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Blog Post

Agile Leadership: Influencing Executives Toward Agility

October 28, 2025
Many teams adopt Scrum successfully but struggle to gain the support of their executives. In this blog, PST Robert Pieper shares how leaders can shift their perspective to see agility as a company-wide advantage that drives better decisions, stronger collaboration, and measurable business results.
Blog Post

The Benefits of Agile Product Development

October 8, 2025
Agile is often reduced to buzzwords about mindsets or methodologies, but its real value runs deeper. In this post, PST Robert Pieper explains how Agile as a strategy helps teams adapt, learn, and deliver meaningful results in a constantly changing world.
Blog Post

Use Scrum to Manage These 5 Risks

April 21, 2025
Scrum is a powerful framework for reducing risk, but only when its key mechanisms are fully understood and implemented. In this video, PST Robert Pieper outlines how Scrum helps teams manage uncertainty, reduce waste, and deliver value predictably through its built-in feedback loops and structure.
Blog Post

Managing Distributed Scrum Teams: Long-Term Strategies

November 22, 2024
In the final part of this series, PSTs Robert Pieper and Greg Crown share strategies for working with Scrum teams across time zones. covering co-located team benefits, reducing communication barriers, and practical solutions like rotating off-hours, fostering cultural understanding, and arranging meetups.
Blog Post

How to Handle Multiple Products as a Product Owner

October 23, 2024
Managing multiple products as a Product Owner presents both challenges and opportunities. In this video PSTs Greg Crown, Jason Malmstadt, and Robert Pieper share strategies for defining products more clearly, discuss the pros and cons of managing multiple products, and explain how diverse perspectives can enhance product management.
Blog Post

Can A Waterfall And Scrum Hybrid Be Effective?

September 4, 2024
Can a Hybrid of Waterfall and Scrum Work? In this Responsive Advisors video, discover how to effectively blend Scrum with Waterfall while avoiding common pitfalls. Gain insights on managing phased Sprints, parallel workstreams, and ensuring robust feedback and integration.
Blog Post

Top 10 Best Practices for Scrum Teams

August 30, 2024
In complex product development, consistency is crucial to achieving great results with Scrum. In this Responsive Advisors Lightning Round, PST's Robb Pieper, Greg Crown, Jason Malmstadt cover their top 10 best practices every Scrum team should follow to maximize value and ensure successful outcomes.
Blog Post

Product Backlog is a Mess? Several Tips for Effective Backlog Refinement

July 29, 2024
Backlog refinement is essential for Scrum teams to work effectively, yet many teams struggle to allocate enough time for this critical activity. In this video, PSTs Jason Malmstadt, Gregory Crown, and Robert Pieper discuss strategies to optimize backlog refinement sessions and share practical tips for engaging the right participants, setting clear agendas, and preparing items effectively.
Blog Post

Velocity in Scrum: How is it Measured and Does it Equal Value?

May 16, 2024
Explore the complex relationship between velocity, estimates, and true value in Scrum in this video with Professional Scrum Trainers Gregory Crown and Robert Pieper. This discussion challenges the conventional use of velocity as a measure of team productivity and touches on alternative methods that emphasize value over speed.
Blog Post

How to Measure Success in a Scrum Project?

April 23, 2024
The question of measuring success in Scrum is commonly asked. How do we measure it without focusing on conventional task completion metrics? In this Scrum Lighting Round, PST's Robb Pieper, Greg Crown, and Jason Malmstadt provide their insights and answer this commonly asked question.
Blog Post

3 ways to Get More Bang for your Buck from Sprint Retrospectives

April 11, 2024
This video offers practical strategies for improving Sprint Retrospective effectiveness by taking a closer look at the format, improving transparency and ensuring the right people are in the room. PST's Robb Pieper, Greg Crown, and Jason Malmstadt share their real-life stories on enhancing Sprint Retrospectives within Scrum events.
Blog Post

What should a Product Owner not ever be involved in?

January 26, 2024
We’ve already discussed what Product Owners should be involved in, but what should they not be involved in? If Product Owners do get involved in areas they shouldn’t, what may happen?  In this video Professional Scrum Trainers Jason Malmstadt, Robb Pieper, and Greg Crown talk about what Product Owners shouldn’t be involved in and why.
Blog Post

How many Product Owners is too many?

January 24, 2024
How many Product Owners make sense? Is it one per Scrum Team? Is it one per organization? Is it one per product? In this video Professional Scrum Trainers Jason Malmstadt, Robb Pieper, and Greg Crown go over some examples of getting this wrong and what might happen.
Blog Post

How to Manage Large Requirements Documents in Scrum

January 15, 2024
A common question from new Scrum teams is how to handle the large requirements documents they already have from their waterfall projects after they switch to using Scrum? Can you be agile with such a prescriptive end state described by the specification? In this video, Professional Scrum Trainers Robert Pieper, Greg Crown, and Jason Malmstadt share ideas on how you can work with large requirements documents and still be agile.
Blog Post

How to Sell the Value of Product Owners to Organizations New at Scrum

January 5, 2024
Product Owners have a unique place on a Scrum Team but if their value is misunderstood you may not see the benefits. How do you advocate the value of a Product Owner to an organization that’s really new at using Scrum to increase business agility? In this video PST's, Robert Pieper, Greg Crown, and Jason Malmstadt address this question and a few others.
Blog Post

How do you articulate the value of a Scrum Master?

December 20, 2023
The Scrum Master might just be the most misunderstood accountability in Scrum. Organizations often need help understanding the value a Scrum Master brings, especially when the leaders are new to agile development. The question is how can we articulate the Scrum Master’s value? PST's Greg Crown, Jason Malmstadt, and Robert Pieper have some thoughts and analogies that might help you advocate for this crucial accountability.
Blog Post

Can Scrum Work for you in Non-Technical Products and Projects?

November 21, 2023
Scrum has become quite popular in software development. Over the years, Scrum has become popular in many environments. But can you really use Scrum in non-technical work? In this Lightning Round, Professional Scrum Trainers Jason Malmstadt, Robb Pieper, and Greg Crown have some ideas to share about using Scrum in non-technical work.
Blog Post

What to do if your Scrum Team Struggles with self-management

November 16, 2023
Self-management is crucial to the success of any Scrum Team. However, many Scrum Teams struggle with this concept and many organizations struggle with allowing self-management to flourish. So what can you do about it? In this video, PST's Jason Malmstadt, Greg Crown, and Robb Pieper share some ideas on how you can enable and support self-management.
Blog Post

How to fix Common Issues with Scrum Events

November 14, 2023
Many common problems exist with Scrum Events. They last too long, the right people don’t attend, or they just feel like a waste of time. What can we do about it? PST's Jason Malmstadt, Robb Pieper, and Greg Crown have some ideas to share on how to keep your Scrum Events valuable in today’s Scrum Lightning Round.
Blog Post

What’s the Right Length for Tasks on a Scrum Team?

November 1, 2023
Scrum Teams often take the items of their Product Backlog and divide them into smaller tasks to help them better understand and keep track of their work. But how long should those tasks be? A few hours? A day? A few days? Are week-long tasks ok? What’s the rule of thumb when it comes to tasks for the Scrum Team?
Blog Post

How can I Keep my Scrum Team Engaged?

October 27, 2023
How can you help increase engagement in your team — or can you? Is engagement something you can support, influence, or force? PST's Gregory Crown, Jason Malmstadt, and Robert Pieper tackle this frequently-asked question in today’s Scrum Lightning Round.
Blog Post

Can Scrum Work Without Fully-Dedicated Team Members?

October 24, 2023
Scrum Teams work best when all the team members can devote 100% of their time to the work of the team. But what about when organizational constraints prevent us from having fully-dedicated team members? Can Scrum still work? What are the challenges of this less-than-ideal scenario? PST's Jason, Greg, and Robb provide some thoughts to this very real-world situation in this video.
Blog Post

How do you Handle a Lone Wolf that’s on the Scrum Team?

October 20, 2023
How do experts and specialists who are used to working alone fit on a Scrum Team? What should be considered with getting started with a new Scrum Team? In this video, Professional Scrum Trainers Greg Crown and Robb Pieper address these questions about the “lone wolf” developer that may just not want to be on a team.
Blog Post

How Big should a User Story be?

October 13, 2023
When is a User Story too big? Does this make it an Epic? What should be considered when looking at the size of User Stories? How do Product Goals fit in? In this video Professional Scrum Trainers Greg Crown and Robb Pieper address these questions through the lens of Scrum.
Blog Post

Should a Product Owner control the Budget?

October 9, 2023
What does Scrum say about a Product Owner’s relationship to the product budget? Do they have a part to play? Can they control the budget? If so… should they? In this video, Professional Scrum Trainers Greg Crown and Robb Pieper have a quick discussion that will enhance your understanding of what it means to be a Product “Owner”.
Blog Post

What's the Best Way to Document Requirements on a Scrum Team?

October 6, 2023
How you manage requirements and ‘desirements’ can depend greatly on your team, company, needs, compliance, legal, etc… but what is the best way to write them? In this video Professional Scrum Trainers Greg Crown and Robb Pieper give some recommendations on how you can capture requirements, document them and share them with your team.