We all know that software development is risky. We’re creating something new, with an uncertain set of requirements, in an often-tight timeframe. On top of that, we have to worry about unknown dependencies, sudden market changes, and personnel shifts!
It’s no wonder…
In my training classes we frequently discuss scaling agile with feature teams versus component teams. To help distinguish between the two types of teams it is important to consider the nature of the product backlog items that you might typically see in the product…
I’ve witnessed many teams perform excellent Scrum, from sprint planning through retrospectives, yet their organizations still don’t get the business results they need or expect. Why? Because they fail to perform something I call Economically Sensible Scrum. Economically…
Even if all of your teams perform Scrum or any Agile process exactly right, in a textbook-like fashion, you might not achieve your organization’s goals for adopting Agile. Why? In most cases, when organizations fail, it is because they did not apply core Agile…
The goal of sprint planning is to determine the most important subset of ready product backlog items to build in the next sprint. During sprint planning the Scrum team agrees on a goal for the sprint, and the development team determines the specific product backlog items…
Recently I received an email from a student in one of my agile training classes with the following quote: “...these days it’s all dropping batons and boiling oceans here.” In that one sentence I knew exactly what he was trying to communicate.
Baton dropping is a…
Agile teams that decide they want to estimate the size of their product backlog items may employ a technique like Planning Poker®. Planning Poker helps team members better understand product backlog items (often user stories) and reach consensus on the relative sizes…
In agile portfolio planning we determine which portfolio backlog items to work on, in which order and for how long. In Chapter 16 of my book Essential Scrum, I offer 11 strategies for establishing a portfolio backlog. These are divided into 4 key areas: scheduling,…
Almost every week I visit one or two companies to teach an on-site Scrum class or do some form of agile coaching. These days people who take my agile classes are likely to have some experience or exposure (via reading or videos) to Scrum before they attend–and in most…
Chapter three (Agile Principles) in my Essential Scrum book describes the agile principles that underlie Scrum and compares them with those of traditional, plan-driven, sequential product development. Many people have asked me to share the summary comparison table at…