agility Blog Articles

Sep 24

Best Friends Forever

Agile teams are at their best when the team has a culture of collaboration. One of the most important relationships is between Product Owners and Software Developers.

Nov 14

Are You Getting the Most Value from Your Development Team?

Having clear goals is critical for maximizing value

Jul 22

if(this.humbleDeveloper === Agile)

How agility is reflected in your code and humility

Apr 11

Continuous Improvement

Learn how to make team improvements last forever

Mar 20

Retro Actions

Improve your outcomes with this simple way to organize retrospective action items.

Aug 23

How Much UI/UX is 'Enough'?

Spend too little time on beautification, and the stakeholders might not like it. Spend too much time, and the stakeholders might be disappointed by how little got done.

Jul 17

Reporting Bugs on Agile Projects

There are many strategies and approaches to bug reporting and tracking, but how do they hold up within an agile process? Agile facilitates close-knit teams and constant communication, but does that change the way that bugs should be handled?

Jul 10

Sprint Retrospective Fuels Velocity

The final event in the Sprint cycle is the Sprint Retrospective meeting. The purpose of this meeting is for the team to reflect on and inspect all aspects of the last sprint and create a plan for improving during the next sprint. From communication and relationships, to processes and tools, any topic that impacted the team is up for inspection and consideration. Effective retrospectives can have a massive influence on the velocity of a team over the course of a project - but how do you make sure your retrospective meetings are effective?

Jul 5

The Specter of Technical Debt Looms

Too much technical debt will kill your momentum, but most technical debt is invisible to users. This presents a conundrum. How do you pay off technical debt, which is usually invisible, while also delivering useful features to users?

Jun 26

Sprint Review Tips

The fourth Scrum Event is the Sprint Review meeting. Review meetings are time-boxed and are meant to be a platform for the team to demonstrate working software to the stakeholders and receive feedback. I reached out to our team to get their guidance on how to have a successful and valuable sprint review.

Jun 22

Backlog Refinement, The Details

During the course of a sprint there is a Product Backlog Refinement meeting. The scrum team and Product Owner should discuss how much refinement is needed to ensure the backlog is about 1-2 sprints refined out and the team has enough work to pull into sprint if they needed to.

Jun 19

Backlog Refinement Prepares the Team

Backlog Refinement meetings are meant to further prepare and curate upcoming backlog items for the next sprint. This high-level description of “Refinement” can mean a lot of different things. I reached out to our team to get their perspectives on what value backlog refinement provides to the team.

Jun 14

Daily Scrum, The Details

During the course of a sprint there is a daily meeting called the Daily Scrum. This meeting is normally held in the same location and at the same time each day, morning being the most preferred. This allows the team to know what all of the team is working on for the day and if they are running into any issues.

Jun 12

The Daily Scrum - By The Team, For The Team

The second event during an Agile Sprint is the Daily Scrum. The daily scrum (sometimes colloquially called the 'standup' meeting) is a recurring, 15-minute meeting that is held by the team and is for the team. The sole reason for having this meeting every day is to empower the team to be successful.

Jun 7

Sprint Planning

Sprint Planning is the first event of the sprint, where the development team prepares for the couple of weeks ahead. Here we explain the sprint review in terms of the 5 key questions - who, what, where, when, and why. Then we’ll dive into some common issues and anti-patterns we’ve seen in the industry.

Jun 5

Sprint Planning, What is it Good For?

The by-the-book purpose of Sprint Planning is for the Product Owner to describe the highest priority features to the team and give the rest of the Development Team a forum to ask questions. The team should come out of the planning meeting with a sprint goal and a sprint backlog. While these two items are very tangible, I have found many other valuable takeaways from sprint planning meetings.

May 24

Why Exactly Do We Want Self-organizing Teams?

What does self-organization mean, what are the fears an organization has regarding self-organizing teams and why are self-organizing teams so important? Erin shares some thoughts these and other questions.

May 1

What Does An Agile Coach Do Anyway?

There is a lot of confusion in our industry about what an Agile Coach does and how they add value to on organization. It takes a lot to be an Agile Coach and a lot of their work can sometimes be subtle and far reaching.

Apr 12

Stakeholder Engagement Is Critical In Agile Software Development

Optimal satisfaction can only be achieved in agile if stakeholders get and remain fully engaged. They need to—and have to want to—roll up their sleeves alongside the agile team and commit to the transparency, accountability, and true partnership it takes for product success.

Mar 29

Daily Standup Communication

Thinking at the next higher level can extend to thinking at any other role.

Mar 6

A Few Words On Refinement

Product Backlog refinement is an ongoing process in which the Product Owner and the Development Team collaborate on the details of Product Backlog items.

Jan 29

Cookie-Driven Development

Proving the ideas of pair programming, producing software in increments, reviewing shippable software and adapting quickly to customer feedback came from making cookies.

Jan 15

The Importance of Self-Awareness

One of the most critical aspects of any agile process is the inspection/adaptation cycle.

Relevant Webinars

Mar 18, 2021

The Art of Requirements in an Agile World

Join us as we cover backlog best practices, tools and tips to support agility and product focus within your teams.

Feb 23, 2021

Team Working Agreements

How to fast-track your team through storming to performing

Jan 21, 2021

How to Succeed by Failing Faster

Every major project experiences some level of failure. Eventually yours will too, and that’s ok! Failure is direct and actionable feedback that creates the opportunity to adjust.

Jun 24, 2020

Sprint Reviews Suck (But They Don't Have To)

The Sprint Review is a critical part of the Scrum framework. It's a time to stop and inspect the product, gather feedback, and engage in discussion.

May 21, 2020

Agile Casting Call: Role Clarity

Growing your organization’s agility can seem like casting a movie or building a sports team with the various roles/positions to fill -- Product Owners...