One question that I often get asked is what comes after Agile? Many feel like the ride is nearing its end while others are actually just getting started on their Agile journey. I think this question has a more natural version for what we are trying to figure out... As an organization, are we trying to do agile, or are we trying to be Agile and achieve agility? The feeling of uncertainty that revolves around what do I do next? What things should we be benchmarking and keeping

In many organizations, Agile is alive and well within many layers of the company. Change has become something to be expected and even embraced knowing that the way things are working right now might work for now but could change if teams and the organization find a more effective way to operate. With this becoming a state of flux and adaptation that occurs, what happens when this attitude of continuous improvement does not exist within an organization? There are many differen

What happens when the ScrumMaster becomes so overzealous that their message is rejected? Over the past couple years, I have seen this situation play out in several companies that I have worked with in depth. The situation is such that a person who has the role of ScrumMaster gives the “woe is me” response to how well things are going with the team or teams they are working with. Nothing seems to be going right when you talk to them. However, when looking at the team, they con

With companies that have either tried, currently using or are dabbling with Agile, the craze of the early 2000’s has easily become more main

There are many trains of thought about being precise with the roles used within your Agile teams. The underlying principles are about making sure that certain responsibilities are taken care of and those are typically embodied in different people. Here they are: Product Owner / Cutomer ScrumMaster / Facilitator Team Member / Implementor While Scrum is very specific in what the roles are called, not all organizations employ the specific names being utilized by Scrum. Perhaps t

To have a release you must have a start and end date, a set of work to be accomplished and a customer sign off. Why plan for this - reduce the time of meetings by producing rapid estimates of the work to be done. TRUST YOUR GUT!! This is not about being precise, but accurate. It’s about close enough to best estimate your release. In many ways this secures funding to move forward with ideas and solutions to determine whether we are going to get the right level of return or not

Why would a company want to invest in the Agile process? It has gone beyond the fad of the month and is becoming more mainstream in what is being done and how. There are lots of reasons that exist to be all about that Agile, but getting a company over the hump to commit to truly being Agile is nothing short of transformative. The goal is to help your teams be more communicative, efficient, effective, nimble and be able to bring products to market sooner. So, why not? Communic

The Scrum Master, the servant leader. The one who shepherds teams to become self organizing, efficient and effective. The core and soul to a great team. Strong, understanding, firm and flexible. This individual is the key to success. As a Certified Scrum Master and Agile coach, I have a few observations and tips to share as to how to be effective in this critical role in the scrum process. I have worked with experienced Scrum Masters, Scrum Masters new to the job and Scrum Ma

The retrospective is one of the single most important ceremonies to help agile teams improve. Facilitation methods vary but can help teams d

Writing an effective user story can be a lot of work. Is it really worth the extra effort? Isn’t it faster to just have the product owner tell the development team what to do and how to do it? They should trust the product owner’s expertise and do exactly what he says, right? This command and control management style is not Agile, and you lose a lot of the benefits that come from collaboration between the 3 Agile roles. A user story is how the product owner clearly communic

AgileDad University takes a detailed look at scrum team roles. What are the three roles of Scrum? What are the distinct differences? What ar

One by one companies utilize efforts to become more Agile in their approach. In so doing, I am met time and time again with companies across various industries where people tell me that I just don't understand what is going on in their company. They are different. They are unique. There's no way that this whole "Agile thing" can even work for them. Now early on in my career I may have been inclined to listen to these naysayers and think how do I adapt to what they know and wh

We oftentimes have requests that are submitted through well-meaning stakeholders that fill up our backlog. When those requests come in, we try our best to honor the mantra of anyone can add items to the Product Backlog. However, what do we do to ensure that the Product Backlog doesn't become unmanageable. There are 3 keys things to remember... First, The Product Owner is the person to prioritize the requests. Second, No should be a readily available and used word. And Third,

When implementing Scrum into our workflow we don’t often think about the meaning of the word Scrum. Where did it come from? What does it stand for? Most people seem to think it’s an acronym for something. Jeff Sutherland created the framework in 1993 and he borrowed the term “Scrum” from professors Takeuchi and Nonaka’s publication in the Harvard Business Review “The New New Product Development Game” wherein they compared high performing teams to a rugby team. “In today’s

Agile has not only changed the way that the world approaches work, but it has changed me personally. On this US Thanksgiving holiday, I would be remiss if I did not take a moment to express the top three things that I am grateful for this holiday season: 3) My Team: At AgileDad we really do take precious care to hire only the very best Agilists to coach, train, and mentor your organization. Often times I forget to publicly acknowledge that they are all also AMAZING people to