Blog: Agile & Business

Release Planning: Completing the Plan

August 1, 2012

[This post is one of a series on Release Planning. The series starts here.] As discussed in the previous post on Release Planning, the user stories are now ordered. Now we must complete the Release Plan. So, we must make the trade-off between scope and date. There are three ways to do this: 1. Fixed […]

Read More »

Self-organization of the Team

July 27, 2012

We have this idea in Agile, that the Team should self-organize.  This is an important idea. And, more, an important action of the Team. In Agile, self-organization is contrasted with command-and-control. We think self-organization is an important thing to study, both in general and in your Team. It seems simple, but like almost anything, to […]

Read More »

Release Planning: Risks, Dependencies, Learning, MMFS and Other

June 29, 2012

[This is a continuation of a series on Release Planning that starts here.] Now we come to the point of (re)ordering the Product Backlog (PB). Note: After calculating the R Factor, I like to order the PB by R.  Not that I would expect the Team to do the work in that order, but to […]

Read More »

Enabling Specification

May 30, 2012

This is a “just enough, just in time” concept.  As some of you know, just-in-time (JIT) was one of the first names for what we now call Lean. Just enough documentation to enable the implementers to implement it, delivered ‘just in time.’ This is closely related to the “Definition of Ready” or DOR concept.  Which […]

Read More »

“Ozymandias” – Creativity can take some courage

May 30, 2012

It is hard sometimes to be creative, to create.  We wonder, will our creation ever survive.  I have spoken already of a book called The Courage to Create by Rollo May. Here is a short poem by Shelley, Ozymandias: I met a traveller from an antique land Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of […]

Read More »

Release Planning: Effort (2)

May 27, 2012

[This is a continuation of a series on Release Planning that starts here.] Now we come to the point of describing Planning Poker. This has been done before; we will be brief.  It is described at greater length many other places. *** Some basic characteristics: * We find the 5 best experts (or 4-7 people) […]

Read More »

The importance of a real team

May 17, 2012

Scrum requires a real team. The word ‘team’ is often used, often in different ways.  So, let us define it. According to “The Discipline of Teams” by Katzenbach and Smith, this is what you should look for: 1. A meaningful common purpose that the Team has helped shape. 2. Specific performance goals that flow from […]

Read More »

Meet the Meeting Killers

May 17, 2012

Here is an entertaining article in the WSJ.  About the types of people who kill meetings. Scrum of course has some meetings. It is trying to minimize meetings, and make meetings better. But as soon as you have people and meetings, you can have some….umm…interesting times.  So, may your meetings not be interesting this way. […]

Read More »

What to do with managers?

May 16, 2012

First, unlike some in the agile community, I think managers can be and even are useful in lean-agile-scrum.  Even essential. The first problem is that we do not explain to them how things have changed, and how they can be effective in the new environment. Still, there is a lot of evidence, on many levels […]

Read More »

Why our CSM (Scrum) course + Workshop is unique.

May 14, 2012

We believe our CSM (Scrum) course plus Workshop is unique.  And better.  For the following reasons. 1. We focus on results. We want you, your team and your customers to get real results in a big way.  In 3 words, more satisfaction, more money, more fun. 2. Therefore the teaching style is not toward remembering […]

Read More »