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

[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 […]

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

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 […]

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Killing Babies or Sizzling Steak?

I thought I would share this story, with one or two key metaphors.  Perhaps useful to you.  I use the story in classes quite a bit. *** OK, the PO is trying to optimize on the Pareto idea (80-20, the vital few). (More about the Pareto idea elsewhere.) It is Feb 1.  At the beginning […]

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Release Planning: Product Roadmap

I did a session today at the Atlanta Scrum Gathering about ‘Joe’s Approach to Release Planning.’  Jason Tanner asked “what about the product roadmap?”  And his question made me realize that I have not said enough about that. My quick thoughts. 1. You need a product roadmap. For almost all products, at least almost all […]

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Taking Ideas on a Test Drive

I am a strong proponent of “show me the money.” In other words, there are lots and lots of ideas that sound good. And only a relative few that are really worthwhile. And we only know which are which by …taking an idea for a test drive. But even this basic scientific idea is not […]

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A list summarizing Scrum

The list below is not self-explanatory, but it covers the key ideas one has to know and execute on to do Scrum professionally.  Of course, becoming proficient at doing them at the highest level (at the rugby World Cup level) is a lifetime’s work.  Rugby is a simple game with simple rules, but to reach […]

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Release Planning: Effort (1)

[For those who have not been reading here before, this is a continuation of a series that starts here.] Now we move on to Effort in Release Planning. *** The title of this blog post might be misleading.  Estimating the effort of a full Release per se is not quite what we want to do. […]

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Agile’s broad adoption and mediocrity – what to do

Ken Judy has an excellent, although blunt, blog post here: http://judykat.com/ken-judy/agilescrumlean-broad-adoption-mediocrity-faul/ His main point maybe is that we do not have enough truly professional scrum (or agile) implementations. And why? Because we have implemented too broadly too fast.  Is probably the main reason, in his opinion. Some good insights.  Read them. *** Here are my […]

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Minimum Definition of ‘Agile’: Scrum-Butt Test

First, let’s assume that we believe that our firm needs a good agile transformation to achieve important business goals. Perhaps these goals are: (a) faster time to market, (b) more creativity in the product, and (c) greater productivity.  (In any case, not ‘Agile’ for agile’s sake.) One method to achieve more success from the agile […]

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Why add a Workshop Day to the CSM course?

Apparently I am one of the few Scrum Alliance CSTs (Certified Scrum Trainers) who always adds a Workshop day (or 2) to the CSM (Certified ScrumMaster) course. Why do I add the workshop day? The simple reason is because the attendees demand it. Honestly, before they have taken the course the attendees don’t really know […]

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