Accelerated Learning (AL) is a training approach that focuses on whole learner experience to maximize the learner's retention and application of what they have gathered during a training event. For people who are familiar with Training From the Back of the Room (TFBR), AL forms the foundation of TFBR since it creates the community space where the ...
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In Scrum, the owner of the estimates is very clear. Only the people who do the work, i.e., the Team, have the right to offer estimates for the Product Backlog and Sprint Backlog items. However, like many things in Scrum, the framework leaves it up to each Team to decide ...
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One of the many important skills for any Agile leader to master is the ability to facilitate a group's discussion. When the issue before the group is familiar, an Agile leader does not need to take an overly active part facilitating the group. However, when the issue is unfamiliar, or requires participants ...
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Alistair Cockburn has been sharing this distillation of Scrum in a recent talk called "Returning to the Heart of Agile". I really like the simplicity of this description since it recalls that Scrum is a simple framework. Deliver (or demo) each Sprint, with a preference for delivery. Management creates the ...
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Pivot is one of those words that some Agile people like to throw around to sound hip and cool, but often use incorrectly. I have observed in many conversations where people use the word "pivot", they tend to mean any type of course correction in product strategy (hey...I've been guilty of ...
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At Agile Portugal, I heard Emily Bache (@emilybache) give an inspiring keynote address on the importance of coding dojos to advance the art of programmers and testers. Emily, much like myself, is a strong proponent of test-driven development (TDD), but recognizes that while TDD is easy to explain, it is very hard ...
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I live in the City of San Diego and we have an estimated 1.4 million people living within the city limits. Could you ever imagine someone asking the Mayor, or the City Council, "Do we really need so many fulltime fire fighters?" Yet, a variation of this topic comes up over-and-over again ...
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A vision is much more than a feel-good, milquetoast collection of words plastered on the wall that no one reads, i.e. “Safety is our first priority”. It is a compelling bit of short text that points to the your future destination, explains why you on this journey and what values ...
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"Scrum has been a big disappointment; a failed experiment that hasn't delivered anywhere near the positive impact that management was hoping for." Not the most uplifting quote, but Geoff Watts (@geoffcwatts) starts his book, Scrum Mastery: From Good to Great Servant Leadership, by telling you exactly how he sees it. Geoff also ...
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Quick quiz for all you Scrum experts out there. Which of these common scenarios for Scrum Team are blockers and which would be classified as impediments? The build is broken. The process to interview and onboard a new Team member takes at least six weeks. Team members do not have ...
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