Brazil Scrum Gathering: A Review

We got in São Paulo with lots of expectations. I was hoping to meet some old friends, to make some new valuable contacts, to make our presentation well, to watch some presentations that would add something new to my previous knowledge of Scrum and to engage in productive discussions. We achieved all that.

I've met some ex-co-workers and long time friends. It was a nice surprise to bump into Victor Hugo Oliveira to find out Concrete Solutions (ex-RUP simpathizer) is utilizing Scrum in their projects. Rodrigo Toledo, from Petrobras, and Demetrius Nunes, from Tecgraf, are some known faces I already knew would be there.

I've exchanged lots of business cards and handed out our presentation's article. I was mainly seeking for Scrum users who could give me space to interview people in their companies. I need at least 25 interviews for my Administration Master's degree dissertation, which will discuss the current Scrum use in Brazil.

The typical nervousness that usually precedes facing an audience wasn't there at this time. Me and Marcos made a very serene and good-humored presentation. The hard part was to compete with other four presentations at the same time. That included one unmissable lecture by Alexandre Magno and another by Boris Gloger. Even so, the audience actively participated and enriched our presentation. After half an our of debates, we had to end it due to lunchtime.

I've seen some excelent lectures. Rodrigo Toledo's Review Meeting presentation cannot be missed. Among others, Gloger's Retrospective and Luciano Félix/Gustavo Coutinho's DoD lectures were also very good. The most controversial ones were up to Ricardo Vargas, PMI chairman, and Fábio Câmara, CSP (he gives courses on Scrum). Vargas tried everything to convince us that Scrum and PMI are not opposites, but ended up showing the contrary. With an arrogant attitude and a complete ignorance on what Scrum is and what the agile value are, he showed us his unbelief in self-management and in his collaborators' willingness to work ("90% of them want nothing"). Fábio Câmara showed us that, with Microsoft VSTS, the ScrumMaster is able to define and distribute all the tasks to his subordinates. In addition, he can control every step they take. Anything wrong with that? Yes, that's not Scrum! Also, the new developer certification (CSD), introduced by Ken Schwaber will still create a lot of controversy.

One of the greatest richnesses of an event of that kind is in the several paralel debates about the more different subjects around the central theme. One of them begun in the round table and continued after the gathering: Scrum in the Academy. That is, the importance of teaching agile values to the future professionals in the university. Daniel Wildt made a presentation on that matter, which I unfortunately couldn't watch. But we've talked afterwards. We will make a lot of noise on that, just wait to see.

Contratulations to all who came to the gathering. But I'd like to specially congratulate Alexandre Magno, who worked really hard for this event to happen and to be so successful. I hope next year we'll have one of those again in Brazil.