Category Archives: Better Agile

The CSP is in demand…

We have a problem in Scrum. First, we do well to call it an opportunity rather than a problem.  We have more opportunity sitting on the table that we have not yet grabbed.  Scrum, in general, can help us get a LOT more improvement than we have gotten. There are many root causes behind this […]

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ScrumButt Test (6): Estimates created by the Team

Another installment on the ScrumButt Test. So, the next item on the test says: “The Product Backlog has estimates created by the Team.” Why is this important and what does it mean?  Let’s consider the meaning first. So, normally in Scrum estimates mean estimates of relative size/complexity in Story Points. See Mike Cohn’s book: Each […]

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What does it mean to be ‘Ready’?

Jeffry Hesse wrote this blog post. [Link now broken.  Sorry!] It inspired me to write the post below. The new Scrum Guide says that PBIs (product backlog items) must be well-understood and granular enough for Sprint Planning. PB Refinement is the process we use to get them to Ready. Those are not quotes, but that […]

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Impediment List – Charlotte Class Nov 2013

Here are the impediments the Charlotte class identified.  Each impediment may be useful to you. Too little transparency No finalized requirements No communication SME Availability Missing Required Technology Resistance to a common goal Unrealistic expectations Outside pressures Vague requirements Lack of resources Lack of money Bad estimates Hiding problems Not crying wolf soon enough!! Conflict […]

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Impediment List – Montreal Class

Here are the top impediments identified by the recent Montreal class.  There may be some similarities, (a different person might be trying to say essentially the same thing, but for his team).  Maybe your Team will recognize some good things to work on: Team too small Under-staffed Loss of communication (with) customer, stakeholders Not dedicated […]

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Scaling, Part 2

Here are some additional patterns to consider when Scaling. For now, consider that I am using a narrow definition of scaling, to mean, collocated teams working together on one product in a fairly tight way. 1. Upfront Work. To over-simplify, if we create any product, we plan, we build, we release.  That is the simplest […]

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Scrum Values

All of you should be aware of the Agile Manifesto and the Agile Principles. To me, they are not perfect, but they are an excellent expression of many key ideas behind Agile.  And we should be thinking about them every day.  They require thought and common sense to consider how they should be applied on […]

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ALN RDU: Joe’s Agile Release Planning

I had the pleasure of speaking to the Agile Leadership Network group in RDU tonight. First, there were a lot of smart people there and I enjoyed it. Here are some things I forgot to say or did not emphasize enough. 1. I have different goals from many for what we call agile release planning. […]

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SAFe, LeSS, DAD, and ScrumPLOP

First, I want to say that I feel each ‘large scale agile’ situation is different.  The key problems are different.  Therefore, the solution(s) should be different. And I like the idea of patterns. This is the pattern idea: “Here are some things (patterns) that others have found useful, and maybe I can steal from them, […]

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Basic Agile ‘scaling’ terms

Below are several key terms often used when discussing ‘Agile Scaling.’ They need to be addressed. Why? My experience is that when the community talks about these issues, they use these words in a very loose way.  The problems behind these words are quite real. The problems can  be somewhat improved if we work hard […]

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