During my recent Professional Scrum Product Owner - Advanced classes, one of the class participants - Anna Rosine - made the comment that "Band-aids last forever." We were talking about technical debt and the tendency for organizations to do a quick fix, but then not come back around and, well, fix it. Band-aids are supposed to be temporary. You put one on, it does its job, and then you take it off. But in many organizations, band-aids have a funny way of sticking around far

One student told me her company started using Scrum when they hired a vendor who claimed to be an expert. But that vendor piled on excessive

Agile teams often struggle with how to size and forecast upcoming work. Flow metrics offer a simple, effective way to solve that problem without the headaches that come from traditional estimation methods. In fact, flow metrics can provide more accurate planning and forecasting than using points or hours—and they keep things agile, not bogged down in endless debates over estimates. What Are Flow Metrics? Flow metrics track the number of Product Backlog Items (PBIs) your team

Over time, the Daily Scrum can start to get a little repetitive. One way to re-invigorate your Daily Scrum is to ask a different question. What do we mean by asking a different question? Many Scrum teams rely on the three questions to drive conversation at the Daily Scrum. The three questions are: What did you do yesterday? What will you do today? Do you have any blockers? For many teams, these three questions are the cornerstone of the Daily Scrum. Each Developer takes

While helpful, a Definition of Ready should not become a gate that hinders value delivery.

Scrum is a framework within which teams work together to deliver products in complex environments. The Scrum framework includes five events: The Sprint Sprint Planning Daily Scrum Sprint Review Sprint Retrospective. Each of the five events in Scrum is time boxed. This means that every Scrum event has a maximum (but not a minimum) amount of time the Scrum team will spend on the event every Sprint. By limiting the time spent in each Event, the Scrum framework pushes Scrum

The purpose of the Scrum Master is to enhance the efficiency and productivity of the Scrum team. It’s an important accountability for the success of the Scrum team, and yet, it is surprising that many people are uncertain about the qualities they should seek when hiring a Scrum Master. An ideal Scrum Master should possess expertise in the Scrum framework as well as complimentary practices, demonstrate servant leadership qualities, and prioritize continuous improvement for the

According to the 2020 Scrum guide, “Scrum Teams are cross-functional, meaning the members have all the skills necessary to create value...

A central feature of the Scrum framework is the concept of a cross-functional team. But what exactly is cross-functionality, and how is it beneficial? Let's explore this topic in an agile software development context. Traditional project management approaches often organize teams based on specialized roles and responsibilities. You have developers who write code, testers who ensure quality, designers who create user interfaces, etc. Each team member has a specific area of ex

Understanding the “ why” behind the Scrum framework can help Scrum teams improve their ability to deliver value to the organization. We...

Scrum Teams that understand the “ why” behind the Scrum framework can better increase value delivery to the organization. Internalizing...

There are five events in Scrum. But just going through the motions and having each of the events on the calendar is not enough. To get...

Scrum uses an iterative, incremental approach to deliver value to the business through the medium of the Sprint. The purpose of each Sprint is to deliver a Done, usable increment. It sounds straightforward, but it can be tricky to achieve. Here are the three steps to Done in Scrum: ensure your Scrum Team has a workable Definition of Done, a well-refined Product Backlog, and uses the Sprint Retrospective to identify improvement opportunities. Creating a Definition of Done The