 8-day journey, I attempted to use the 50mm side twice, but I only treated it as a telescope. I became confident and can take creative shots using this focal length. ...

During the product development, some people often seek for the perfect solution. “How do you ensure the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is unique so the system won’t crash?” A developer asked me recently during a discussion on a RESTful API. “We have to fine-tune the UX,” said a developer from another product team, “I don’t feel comfortable delivering this UI to the users.” He then spent plenty of time explaining his imagination to build the perfect UI. ...

In traditional software development, a business analyst is responsible for gathering the users’ requirements, translating them into other formats like requirement specifications or user stories, and requesting the developers to commence the development work. When a team adopts Scrum, they often feel unsure of where to start. In most cases, the business analyst will assume the role of the Product Owner. This decision is based on the intuitive similarity between the responsibilities of a business analyst and those of a Product Owner. ...

As a coach, trainer and blogger, I need to read a lot to refresh my knowledge and apply it in my daily life. Every month, I read two to four books in various areas. In the past, I didn’t take notes. After finishing a book, I would then move on to another one. When there came a time that I wanted to retrieve something, I could identify the books, but I could hardly recall the pages. ...

Finally, I have launched the new version of my blog, moving from WordPress to a static website version generated by a static site generator. Visit https://oscarhkli.com/ for details. Recalled two years ago, I relaunched my blog. I tried both WordPress and Medium and eventually landed on WordPress. A friend suggested I host the blog in GitHub with Markdown syntax. I was unsure whether I could manage the setup, so I put this matter aside. ...

Several years ago, I participated as an observer in a Sprint Retrospective of a team. The Scrum Master facilitated the event with beautiful drawings to encourage active participation from the attendees. The Sprint Retrospective ran smoothly. They gathered the data, generated insights and decided what to do. In the subsequent Sprint Retrospective, the Scrum Master introduced a Mario Kart theme as part of the facilitation process. The event, again, ran smoothly. The Scrum Master reviewed that facilitation was successful and decided to keep applying the fun elements during the Sprint Retrospective. However, when I revisited the team several months later, the team barely kept the “fun” style, and the attendees were not energetic anymore. ...

As a Scrum Master, I often have new ideas about the tune-up of a team. I further develop the ideas by reading books, listening to podcast channels, and working with the developers on actionable practices. As an Agile coach in a company with over 20 Scrum Masters, I occasionally present and discuss new ideas. If my idea is too controversial or niche to the Scrum Masters, half of them will feel uncomfortable and refuse to listen to my ideas. ...

I have been logging all the books I have read since 2023. Last year, I have read 15 books. Although I do not have the data for 2022, it is a remarkable improvement compared to my memory. In January, I found an online challenge by chance suggesting that busy believers read two Bible chapters a day. I borrowed this challenge for my book-reading habit. Since then, I picked a book, whether a physical book or an ebook and read at least two chapters a day. ...

In 2020, the Scrum Guide changed “Scrum Roles” to “Scrum Accountabilities”. This implies that a member of a Scrum Team is not tied to a role. A Scrum Team member takes accountability to work towards the same Product Goal. It also implies that a single member may take multiple Scrum Accountabilities. But is it recommended? Despite the influential people at Scrum.org not recommending us to take multiple Scrum Accountabilities, I had no choice but to take all three accountabilities since my team’s establishment. The team works quite smoothly most of the time, but there are unnoticed risks. ...

Last year, whilst preparing for the Scrum.org certification series, I often encountered questions regarding the unavailability of the Product Owner. The effectiveness of the Scrum Team can indeed be affected when the Product Owner is absent. What if the Product Owner is always available? Would it have an impact on the team’s effectiveness? What should the Scrum Team do when the Product Owner is unavailable? As a team member with multiple accountabilities, I take on the accountabilities of both Scrum Master and Product Owner simultaneously (and occasionally even a Developer when urgently required). Influenced by and misunderstanding the implications of the questions regarding the Product Owner’s unavailability, I initially made myself as available as possible during the early stages. Whenever the developers needed clarification, I would always be there to ensure that all Product Backlog Items were transparent and well understood. ...