Welcome back to another day at www.implementingscrum.com.

... except of course I woke up at midnight east coast time, or 7AM local time here.

Not bitching or complaining... just putting things into perspective for my friends and readers who do not do a lot of traveling.

One quick word on my posting from yesterday's events.... it was no way intended to offend anyone.

I am completely thankful and humbled for the hospitality and professionalism all of the people that I have met with have shown me. I appreciate it and love this part of the world!

Also though, please remember that I write this blog entry in a way (or style) that suits me. I am writing it like I am trying to tell you a story person-to-person. Like sitting in a pub (smile).

THIS [blog] is not formal writing. I understand that. This blog is not set up for that purpose.... The purpose is for me to have a little fun (and poke some fun at myself).

Yes, I know I have readers of this blog from other countries (all around the world actually!).

Yes, I know my writing style sometimes is not easily translated and is sometimes loaded with Americanisms.

But I am trying to have fun with this, maybe put a smile on your face once in a while, and help people learn about Scrum the way I see it being implemented in the real world.

I am who I am. Love it or hate it. At least accept it please!

Enough said? Please I hope so!

So.

On to Kyiv Day #2.

This morning was MUCH colder than yesterday. And cloudy. I awoke early and read/responded to emails and then went for a walk (after locking my three doors behind me) without my camera; my accu-window forecast said it was going to rain. Unfortunately, I was correct.

I got wet.

O well.

I did not melt.

Here is another good lesson for people to remember when traveling to Kyiv.

"Yes, of course we have drivers licenses," stated a friend here when I asked him about it.

"Why?" He asked.

As he was asking the question horns were blowing and cars were going in the wrong direction on a one-way street.

Come to find out that the political people here (big black ford expeditions or mercedes 500/600 class or the really nice audis) all well, do not care about following the rules of the road.

Even better, it seems they set the example for the rest of the yahoos in their driving style. The cost of a ticket if they get stopped? Something like $2.00. Seriously. And if it goes to court, well, the court does not go after $2.00. Sounds like a business opportunity for someone in Kyiv if you guys are listening (laughing).

Why did I ask the question in the first place?

O yeah.

Because pedestrians do not have the right of way. I learned this an important way today.

I am not talking about the right of way in like in New York City (where people drive nuts).

But.

In New York City, the cars stay on the road and the people stay on the sidewalk. A nice symbiotic relationship exists and people do not kill each other.

People = Sidewalk.

Cars = Road.

Right?

Seems like someone has forgotten this here. But I guess for $2.00 you can pretend to drive like you are in the video game, "Grand Theft Auto."

What am i talking about?

They drive on the SIDEWALKS here. And park too. Actually, they will park anywhere. The last two facts did not surprise me or bug me too much (the cars were not MOVING at me)... the first one -- actually not knowing about it -- almost killed me. Well at least I would have been plowed down by some really nice black mercedes 600 series car :). And the guy driving it would have been fined two bucks. Nice.

So file that away for your next trip to Kyiv.

Back in the apartment in the morning after my walk, I did a bit more prep work for the CSM class -- the first one ever to be held in Kyiv (or the entire Ukraine!) and was getting ready to go meet a client to work with their team while I was in town.

I had just opened the door from the shower (in my pink apartment with my bear rug and slippers next to the door) and the front door (the one inside the one from the outside) started to open.

"AH" i said.

"AH" she said (except in Ukrainian). But it actually sounded like "AH" to me, no matter how you actually write it (smile).

Immediately thoughts (from yesterday) went through my head that, holy shit, I was in somebody else's apartment. I picked the wrong door or something.

And I was not fully clothed.

Eeek.

Turns out, through my thorough understanding of the Ukrainian language, that she was dropping off some things for the fridge, or "mini-bar." Cool, I thought, while getting dressed.

Now, my language skills in Ukrainian are non-existant. So I used pointing gestures and said english words really loud (darn... they did it to me yesterday lol) about the satellite TV not working? Much hilarity ensued while I tried to explain it was not working.

I guess I got the point across.

Let me say a sincere "Thank you" to the people who read the blog yesterday and got it fixed by the time I got back to the pink apartment tonight. It scared the crap out of me because some Ukrainian lady was blaring on the TV (but as I was walking in, I did not understand it was the TV and... well... you get it by now). Wahoo... the power of the internet. Thanks again guys. Now I can watch the propaganda machine from the USA (CNN and others) along with being able to see how the rest of the world sees Americans.

One word on that.

I am sorry to the rest of the world for thinking we are all like what you see on TV.

Amazing what happens when you meet face-to-face (hmmm... is there a Scrum lesson here or anywhere in the rest of this posting Mike?)....

Now for the Scrum part (finally!).

Today I met with an outsourcing company (not to be named) and spent the afternoon working with them on talking about Scrum basics and working though a lot of questions they had for me. In addition to that, we did some exercises on Product Backlog Estimation and Planning (using Mike Cohn's stuff for material).

It is extremely interesting to be working with teams that Americans (and other places) are outsourcing their work to.

Wow.

I think as I learn more about it over the next few weeks I will need to publish my thoughts publicly on this topic. Keep looking for it.

We wound up the day eating at a typical Ukrainian eating establishment. It was great food (and no, I could not convince myself that fried bull testicles would be a good idea to eat) -- so we shared some different types of meat and some excellent potato pancakes (of sorts) from Georgia (not the Georgia in the USA)! We had some exquisite cranberry juice and, fortunately for me (as I am teaching tomorrow) no beer was put into my system tonight.

As I sit and write this with a Ukrainian channel going in the background (hey, I hear it is a great way to learn it), I notice an, "as seen on TV" infomercial // commercial about a breast enhancer.

It's OK, this comment will be safe for work.

Wow. I thought, they MAKE those? Not only that, but, from the computerized pictures (no live hot Ukrainian models on this one) you can PROGRAM how um, enhanced, you want them! And guess where the switch (knob) is?

I am not joking.

Damn. It's time to call it a night and go to sleep.

Just remember if you are reading this in America tomorrow morning and drinking your cup of coffee from Starbucks at 8:30, the first day of the Certified Scrum Training class will be in full swing and getting ready to wind down for the day. If you are reading this entry during my CSM class and I have not asked you to close your laptop yet, please do so and participate fully for the remainder of the class (thank you!).

Have an awesome day and I hope you enjoyed reading this entry. And thanks again to all my local hosts who are extremely helpful, generous, and kind to me.

Gotta run....

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