Check out the video below of JJ Sutherland presenting on "Agile Leadership" at the Washington DC Scrum User Group (DCSUG). JJ explores how Agile requires major changes in organization, management philosophy, and operations. In our modern moment Agile and Scrum are tossed around by leaders as the newest management fad. What leadership has to recognize is…
Product Increment and the Definition of Done An Increment, broadly defined, is an increase or addition, especially when that addition represents one of several steps in a sequence. In Scrum, the Development Team works to deliver a new Increment of the product every Sprint. Each Increment is a new, updated, usable version of the product, so…
Sprint Backlog Next: Product Increment and the Definition of Done During Sprint Planning, the Scrum Team creates two outputs: the Sprint Goal and the Sprint Backlog. The Sprint Goal is a high-level objective that provides guidance to the Development Team on why the work of that Sprint is important. It could be a customer outcome, a…
Product Backlog Refinement Next: Sprint Backlog In another section, we described the Product Backlog as a “constantly evolving artifact” that is never complete. Product Backlog refinement is the work that is "Done" to constantly evolve the Product Backlog. Most Product Backlogs were, at some point, an unsorted collection of ideas for features, enhancements, improvements, and capabilities…
Product Backlog Next: Product Backlog Refinement The Product Backlog is the Scrum Artifact that answers the question: “What is most important to build next?” The primary problem of economics, applied to product and service development, is that stakeholders have seemingly unlimited wants, but organizations have limited means. Given that problem, we need to decide what order…
Scrum Artifacts Next: Product Backlog In archaeology, the term “artifact” refers to an object that was made by a human. The Latin roots of the word artifact roughly translate to “Work of Art.” So, an artifact is something that we make, either a tool that solves a problem, or a work of art that inspires us.…
Sprint Retrospective Next: Scrum Artifacts In this section, we’ll learn about the Sprint Retrospective meeting. We will cover: the goal; who attends; the timebox; and the general approach to running the meeting. The Sprint Retrospective meeting is the final event of the Sprint, held after the Sprint Review meeting. The Sprint Retrospective is one of the…
Sprint Review Next: Sprint Retrospective In this section, we’ll learn all about the Sprint Review meeting. We will cover: the input to the meeting; the goal; who attends; the timebox; the general approach to running the meeting; and the output. The Sprint Review meeting is held at the end of the Sprint. The primary input is…
Daily Scrum Next: Sprint Review In this section, we’ll learn all about the Daily Scrum meeting. We will cover: the inputs to the meeting; the goal; who attends; the timebox; the general approach to running the meeting, and the output. Once a day, the Development Team holds the Daily Scrum meeting. The Goal of this meeting…
Spring Planning Next: Daily Scrum In this video, we’ll learn all about the Sprint Planning meeting. We will cover: the inputs to the meeting; the goals; who attends; the timebox; the general approach to running the meeting; and the outputs. As its name implies, the Sprint Planning meeting is used to plan the work of the…
Scrum Events Next: Sprint Planning As we learned in a previous section, Scrum is an empirical approach to managing work. That means that each of the Scrum events is meant to increase transparency, so that the team can reliably inspect their progress, and adapt their plans to better reach a desired outcome. In this section, we’ll…
Scrum Roles Next: Scrum Events Scrum defines three roles within the Scrum Team. The Product Owner, The Development Team, and the ScrumMaster. The Product Owner is responsible for maximizing the value of the product and the work of the Development Team. One of the primary ways the Product Owner manages this work is through the Product…
Cross Functional and Self-Organizing Teams Next: Scrum Roles Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. These characteristics are often misunderstood, so let’s talk about what they mean in the context of Scrum. A Scrum Team is self-organizing, meaning that the team chooses how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team.…
Scrum Values Next: Cross functional and self-organizaing teams For an individual, team, or organization to realize the benefits of Scrum, the structural components of the framework are an important, but incomplete, factor. The components of the framework are the visible, logical system of Scrum. Since Scrum is meant to be used by people who have complex,…
Scrum Theory Next: Scrum Values Scrum (n): A framework within which people can address complex adaptive problems, while productively and creatively delivering products of the highest possible value. This definition is from the Scrum Guide*, the official document created and regularly updated by Scrum’s co-creators, Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber. In this video, we will explain…