It’s about Requirements Discovery, Not Delivery
Part 2 of 6 in the “Double the Value in Half the Time” series based on David Hawks’ presentation from Keep Austin Agile 2015. Stay tuned for subsequent posts… The second problem in the “Deliver Double the Value in Half the Time” series is that the Team doesn’t have a shared understanding of their purpose. […]
Don’t Lock in Tough Decisions Early
Part 1 of 6 in the Double the Value in Half the Time series based on David Hawks’ presentation from Keep Austin Agile 2015 . Stay tuned for subsequent posts… Traditional Project Planning Traditionally we create our plans up front at our Dumbest Point. We take our requirements, get our estimates, set our target and lock it […]
Using Agile to Deliver Double the Value in Half the Time Series
As we work with software product teams, we see more struggling than success with Agile. After conducting many assessments, we’ve found almost all organizations have the potential to deliver double the value and cut their delivery time in half. In this series, I will explore 6 of the top problem areas holding most organizations back. […]
Dysfunction Junction: Share Yours!
We need your help! Agile Velocity is putting together a video about Scrum dysfunction and are looking for input on what dysfunctions to cover and what tips to offer. Here are some dysfunctions we see to get the creative juices flowing: DYSFUNCTION: Someone starts a side discussion while others are talking DYSFUNCTION: Someone rambles on […]
Do you have Engaging Sprint Reviews?
This is the fourth post in our Scrum Assessment Series. Often we’ll attend a Sprint Review where the team is present and ready to demonstrate the work they completed during the Sprint, but there are no stakeholders or customers present to see the demo! Or maybe stakeholders are physically present but busy checking their phones or […]
Release Planning: Improve your Visibility into Release Progress
This is the fifth post in our Scrum Assessment Series. Often teams are working on features over multiple sprints scheduled in a release. Planning and tracking these releases can be very difficult, but you can’t tell the business we have no idea what will be delivered. Since it is impossible to perfectly define the requirements […]
Don’t Sprint through Sprint Planning!
This is the third post in our Scrum Assessment Series. Too many teams we observe are trying to get out of their Sprint Planning meetings as fast as possible. They think the goal is to just get a plan. Some cheat by having everyone task their work ahead of time or skip the tasking altogether. They […]
Is Your Team Good at Improvement? Scrum Retrospectives
This is the second post in our Scrum Assessment Series. A continuous improvement culture is the most important thing for a team to establish early. Where does the team land on the scale below? Team does not care about performance Team is aware of performance Team discusses issues Team identifies improvements Team takes responsibility for improvements Team is […]
How Awesome Are Your Daily Scrums?
This is the first post in our Scrum Assessment Series. The Daily Scrums or Standups are a critical planning meeting for the team. It should be fun and engaging. A great team demonstrates a culture of shared ownership. They swarm on their work while also keeping their workload manageable by limiting their work in progress […]
Scrum Assessment Series
Implementing the Scrum basics is one thing, getting good is hard, and truly awesome teams are rare. We find that one of the most difficult things with Agile and Scrum is that you don’t know what you don’t know. Over the next 5 weeks, we are going to publish a set of blog posts that […]