At the 2022 & 2024 Global Scrum Gathering in Denver and Ghent, 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…
At the 2022 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…
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…
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
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…
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…
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…
Happy Birthday Scrum! Scrum celebrates 25 years with an updated 2020 Scrum Guide. Scrum was first introduced in a paper at the 95 OOPSLA Business Object Design and Implementation Workshop by Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland. In 2010 Ken and Jeff published the 1st Scrum guide and since then they have updated it every couple of…
Director: “We don't have a budget for a Scrum Master so Cathy is going to be both the Scrum Master and Product Owner.” On a Scrum Team, there are 3 accountabilities; The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value resulting from the work of the Scrum Team, the Developers are accountable for building and delivering…
The Scrum Guide defines Product Backlog Refinement as the act of breaking down and further defining Product Backlog items into smaller more precise items. This is an ongoing activity to add details, such as a description, order, and size. Product Backlog Refinement is a key activity in Scrum that is often overlooked. If a team finds…
Scrum Master: “Team, it looks like these 3 stories that we already started on are almost done. I'm going to add an extra 2 days to this Sprint so that we can finish them.” An important concept in Scrum is timeboxing. All events in Scrum are timeboxed, from the Sprint itself, to Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum,…
Use the Definition of Done Canvas as a template to help you and your team create an effective Definition of Done. In Scrum, the output of every Sprint is a Product Increment. This Product Increment should be of high enough quality to be potentially shippable should the Product Owner so see fit. Many teams struggle with…
Product Owner: “Team, I'm going to miss Sprint Planning again. I’m swamped with my real job and can't make it on Wednesday.” A statement like this indicates a misunderstanding of the Product Owner role. In Scrum, the Product Owner is driving the team to successfully deliver on Sprint Goals to achieve the overall Product Goal and…
Use the Sprint Retrospective as a template to help you and your team run effective Sprint Retrospective events. There are many ways to facilitate a retrospective. This template can help you get started until you are comfortable with the various other types of retrospectives. The Scrum Guide defines the Sprint Retrospective as an event to plan…
Scrum is easy to understand but difficult to master. For a team to be successful with Scrum, developers have to learn new ways of working as well as adopt Agile Engineering practices. Building things iteratively and incrementality differs from traditional SDLC phased development. In addition, developers must apply new technical skills and techniques in to be…