Why Longer Sprints Probably Won’t Help
As a coach, I’m frequently told, “Our sprint length is too short. We want to change it from X to Y weeks.” The time box—the…
Tag: scrum
Another Story Splitting Pattern (Maybe)
User stories are typically written using a template like, “As a <role>, I want to <action> so that <value>.” My other story splitting patterns focus…
Want Productivity? Focus on Predictability Instead
Focus your team on predictability, and productivity will come. Focus on productivity, and you’ll get neither productivity nor predictability.
Growing DONE—How to Make the Definition of Done Work for Your Team
Effective agile teams get things done. They build software day after day that’s not just “code complete” but really shippable. And when their product owner…
How to Give a Great Sprint Demo
Exciting. Entertaining. Do these words describe your sprint demo meetings? Or are boring and unfocused more accurate? I can’t believe how many times I’ve come…
New to agile? Don’t settle for mediocrity
James Shore recently changed the entire focus of his company. This blog entry gives his reasons why. The blog post really struck a chord with…
Never have a PMP on an agile team
Now that I have your attention, let me be VERY clear I don’t believe the title of this post. However, many people do believe it, and…
Being agile is to releasing products, like fishing is to catching fish
I recently read this blog post from Chris Sterling and while funny, it made me wonder about the similarities between fishing and agile development. Since…
Continuous Deployment
I’ve written before about the amazing financial impact of releasing more often. And I know from personal experience the positive impact that frequent releases have…
7 Tips for a More Effective Daily Scrum
The main purpose of the Daily Scrum is for team members to make and follow-up on commitments to one another that work towards the team’s…
Agile Product Management Boot Camp
Bob Hartman and I are offering an Agile Product Management Boot Camp course March 9-10 in Denver. If you’re a product manager, product owner, business…
Short Answers #2: What to Focus on in 2009
It’s officially a series now. In this Short Answers video, I answer the question, “If my Scrum team could work on one thing in 2009,…
New Benjamin Zander Video – “How Fascinating!”
There’s a new Benjamin Zander video over at the Pop!Tech conference website. There’s some overlap with the video from TED I posted back in June—most…
Short Answers #1: When Stories Are Larger Than Planned
I’m experimenting with video for what is likely become a new series here. In these “Short Answers” posts, I’ll answer an agile question in about…
Are the Product Owner and ScrumMaster’s Interests Opposed?
The Chief Engineer role in the Toyota Product Development System combines parts of the Product Owner, ScrumMaster, and senior technical team member roles from Scrum.…
Motivated Individuals
As agile approaches the mainstream, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the core principles, especially this one: Build projects around motivated individuals. Give…
Free Agile Product Management Seminar – Nov 11, Denver
I’m hosting a free seminar on Tuesday, November 11 from 1:00-2:30 PM in the Denver Tech Center area. Please join me there and spread the…
The Most Useful Release Burn-up I’ve Seen Yet
I often advise teams against using a release burn-up (or burn-down) chart because I’ve seen too many managers try to use them as a stick…
The Power of Small Experiments
Change can be scary. Change at work is particularly threatening. After all, most of us spend more time working that doing any other single thing.…