Global SCRUM GATHERING Reviewer Guidelines 1) OVERVIEW Global Scrum Gatherings are an exciting opportunity for members of the community to meet and share the wealth of their knowledge and experience. The sessions presented at the Global SCRUM GATHERING will be selected with care in order to form a cohesive and meaningful program for all. The selection process is sometimes difficult. Many excellent sessions are received for a limited number of spots. As reviewers, you are donating your time as volunteers to help the community. Many thanks and a round of applause to you for your help!! The submission guidelines were developed to make your job of reviewing as easy as possible. As such, please read the Submission Guidelines (accessible from the submission system homepage) as well as this document so that you understand what the submitters have been asked to provide. It is also recommended that you print-out the Reviewer Guidelines and the Submission Guidelines for your reference as you proceed through the process. When reading through the submissions, keep in mind that these are proposals for live sessions at a conference. Try to envision what the session will look like. Is it something that you would be interested in attending? Do you think it would be interesting to others? If the level is intended for experts, is there too much of the fundamentals? Conversely, if it is intended for entry level, is it too deep and specific? 2) SUBMISSION FORM The Indico submission form is used to collect objective information about the proposed session. This information will be used to compare it to other session proposals. It is vital that the submitters follow these guidelines. To understand what information you will be reviewing for each submission, the following Form Elements section has been provided. Form Elements The following fields are being used to collect pertinent information about session proposals: a) Title - [POSTED ON WEBSITE & MOBILE APP] The name of the proposed session; preferably something relative to the conference theme. In many cases, this is the "hook" that will attract attendees to the session. b) Summary - [POSTED ON WEBSITE & MOBILE APP] A very brief (141 character) summary of the session topic. Think "elevator pitch". What will intrigue someone enough for them to say "I can NOT miss this one!!" c) Description - [FOR REVIEWERS ONLY] Describe the key points of your session in terms of content by providing more details; what will you be covering? What are the principles? What does the session outline look like? Are there exercises? What is the timing for each section? d) Learning Objectives [POSTED ON WEBSITE & MOBILE APP] - What are the outcomes and specific take-aways that the attendees will get from your session? What will they be able to do or how will this make their world of work better? e) Pecha Kucha Link - if your talk is Pecha Kucha make sure you included a video link of yourself delivering the exact topic you are submitting. Otherwise keep it empty. f) Presentation History - Have you presented on this topic before? If you have, provide descriptions of when and where you have presented on this topic or provide direct links to other references of previous work. If it's new, call it out. g) References to Your Speaking Ability Give reviewers some information on your speaking capability and style. List some previous experience as a speaker, and provide name & contact information for a few people who can provide reference to your presentation capabilities.
h) Target Audience - [POSTED ON WEBSITE & MOBILE APP] The primary level of audience understanding and comprehension that your session is intended for. It may be useful to others as well, but there should be ONE primary target audience. Foundational Target audience is new to Scrum/agile (less than 2 yrs experience) Advanced Target audience is experienced Scrum/agile practitioners (2+ years) i) Presentation Type - The format of your presentation: Workshop [90 minutes] - Presenter facilitates activities/exercises with the audience to illustrate learning and introduce discussion points. Talk- [45 minutes] Presenter is speaking for most of the time (using slides or other visual aids); Audience interaction is minimal. Lightning talk [5 minutes] A very short 5 minutes presentation. The Lightning talks will be featured on the second day in the general session room. Pecha Kucha [6 minutes 40 seconds] - A PechaKucha (pronounced: pet cha ku cha) is a simple presentation format of 20 slides; speaking on each slide for 20 seconds totaling six minutes and forty seconds for the entire presentation. The slides advance automatically. The PechaKucha presentations will be featured on the second day in the general session room. j) Primary Authors - The primary author/presenter for this session. Please list ONLY ONE author for this entry. This will be the recipient of the compensation. k) Co-Author(s) - Any additional author(s)/presenter(s) for this session. These individuals will not receive compensation but will be listed in the program. l) Track Classification - [POSTED ON WEBSITE & MOBILE APP] The categorization for your session, which will help reviewers and attendees in understanding where the subject fits in with the framework of Scrum. i) Touch: The Architecture of Scrum Just as Prague s architecture is the core essence of the city, the Architecture of Scrum is the foundation needed to understand the Scrum mindset and to build from it. Scrum Basics (Foundational): For people new to Scrum to understand the Scrum mindset. For first time gathering attendees to strengthen their understanding of Scrum Principles. For organizations who are looking for change, to get ideas of where to start and why. Reaching for the Sky (Advanced): For Scrum Masters to deep dive into individual practices. For Agile coaches to get new ideas. For Scrum organizations to get frameworks for improvement. ii) Visual: Seeing is Believing Prague s beauty and history is not only in the foundation, but it comes from the energy that surrounds the city. Scrum s foundation advances through avant-garde thinking, regardless of the field you are in. Information Radiators (Foundational): For organizations to understand how metrics and visibility demonstrates progress. For organizations to get new suggestions about tools. Scrum Outside of Software (Advanced): For those who are operating in a specific field to see different Scrum adaptations (startup, business intelligence, healthcare, physical construction, etc ). For people to understand Scrum as a goal attainment model, not just a software development model. iii) Auditory: Harmonious Communication Prague is not only an architectural marvel, the city is made whole with the art and music that encompasses your senses. Scrum thrives with harmony, helping the team and organization to reach a level of performance it had never reached before.
Communication, Collaboration, Colocation (Foundational): For managers in Agile organizations to skyrocket organizational performance. For change agents to be able to sell Scrum within the organization. For Team members to be more efficient and have more fun. Coaching/Facilitation (Advanced): For Scrum Masters to be more efficient in building Scrum teams. For Agile coaches to be more efficient in helping Scrum at an enterprise level. For managers in Agile organizations to understand their role in a Scrum environment. m) Comments - This section may be used for any additional comments you may have for your section. HOWEVER, do not rely on the information in this section to sell the value of your presentation. The comments section is optional and as such, will not be used to evaluate a presentation against others. Another good use of the Comments Section is to provide feedback on the submission process itself. Other Guidelines When reviewing proposals where the submitter has put "see attachment" or "see link" do not feel obligated to chase down these external sources. If you have the time to do so, that is fine. However, as previously stated, this form is intended to make the evaluation criteria as objective as possible. Ultimately, the reviews should be based solely on the data contained in the form. Likewise if a submitter has merely copied the same text for Summary, Description, Mechanics, etc. Feel free to automatically reject the submission. The submitters should be putting thought into their submissions; representing the content in as interesting a way as possible. When it's time for the Gathering, attendees will only have a program guide to inform them of the session content. They won't have the ability or option of opening attachments and visiting external sites to determine if a session is worth attending or not. 3) TIMELINE: The Global SCRUM GATHERING Prague Conference Chairs & Review Team have set the following timelines for submission, review and selection of the Global SCRUM GATHERING Prague 2015 Program: Submissions - System OPEN March 10th to April 14th (~5 weeks) Team Review Phase - System CLOSED April 15th to May 20th (~5 weeks) Program Creation Phase May 20th to June 3rd (~2 weeks) Accepted & Rejected Notifications Sent Out June 8th Deadline for Accepted Speaker to Confirm - June 15th Program Announced June 22nd Submissions The system will be open for approximately 5 weeks so that potential speakers may submit their proposals in time for feedback. During this time, no reviews will be conducted on the proposals but speakers are able to openly edit and revise their submission. Team Review Phase The system will be closed on April 14th at 21:00 CET time and no further submissions will be accepted. for approximately 4 weeks while reviewers read and provide comments on the proposals in the system. During this time, reviewers will work in teams to assess the proposals and force-rank them relative to each other, from the BEST, second best, third best, etc. The reviewers will also provide comments and feedback for the proposals at their discretion. This feedback is intended for submitters to improve their submissions for next time.
Program Creation Phase After the Team Review Phase has been completed, the Gathering Chair(s) will make the final determination of what sessions are selected for the program along with options for alternates. The selection process will attempt to follow the recommendations made by the review teams as closely as possible while also taking into account the need to balance the program. Shortly thereafter, announcement Emails (letters) will be sent out officially indicating acceptance / rejection and the program will be announced. If accepted, the submitter will have approximately two days to accept the offer to speak along with the corresponding compensation package. If the submitter does not accept, their proposal will be rejected and passed-over. It is the discretion of the Gathering Chair(s) whether this proposal will be reconsidered as needed; i.e. the Chair(s) may ask the submitter once again if they are interested, if there is an opening in the program. If rejected, the submitter will receive feedback to consider for their next submission to a SCRUM GATHERING.
How to Review an Abstract 1) LOGIN PROCESS: a) In order to review submissions, you must be logged into the Indico system. b) Navigate to the Indico system: https://indico.scrumalliance.org c) Click the Login button at the top right of the page: a) Enter your User Name and Password and select Login d) Click on Global Gatherings to expand and then on Global SCRUM GATHERING Prague 2015 Call for Papers e) Select Manage my tracks under Abstract Reviewing 2) REVIEW PROCESS: You have already been assigned to a Track. You will only see the abstracts submitted in the track you are assigned to you for review. You will need to review all of the abstracts in the track and provide your recommendations. The system will show the total number of abstracts in the track Displaying XX abstracts. a) Review the Abstract Titles and the Types b) Begin by clicking on the Abstract title; you will be taken to the main screen for that proposal. You will need to review the information in the form and then select a recommendation based on your review. c) Please do NOT select "propose for other tracks" or "mark as duplicate". You will be allowed to provide Internal comments on the following page to propose the Abstract to another track or provide the Abstract ID, which may be very similar. d) The following two options are to be used for your reviews: propose to be accepted propose to be rejected During this time, you are reviewing Submissions. There are two possible preliminary recommendations for these submissions: (1) propose to be rejected - No revisions would make this proposal acceptable; completely egregious deviation from the guidelines or other lack of redeeming qualities. Provide justification for why this submission should be summarily rejected using the Internal Comments tab. (2) propose to be accepted - This submission is perfectly fine as it is and would be a great session in the program. e) When you select one of these options, you will have an opportunity to rate the Abstract from 0 10 in each of the following areas. Here is what we are looking for: (1) Theme fit How well does the abstract capture the spirit of the theme The Avant-Garde Culture of Prague to showcase how Scrum encapsulates Disruptive Thinking. (2) Innovation of Topic Is this a topic that seems to have new and innovative ideas that may help the conference members? (3) Title represents content In an effort to come up with a title that catches your eye, does the title represent the content described in the abstract? (4) Interactive participation Are there activities described in the abstract that would make you feel this will allow audience participation? f) When you are finished select submit at the bottom of the page. You will be able to see your selection under Your last proposition and Status. g) Scroll to the top of the page and select the link Abstract list. This allows you to see the entire list of abstracts in the track and you can continue to review by selecting on the next title. h) You will be able to see what other reviewers write under the Internal comments tab. i) Remember, all reviews MUST be complete by May 20 th.