Use the Daily Scrum Canvas as a template to help you and your team run effective Daily Scrum events. The Scrum Guide defines the Daily Scrum as a 15-minute event for the Developers of the Scrum Team… The purpose of the Daily Scrum is to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog…
ScrumMaster: “I’ve cancelled this week’s retrospective since we have all these production issues to tackle.” This one is a slippery slope. If the site is down, then the focus should be on getting it back up as quickly as possible. However, I hear the same arguments around automated testing, good design practices, and minimizing technical debt.…
Use the Sprint Planning Canvas as a template to help you and your team run effective Sprint Planning events. The Scrum Guide defines Sprint Planning as the event that initiates the Sprint by laying out the work to be performed for the Sprint. This resulting plan is created by the collaborative work of the entire Scrum…
Use the Product Backlog Refinement Canvas as a template to help you and your team run effective refinement sessions. 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,…
Developer: “I’m not sure when the next Sprint planning is. The ScrumMaster hasn’t scheduled it yet” Two things concern me here. First, the seemingly variability of events. Second, the reliance on the ScrumMaster. In Scrum, we work on a cadence. Once we determine the Sprint length, we mostly stick to it with a few exceptions around…
Developers on Scrum teams split their time across 3 main areas each and every Sprint and should account for that in Sprint Planning. Building the Product Increment During the Sprint, Developers work on Product Backlog Items that help accomplish the Sprint Goal and deliver a Product Increment. Developers on a Scrum team build the Product Increment.…
Scrum Master: “Team, the last Sprint was a colossal failure.” So when can a Sprint be considered a failure? Let us start by defining what does failure mean in this situation? Is it about the team's velocity being low? Is it the team not completing all the Product Backlog Items they took on in Sprint Planning?…
Many teams adopt Scrum but still approach development the same old way. Build widget A in Sprint 1, build B in Sprint 2, and build C in Sprint 3, and in Sprint 4, we put A+B+C together. In Scrum, a Product Increment is whatever you previously built, plus anything new you built in this last Sprint…
Statement: Scrum Master: “Team, I'm canceling tomorrow's Daily Scrum because I have a doctor's appointment and I can't be here to run the meeting.” Anti-pattern: The Meeting King. Problem: The Daily Scrum is not about or for the Scrum Master. It is a daily planning meeting for the Developers by the Developers. Recommendation: Ensure that the…
Agile technical coaching is about helping teams adopt agile engineering practices that are essential to succeeding with Scrum. These practices help teams and organizations realize the benefits of Scrum, like faster time to market, faster return on investment, reduced risk, improved quality, and increased adaptiveness to be able to quickly respond to changing requirements and changing…
New to Agile and Scrum? Learn the fundamentals of Scrum covering Scrum theory values, Scrum roles, Scrum events, and Scrum artifacts by watching this 14 part video series based on the Scrum Alliance® Scrum Foundations Learning Objectives that are aligned with the Scrum Guide. Watch the video series here.
What is Scrum? Scrum is a framework for developing, delivering, and sustaining complex products. It all starts with our stakeholders, customers, and users, who have an idea about a product they need and want developed. They collaborate directly with Developers to turn this idea into reality. https://youtu.be/3VvSyXaH31Y The Product Owner and Developers Developers in Scrum are…
Business Analyst: "I am a BA on the Scrum team and I'm responsible for writing the user stories." This is another common statement I usually hear from business analysts. Check out the previous post on the who of product backlog refinement that clarifies the responsibility of the business analysts and the rest of the Scrum team.
Agile engineering practices are foundational for successful Scrum implementation and ensuring your team consistently delivers a Product Increment at the end of every Sprint. In this guide, we'll walk through a practical 8-step approach to help your team adopt these essential practices and make them stick. Some steps you can facilitate yourself, while others may require…
Executive: “Of course we are agile, everyone is using Jira now!” A tool does not make you, your team, or organization Agile. I see many organization invest in tooling without investing in proper training and coaching. Our first Agile value is about focusing on individual and interactions over processes and tools. So, any tool we do…