Category Archives: Scrum Methodology
Part 2 of 2: Agile Adoption – No Pain No Gain
In my first post I said that agile adoption reminds me of my personal experience in competitive sports. The pain was so intense at times, it left me physically and emotionally spent. But with a bit of determination, the gain … Continue reading
Part 1 of 2: Agile Adoption – No Pain No Gain
I love sports and any chance I get to relate it to what I do for living, I get pretty jazzed! So, hang with me on this… I hope this either reinforces what you already know about agile development or … Continue reading
Pondering the Agile “Don’t Know” Methodology
If you haven’t already heard the buzz, the State of Agile Development Survey 2011 is now out and it is packed full with some great information. The survey is a helpful resource to quantify what people are doing and the … Continue reading
A Musical Approach to Agile Development Teams – Part 2 of 2
In Part 1 of this post I explained why it’s important for agile development teams to have distinct specialties – very similar to the way a jazz combo works together to create beautiful music. In this post I’ll continue my … Continue reading
A Musical Approach to Agile Development Teams – Part 1 of 2
<Adapted from my article in CM Crossroads article titled, “Making Beautiful Music Together”> Have you ever watched a jazz combo? The performance starts with the leader counting off the rhythm, then stepping away. Then the drummer begins to lay down … Continue reading
Everything I learned about Scrum Teams I learned from M*A*S*H
I like to participate in discussion groups. I enjoy the discussions themselves, and I also like “meeting” the folks who are participating. There are a lot of questions that get repeated in those groups, but I personally feel that the … Continue reading
Part 2 of 2: Kanban vs Scrum Myths & Hype
In the first part of this post we established a context about Kanban as an agile software tool (not to be confused with the manufacturing term, kanban). I also explored some of the key myths and hype behind Kanban vs … Continue reading
Part 1 of 2: Kanban vs Scrum Myths and Hype
Recently, I heard folks at a few of my clients and at a couple conferences talking about why they are considering moving to using Kanban vs. Scrum. I have no preference to either method other than choosing the right agile … Continue reading
Retrospective: It Happens at the End, but it’s Just the Beginning
All great (and not so great) teams strive to get better. During the recent Super Bowl run of the New England Patriots, the team undoubtedly made some personnel moves to make the team even stronger. The team was certainly proud … Continue reading
Does it matter in what order a Scrum Team executes their Sprint Backlog?
Over the last few years I’ve had folks from various roles on agile teams ask me if I thought it was important if the stories in a sprint backlog were executed on in their rank order of importance, because “after … Continue reading