Blog: Agile & Business

The Agile Challenge

March 18, 2018

I am devising a challenge called “The Agile Challenge.” I want to challenge all the Agile teams in North Carolina and South Carolina to prove they are the best. I want some firms or organizations to sponsor the challenge in every way: offer prize money, offer to support teams that enter the challenge, put their names on placards that […]

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Working Product and the DOD

March 18, 2018

This is one in a series on Scrum Intro. The preceding post is here. Now we come to the Working Product. The big phrase is “potentially shippable product increment.” What it means is first this: At the end of a Sprint, we expect every story that the team committed to in the Sprint Planning Meeting is […]

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“Do or do not. There is no try.”

February 26, 2018

Most everyone knows that quote from Yoda, and it highlights the three key things we must do, and maybe the couple things we must worry about. Don’t do it half-baked. Jeff Sutherland calls it “ScrumButt” and Ken Schwaber calls it Flaccid Scrum. (The second is not my favorite phrase.) You don’t play a game using […]

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What to fix first?

February 20, 2018

One could imagine many situations… But imagine this one.  Imagine that you are trying to start Scrum, or perhaps re-start it, or take it to a new level.  You have a few teams.  But you have some of the following impediments. The project or products are not well prioritized. You have too much work in […]

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Defining Agile at Your Firm (or in your Department)

February 5, 2018

The Idea (or the Practice) Let me propose an idea. I am happier if you call it a practice. The idea is simple.  That agreeing on what you are doing will help.  Or, that not agreeing and only kinda sorta roughly trying to do [agile] is likely to lead to notably less-good results. And I […]

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Inhouse Courses and Workshops

January 28, 2018

I am about to do, in the next 2 months, three different inhouse courses.  Well, actually more, since some clients will be doing more than one thing. We do a variety of different things.  The typical thing is that we need 10 people.  And you save money. But the key thing:  It helps a lot. […]

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The Release Burndown Chart

January 21, 2018

This is one in a series on Scrum Intro. The preceding post is here. Now we come to the release burndown chart. What is the idea? The first idea is that we want to hit the date. But let’s agree that things can be a bit more complex. Side notes: There are many different kinds of […]

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Course & Workshop Summary – For January 2 Minute Survey

January 8, 2018

Intro This is background information for a public survey. You can take our survey here. Why? The key purpose is to serve you better. The needs of the larger group are diverse. Some want courses, some need workshops. Some people are looking as individuals, and some are looking for something for a group. Some are […]

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The Sprint Burndown Chart

January 8, 2018

This is one in a series on Scrum Intro. The preceding post is here. Now we come to the Burn Down charts. You could start with either one, but let’s start with the Sprint Burndown chart. We might first note that the Scrum Guide does not talk about a (Sprint) Burndown chart.  There is a […]

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The Sprint Backlog

December 28, 2017

This is one in a series on Scrum Intro. The preceding post is here. This artifact is different than many suppose. It is the list of stories and the list of tasks for those stories, that the Team thinks they can get done in a Sprint. (In my mind, the normal sprint should be 2 […]

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