Agile For All’s Helpful Quote of the Week (April 7, 2021)
Sprint Planning Meetings for 2-week sprints should take 4 hours or less. However, the first one you ever do will be the worst 10-12 hours…
Category: Planning
“We don’t expect a perfect Sprint. We expect a perfect effort.” – i.e. Commitment
As I train and coach Scrum across the country, I’m often struck with the power how certain words can create a sense of fear in…
New to agile? Remember, sometimes things get crazy!
Do you ever get so frustrated you feel like pulling your hair out? I do (although that is NOT a picture of me to the…
Agile antipattern: Taking on large stories
Earlier this week I posted a blog entry “Agile antipattern: Burndown charts that hide the truth” which dealt with one way a burndown chart could…
Agile antipattern: Waiting for all the requirements before starting
Time for a short blog entry (I tend to be way too verbose!). I often see teams trying to make sure they have all of…
New to agile? What to do when you are behind
Wow, has it really been more than a month since I posted something on my blog? Ouch! I guess I’ve been busier than I thought. …
How to make a LOT more money using agile
Yesterday’s blog post dealt with how to manage scope for an agile project. Today I have to admit it was a bit of a setup. …
New to agile? 3 ways to cut scope (and live)
The primary way I see teams release products faster is by reducing the scope of each product. However, this can’t be done in an arbitrary…
New to agile? Remember how to say “No”
No. Only two letters. Very simple word. Yet for some reason, with the exception of when we are at “the terrible 2’s” stage of life…
New to agile? INVEST in good user stories
As a <user> I want <function> so that<value>. Above is a very simple user story template. How can something so simple be so hard to…
Agile antipattern: Comparing velocity between teams
I recently saw an excellent blog post about iteration velocity. Good reading in general, but the last paragraph really got my attention and is why…
New to agile? Do the simplest thing that works – THEN STOP!
As an agile trainer and coach I often see new teams struggle with a simple question: “How much to do on a user story?” A lot…
Ten Ways to Improve Your Planning Poker Results
People who promote the use of Planning Poker understand some of the main reasons why it is successful. People like Mike Cohn have been very instrumental…
Agile antipattern: Moving work from one iteration to the next
All agile teams start at something less than the completely proficient level. Nearly all of those teams do not successfully complete their very first iteration. …
Agile antipattern: But the development lead said it would take way less time than that
I’d be rich if I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard this, or something very similar to it, in the past 30 years! Alright,…
New to agile? Remember one thing: Just enough, just in time
If you lived through the past few decades you have undoubtedly heard the time “Just in Time” (JIT) as applied to manufacturing. This is the…