Product Camp Austin 11
The Agile Velocity team recently attended and participated in Austin Product Camp 11 on July 20th at the AT&T Conference Center. They were happy to see familiar faces and meet new ones while being a part of this fun event. David Hawks led two popular sessions, “Delivering Product in an Agile World” and “Requirements Process from Discovery to Delivery”. […]
Many Companies are Drowning in a Sea of Opportunity
“Many Companies are Drowning in a Sea of Opportunity.” Ken Rubin made that statement at a conference I attended and it resonated with me. This is probably one of the top three issues many companies face — they try to do more than their capacity allows and it perpetuates the problem. If companies would focus on a single […]
Do you Divide and Conquer or Swarm?
Imagine you have 6 developers and 6 features to build, estimated at 1 month each. Leadership says they are all top priority. Traditional managers would optimize on individual efficiency and assign each developer 1 feature to focus with minimal interruptions. Here is the problem: Something is going to change. What if half way through the […]
Avoid Surprises at Sprint Planning, create a Definition of Ready
There has been a lot of talk over the years about having a definition of “Done” or “being Done”, but I think it is just important to have a definition of Ready. Have you ever been in Sprint Planning and been surprised to find out the requirements aren’t clear or the team has no idea […]
Notes from Agile2012
Last month I attended the Agile2012 Conference, where the core themes were Agile Organization Transformation and thoughts challenging the effectiveness of the currently defined Product Owner role. Agile Organization Transformation We are failing at agile adoption 3 out of 5 times – Sahota Do you have a deliberate plan on how you are going to […]
Recap of LSSC12 Conference
I just returned from the Lean Software and Systems conference in Boston. There was a definite common thread around learning cultures and a focus on treating our industry as a set of scientific experiments. The heavy influence from the Lean Startup movement was prevalent. Here are some of my takeaways for those that were […]
A Tried and True Method for Retrospectives
I feel the Retrospective is the most important ceremony, especially for new teams. I am concerned when ScrumMasters boast they can get their Retrospective done in 30 minutes or less. I must ask, “Did your team learn anything? Are they improving? Are they pushing themselves through the Tuckman Model and getting close to becoming a […]
Kanban vs. Scrum – How to Choose?
Kanban vs. Scrum – Which is Right for my Team? Clients frequently ask us when they should use Kanban and when they should use Scrum. To form a recommendation, these are some of the questions we ask: What best describes the nature of your team’s work? Is it complex, risky, and/or new feature-oriented or is […]
Purpose Of The Daily Scrum Meeting
The Daily Scrum Meeting is for the TEAM to self-organize towards achieving their Sprint commitment. Objectives Team Sync – The daily scrum is for the team to review progress toward their Sprint goal Assess Risks – The team assesses any risks to their Sprint commitment Adjust Plan – The team makes adjustments to their plan […]
Five Responsibilities of Team Members When Transitioning to Agile
Transitioning processes and cultures simultaneously is very difficult. A Successful Agile transition requires team ownership and engagement in developing the best process to fit your unique culture and environment. Five areas where team members are integral to push the process forward and become successful are outlined below. Seek Constant Improvement To achieve improvement, the team […]