Category: Story

Notes for Another Time

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Podcast on story notes
Getting a oil change

I had to ask myself what could possibly relate to our latest podcast on story notes. I’m sure glad that I decided to get my oil changed on my car today. I pulled up to a Valvoline Instant Oil Change near me. I waited in line for about 5 mins and pulled into the bay. There I was asked if I had been there before and what service I was looking for. The normal items came up in conversation like oil request and anything that was flagged in the carfax for recommended maintenance. They asked me if I wanted them to make a note about anything. I opted to have them remind me about an engine filter change the next time I stopped in and a tranmission fluid change in the next 15,000 miles.

Now you must be sitting there and thinking about how this all relates back. Well with anything, you need to make notes that are helpful to you. For example, next time I go in there will be the notes that we dicussed. I won’t remember what we talked about an if there are no notes then I wouldn’t maybe do the routine maintenance that my car requires. Check out our latest podcast about this exact subject. We don’t believe it is a straight forward as you may think. There is also a flipside of this point that we will touch on. Check it out and let us know your thoughts.

Mother says bigger is not always better.

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Podcast about large agile stories

A few months back I stumbled across Arrested Development on Netflix. I heard it was good so I started watching it. Great show. Straight up comedy with no attempts to be serious or heartfelt. I like that. Jason Bateman is outstanding as the son (Michael) who just tries to do the right thing but his family thwarts him at every step. I would like to think I am the Michael of my family but my mom says I’m more like Buster (she would say that).

Thats Buster on the left. He loves his mother.

There are 5 seasons on Netflix. It turns out the first 3 seasons aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Netflix picked up the show years later and made seasons 4 and 5. This makes complete sense to me as the first 3 seasons were comedic awesomeness. The characters were great and their lines were delivered the exact way that my sense of humor responds to.

Seasons 4 and 5 did not touch my funny bone. They didn’t even come close. The episodes didn’t really advance the storylines or the characters much imo and at the end of the day, the show just wasn’t that funny anymore. All good things must come to an end.

The problem was, Arrested Development didn’t end soon enough (season 3). Think of an agile story that is too big and bloated. It cannot get to done in a sprint and just keeps dragging on and on and on. Good agile stories are like Arrested Development seasons 1 to 3. They are enjoyable. Large agile stories (seasons 1 to 5) just go on past their time and lose their edge. I think this makes sense because no one wants to see an adult George Michael (Michael Cera) just like no one wants to work on a giant story that carries sprint to sprint.

Recipes don’t always make good stories

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Podcast about story formats

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been doing a lot more cooking and baking. To be fair to Doug, this is Jack writing the blog. Doug is a young guy. Since I don’t have the “baking gene” nor the “delicate palette” I rely heavily on recipes. I’ve learned that some recipes work and some produce what taste like dog food. Sorry dogs but your food is terrible.

For instance, a good friend of mine gave me her ginger snap cookie recipe (see image). This recipe is rock solid. Do not change a thing. I have always loved ginger snaps, so trust me when I say follow the recipe.

I grew eating Chicken Chow Mein. Mom and dad would buy it (take out) and bring it back home. For years, my wife and I have been customers of D Fongs Chinese. In my brain, their Chicken Chow Mein defines the meal for me. I searched several Chow Mein recipes online and finally found one that might turn out like D Fongs. Nope. Terrible recipe. Not even going to share it with this small yet discernible audience. But it did give me a foundation of the ingredients. Since then, I’ve made several changes to the recipe and have come kinda close a few times where the meal was decent. The quest for perfecting that recipe continues.

Think of story formats like a meal recipe. If you like how things turn out and so does your audience, then keep following the recipe. If you or your audience is struggling with your story format, then maybe you should try cutting down on the soy sauce and add a little more corn starch to thicken things up a bit.

Bake for 9 to 10 mins.

Ginger snap baking notes.

Cream shortening and sugar together. Beat in egg until well blended. Add molasses. Then add flour and spices. Roll into 1 inch diameter balls and dip into sugar. Put on cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 9-10 minutes. You want to remove cookies from oven before the fall so that they remain soft. These freeze very well.

Featured

PBI (Story) MVP

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Podcast on PBI jargon

I’m rather excited to write about this post this week. I recently had a few recommendations from friends to go and check out the new Netflix series called The Dark Crystal. Having spent my last weekend checking out the series, I can highly recommend that you also check this series out. Its a spin off of from the 1982 movie. I have included a Netflix trailer if you are interested in learning more about the new series.

The Dark Crystal Netflix Series Trailer

I’m going to do my best to not spoil the series for you and relate it back to our podcast episode. There is a race of Gelfling that are part of different clans. There are seven Gelfing clans: The Dousan, The Drenchen, The Sifra, The Spriton, The Stonewood and The Vapra clan. Each clans has their own traditions and a specific thing that they are known for across the region. From a viewership perspective, there is so much to uncover about the characters and customs. However, if we take a step back and look at the Skeksis, they view Gelfings as pretty much the same thing overall. They aren’t unique or special from a distance. Now what does that have to do with PBI’s in Scrum? Well from a standpoint of what do want to call our work on the teams? PBI is meant to show that there items in the backlog that need be done and worked on. Now there are some things that have flowed over from XP to now. For example Stories and Spikes. If you are in that boat, that okay. Just agree on what you will do. Check out our latest podcast to learn more. In addition I have included below a YouTube video about everything you need to about the new series on Netflix.

For huge fans interested in the making of The Dark Crystal Netflix Series