The IT group within Terminales Portuarios Peruanos, a leading port and storage operations facility, depends on and develops software for its internal operations processes. It was working to align business objectives to development and improve time to market for delivering software, which traditional...

"Gross ignorance is 144 times worse than ordinary ignorance" - Bennett Cerf Acceptance Criteria: The conditions under which a piece of work may be held to be complete and fit for potential release. Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD): A development approach in which acceptance crit...

In this article I'll describe two topics that I've used as a tailor made Product Owner self-assessment. One is about Roman Pichler's Product Management framework. The other concerns the acronym DRIVEN which is described in Geoff Watts new book "Product Mastery - From Good to Great Product Ownership"...

In this blog post I've shared my experiences using the Team Radar as a Retrospective format.

As an agile coach, I find that organizations often have a narrow and constrained view of where agility ought to be practiced.

As part of the Scrum Tapas video series, Professional Scrum Trainer, Pradeepa Narayanaswamy discusses her view on the Scrum Value of Courage and how she has seen those practicing Scrum use Courage for success.  

Do you want to work in an ecstatic state, losing track of time, doing meaningful work? Here’s how using Scrum helps!

If someone asked you “what is the role of the Project Management Office in an agile organization”, what would you say to them?

A review of the Scrum Guide section in the Sprint Backlog to consider and debunk the myth that the Sprint Backlog is a fixed Commitment by the Development Team.

In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org discusses some experiences in the early days of Scrum as he was introducing it to Motorola. He looks at how they adapted and some struggles.

In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org discusses some experiences in the early days of Scrum as he worked with Fidelity and General Electric on their Agile journeys.

In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org talks about why he and Jeff Sutherland along with a few others started to use the techniques that are known as Scrum today. He looks at some of those early years of trial and error and learn...

In this video, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum and original member of the group signing the Agile Manifesto discusses how it came about.

Ken Schwaber, the co-creator of Scrum, original member of the group who signed the Agile Manifesto in an interview with the Boston Business Journal talks about why they created the Agile Alliance.

In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum discusses the popularity of Scrum and why he doesn't deserve the credit for making it popular. He believes that it is all of those who use it successfully who deserve that credit.

In an interview with the Boston Business Journal, Ken Schwaber, co-creator of Scrum discusses how he hit the road, traveling around the world in the early days of Agile to educate and enable those wanting to adopt it.

I was talking to a company that is implementing the Spotify model and needed some help. They wanted to know the difference between LeSS and their Spotify model. We first discussed what LeSS is. I told them that LeSS is an organisational design that optimises for shortest lead time, flexibility and l...

As part of the on-going Scrum Myths series at Scrum.org, here are three myths related to people skills. When I say people skills, I mean topics like emotional intelligence, emotional IQ, and person-to-person interactions. Myth #1: Scrum must be "huggy / feely" Word on the street is that Scrum...

In this introductory-level article we look at the mechanics of a Sprint, and at how team members are expected to collaborate in order to produce a release-quality increment. The first day: Sprint Planning The whole team, including the Product Owner, meet on the first day of the Sprint and cond...

Download the slides from the ScrumPulse #22 Webcast, Management 3.0 & Scrum

Have you ever wondered what managers do in Scrum? Or maybe you have heard about Management 3.0 and wondered how it can help Agile Leaders. Interested in becoming a next generation Agile Leader who inspires Agile Teams to master the complexity of Software Delivery? If you answered yes to any of these...

A Scrum myth that I have encountered: Not finishing all Sprint Backlog Items in a Sprint is perceived as a failure. I have seen organizations go as far as implementing performance indicators around Sprint Backlog completion percentage (yikes!).

The Scrum roles connect with the three drivers of motivation: Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose. Discover how.

This myth is my favorite. There are three challenges with this myth. First, it misses the point of Scrum. Second, it sets teams up for failure. Third, it's impossible to prove.

Per a January 20th, 2017 article by Daniel Shapero, VP of Talent Solutions and Careers at LinkedIn, the role of Scrum Master is in high demand. It’s ranked number 10 on his list of most promising jobs of 2017. #10. Scrum Master Median Base Salary: $100,000 Job Openings (YoY Growth): 400+ (...

Let’s start with a question. When is the Sprint Planning over? Usually, the first answer that comes to mind is “when the time-box expires”. It is a good answer. However, Sprint Planning is a maximal time-box. We can end the Sprint Planning earlier, can’t we? Yes, when we are done with planning, we c...

Ken Schwaber the co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org in an interview with the Boston Business Journal talks about when he realized that Scrum was really growing with a tale from a run in on a bike path.

Ken Schwaber the co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org in an interview with the Boston Business Journal talks about Scrum.org.

Ken Schwaber the co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org in an interview with the Boston Business Journal talks about how Scrum is used to control risk.

Ken Schwaber the co-creator of Scrum and founder of Scrum.org in an interview with the Boston Business Journal talks about the start of Scrum and Agile, why they were needed and why they are still relevant today.

“What is a good speed to drive?”. The answer depends on a lot of things like: where do you drive (in a residential area, on a highway), are there speed limits, what are the weather conditions, etc. But more importantly, since when is driving at a particular speed a goal? Getting to a certain locatio...

Your team has been trained and coached to deliver new chunks of software in a short time frame. Those using Scrum will be able to deliver in a Sprint. Those using Kanban will deliver as soon as their small feature is done. You’ve learned alternative ways of estimating which don’t include time as a m...

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question:  Have you ever been screwed by an unethical, unprofessional service provider? Watch this episode to learn how I was treated by one of my service providers and if you are brave enough to take on my Agilato Challenge!

“I added a Refactoring Story for the next Cleanup Sprint” This is an interesting statement. Let's see how often the alarm bell rang in your head. I mean how many smells you can find in that statement... Before you scroll down to read my answers, please count to 10 and try to find 3 issues. ...

Ok... Let's make this a short one. I talked to lots of people about this statement and after lots of strange looks I got lots of comments about the behaviour. Especially about the "since it's crap". This is pretty obvious a very strong opinion about something. But hey! Maybe the code works, p...

I talk to a lot of people (if the day is long enough) and so I get them to ask interesting questions like: "What have you learned recently?" or "What is your top 1 goal for 2020?" These questions and more leads us to interesting conversations about personal development and personal goals t...

Let me quickly describe a potential situation how this came about. During the Sprint Planning, the team had agreed to deliver the top 5 Backlog items. They had some conversations about what the items are and where the problems could lie within those. The Product Owner had the feeling that just th...

"Not a tester, so what are you then?" you might ask. Being that offending is generally not helpful. Unless you try to catch the attention as I do in this blog post ;-) Let's digest the situation in detail. A friend of mine attended my Scrum Developer class and caught fire during the...

“Shirley, anything worth having is worth working hard for.”, that was how my friend Steve Porter from Scrum.org put it as I pursued my journey with Scrum. MY JOURNEY WITH SCRUM My journey started a few years ago when a friend asked me to provide Scrum training to their organization. I h...

This is a very common myth, frequent on people used to develop software only within the context of a closed scope (traditional project). The Scrum framework is agnostic when it comes to set the context of software development; it just talks about “complex product development”. In general, agile soft...

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma ask us:  What can agile teams learn from basketball teams? Which of the 7 levels of winning in basketball apply to your software delivery teams and which level are you winning at? Watch this episode to find out…

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks us to watch this episode to learn how the 2001 Philadelphia 76’er’s introduced us to the magic of basketball and how the 2015 Golden State Warriors taught us the 7 levels of winning. How many levels can you name…?

From serving in the Merchant Marines delivering war supplies to U.S. troops in Vietnam to being the co-developer of one of the most important product development guides ever written, you might say Ken Schwaber has had an interesting career. Read on to learn more about Ken, his past, his future plan...

I was honored to participate in the Women in Agile panel discussion last week. If you missed it, you can watch the recording. I learned three things from this experience: 1) an hour goes by very fast, 2) I have a lot more to say on the topic, and 3) I want more opportunities to help women. We r...

A recurring Scrum myth I see in my training and coaching is that there is no planning in Scrum. Unfortunately, this myth can lead to two negative consequences. The people in organizations responsible for budgets, product management, sales, and marketing may be unwilling to try Scrum. ...

Professional Scrum Trainer Ravi Verma asks the question: How can you go deep in some areas and broad in others? What is the important and value?

At first sight, Zombie Scrum seems to be normal Scrum. But it lacks a beating heart. The Scrum teams do all the Scrum events but a potential releasable increment is rarely the result of a Sprint. The team also don't have any intention to improve their situation. Actually nobody cares about this team...

This post is part of a series on debunking Scrum Myths. While my business cards say Professional Scrum Trainer, I may change that to Scrum Myth Buster. This post debunks the myth that the Daily Scrum is a status meeting. This myth undermines the effectiveness of Scrum in major ways. I will share...

Join our qualified, pioneering, international panel of Women Agile Influencers as they explore these questions, share their inspiring journeys and provide actionable tips to enable more Women Agile Influencers.

People always as ask me if agile is just for software. Saying agile is just about software is like saying software is just about science. Initially, computer science was about replacing manual processes. Now, it’s about creating human experiences. Building human experiences needs to extend beyond sc...