Daily Scrum in a Nutshell

The Daily Scrum is a brief daily planning event by the Developers to inspect their work and the progress they are making toward the Sprint Goal that will result in a Product Increment. The Developers created their Sprint plan or Sprint Backlog in Sprint Planning at the beginning of the Sprint. However, this plan is not…

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Sprint Planning in a Nutshell

In Scrum, the Sprint starts with Sprint Planning where the Scrum team plans out their work for the Sprint and creates a Sprint Backlog. The Sprint Backlog is the team’s plan to accomplish the work. Sprint planning is timeboxed to 2 hours per week of Sprint, so for a 2-week Sprint it is one event for…

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Product Backlog Refinement in a Nutshell

The Product Backlog is an ordered list of hypotheses, requirements, features, enhancements, or Product Backlog Items that help the team accomplish the Product Goal. The Product Backlog is the team’s single source of work. Meaning, anything the Developers are working on should be coming from the Product Backlog. There are no side requests. Any work should…

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Scrum Team in a Nutshell

The Scrum team consists of 3 accountabilities, Developers, Product Owner, and Scrum Master. Developers are accountable for building and delivering a quality working Product Increment at the end of each Sprint. They are a small group, typically 3 to 9 members that are cross-functional and self-organizing. Developers are cross-functional to remove bottlenecks and dependencies. Developers on…

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Scrum Accountabilities, Artifacts, and Events in a Nutshell

In Scrum, there are 3 accountabilities, 3 artifacts, and 5 events. The 3 accountabilities in Scrum are: Product Owner, accountable for the delivery of a valuable product. Developers, accountable for building and delivering a working quality product. Scrum Master, accountable for the effectiveness of the Scrum team and organization in building and delivering a valuable, quality,…

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Agile Online Summit 2022

On November 2, 2022, Fadi Stephan presented at the Agile Online Summit on 6 Tips for Effective Product Backlog Refinement. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the talk: 6 Tips For Effective Product Backlog Refinement 13 Patterns For Splitting User Stories The Product Backlog Refinement Canvas

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2022 Global Scrum Gathering in Lisbon

On October 17-19, 2022, Fadi Stephan presented at the Global Scrum Gathering in Lisbon on Coaching Your Team to Technical Excellence and on 6 Tips for Effective Product Backlog Refinement. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the talk: Coaching Your Team To Technical Excellence 8 Steps to Technical Excellence The Definition of Done Canvas…

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AgileDC 2022

On October 3, 2022, Fadi Stephan was at AgileDC and presented 6 Tips for Effective Product Backlog Refinement. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the talk: 6 Tips For Effective Product Backlog Refinement 13 Patterns For Splitting User Stories The Product Backlog Refinement Canvas

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Top Tips For Product Backlog Refinement

At the 2022 Global Scrum Gathering in Denver, I presented on 6 Tips for Product Backlog Refinement. Below is the abstract of the talk, along with the presentation slides and a blog post related to the presentation. Abstract: Are your Sprint planning meetings taking longer and longer each Sprint? Are some of the stories vague, complex,…

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The Agile Dashboard

At the 2222 Global Scrum Gathering in Denver, I presented on Agile Metrics. Below is the abstract of the talk, along with the presentation slides. Abstract: There are more to Agile metrics than velocity and burn-down charts. However, most Agile teams just focus on velocity and target story points which leads to managers misusing the metric…

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2022 Global Scrum Gathering In Denver

On June 6-8, Fadi Stephan attended the Global Scrum Gathering in Denver and presented 6 Tips for Effective Product Backlog Refinement as well as The Agile Dashboard. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the talks: 6 Tips For Effective Product Backlog Refinement 13 Patterns For Splitting User Stories The Product Backlog Refinement Canvas The…

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Product Ownership – beyond the classroom

At the Product Ownership - Beyond The Class Room event hosted by the Scrum Alliance, Fadi Stephan presented on 6 Steps for Effective Product Backlog Refinement. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the talk: 6 Tips For Effective Product Backlog Refinement 13 Patterns For Splitting User Stories The Product Backlog Refinement Canvas

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The definition of done vs. The acceptance criteria

The Definition of Done often gets confused with the Acceptance Criteria. Acceptance Criteria is specific to a user story and it will differ from one user story to the next as it’s tied to a particular functionality or feature. The acceptance criteria further clarifies the feature by proving context and intent. It helps manage expectations and…

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3 Steps to Land your First Scrum Master Job

One of the most common question I get asked in my Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) class is "how do I get my first job as a Scrum Master?" So let's look at 3 steps you can take to help you land your first Scrum Master job. It's important to note that certification on its own is not…

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A Behind the Scenes Look at the Writing of the Agile Manifesto

It’s February 2021 and we are celebrating 20 years since the writing of the Agile Manifesto. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at what happened back in Snowbird 2001 when 17 software development thought leaders authored the Agile Manifesto. 1990s – Before the Agile Manifesto Let’s first go back another 10 years to explore what was happening in…

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