Shadow Backlog

The team was under pressure to deliver a rewrite of the flagship product after having been handed an agressive delivery date. In spite of the Scrum board and other information radiators in their area, the Scrum Master had to deliver progress reports to the CEO every day. The company president and vice presidents attended sprint … Continue reading Shadow Backlog

The Heartbeat of an Agile Team

What is the one focal point that catches every team member’s attention at the same time every day?  Of course it is their Scrum board. Some teams go through the motions and use their Scrum board because they are told to; for effective teams the board is a way to collaborate, manage work in process, … Continue reading The Heartbeat of an Agile Team

Essential Agile Skills

As organizations adopt agile practices, there are several key skills that differentiate high-performing teams from mediocre teams: 1) Working in short timeboxes For a team that is accustomed to delivering working code every six or eight months, two or four week long iterations can be unfathomable. But doing this is essential to the success of … Continue reading Essential Agile Skills