When user stories are used well, they are a fantastic tool. When they are used poorly, they are a horribly burdensome micromanagement tool. Here are 5 things I commonly see people get wrong with user stories. 1. Prescribing solutions in user stories Have you ever seen a user story like this? As a user I […]
Real-world experience, advice, and stories about Scrum - how to put Scrum into practice and problems you might run into along the way.
Entry-level Agile certifications don’t mean as much as you think
Many job openings for Agile coach and Scrum Master positions require entry-level certifications, but what do those certifications mean anyways? In this post, I explain why I believe entry-level certifications are a poor tool to use when evaluating someone for a position or when assessing someone’s knowledge about Agile values, principles, and practices. I explain […]
The Difference Between Velocity and Performance
“What’s the difference between velocity and performance with Scrum teams?” is one of the most frequently asked questions in my Professional Scrum Master classes. Velocity is just an indication of a development team’s ability to turn product backlog items into potentially-releasable increments each sprint. Velocity is not an indicator of performance because performance implies that […]
Increase Your Agility with One Product Owner
This post is part of the Scrum Whys blog series. “A product owner can be a member of only one Scrum team”“A product owner must compose every user story”“A product owner creates all of the requirements for a development team”“A product owner is the only person that should talk to our customers”“There are no business […]
Why Scrum Doesn’t Give You the Kitchen Sink
‘Scrum Doesn’t Give You the Kitchen Sink’ is part of the Scrum Whys blog series. Pop quiz. Which of the following is the most accurate description of Scrum? Scrum is a comprehensive approach for product development, and it has the best patterns for success. Scrum is a set of recommendations that should be used as […]