A sprint review is an essential part of the agile process, where the team can demo new features and functionality. But the demo is only half the story. The sprint review is also an opportunity for productive conversation and feedback between the team and stakeholder, which will lead to a better product.
There is a welcome focus on wellbeing in the workplace these days, but we need to ensure that expectations are realistic for everyone. It doesn’t always happen on fast-paced agile projects, where the human toll on software development teams to deliver is often ignored.
A new report from Project Management Institute and the National Academy of Public Administration outlines nine tenets that federal agencies can implement to become more effective, efficient and equitable.
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Two key criteria for user stories to be effective are that they should be small and independent. Small user stories are easier to size and prioritize, and independent stories fit better in sprints due to fewer dependencies. To split user stories into smaller and more digestible pieces, teams have a variety of techniques and criteria available to them.
Over the past few years, many organizations that manufacture tangible products have attempted Agile approaches for new product development. Unfortunately, many of these processes fail to deliver the expected results in speed-to-market and flexibility. Yet, returning to a full waterfall process remains bureaucratic and intractable with remote and virtual teams. The solution is a hybrid agile-waterfall process. In this session, we will identify various processes and systems for new product development (NPD). You will learn about two approaches to hybrid product development that can enhance the culture of innovation in your organization. We will provide examples of companies that adopted different processes to add flexibility while minimizing risk. Comparing and contrasting a non-profit using WAGILE Product Development and a manufacturer using Lean NPD, you will understand how culture and risk tolerance impact the choice of an effective product development process.
In a bid to embrace agile trends, organizations are rushing to implement agile practices rather than adopting an agile mindset. In this interactive session, Dr. Helen Uzamere will elucidate the difference between "Being Agile" and implementing agile practices, such as Scrum, XP, Kanban and demonstrate why an agile mindset, not practices, drives successful projects.
Podcasts and blog posts to help you manage the challenge of transitioning from traditional project management to Agile. Dave Prior celebrates success, embraces the learning that comes from failure, and digs deep on topics you need to be up to speed on.
This blog explores pragmatic agile and lean strategies for enterprise-class contexts.
This blog concerns itself with organizations moving to business agility—the quick realization of value predictably and sustainably, and with high quality. It includes all aspects of this—from the business stakeholders through ops and support. Topics will be far-reaching but will mostly discuss FLEX, Flow, Lean-Thinking, Lean-Management, Theory of Constraints, Systems Thinking, Test-First and Agile.
Agile project leaders and teams can use this one-page worksheet to help plan and create sprint goals, including description, demonstration items, Definition of Done, and key metrics. Use in conjunction with the article Sprint Planning: Are You Doing It Backwards?
This spreadsheet is an example of how to determine WSJF prioritization, as described in the article Prioritize Weighted Shortest Job First.
When companies move to an agile Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC), they often remove the processes and analysis of their waterfall SDLC because, as the Agile Manifesto puts it, “They value individual and interactions over processes and tools.” Some of the rigor should be removed – waterfall processes can get bogged down with gates and sign-offs. However, caution must be exercised to not go too far against processes and analysis and rely just upon backlogs and user stories. Requirements and the analysis that leads to those requirements are just as essential in an agile project as they are in a waterfall project. The difference lies in how much requirements analysis is completed and the timing of it.
While teams might realize they’re slower than normal, they might not realize they can measure this slowness with Little’s Law. Once they measure, they can create several options to speed their work and reduce the pressure.
Most organizations “get” what it means to do agile projects, but far fewer embrace agile concepts and build agility. There needs to be more focus on the merits of an agile approach, regardless of its label.
Backlog refinement sessions offer many benefits, but there are also well-intentioned activities—or antipatterns— that can be detrimental to the team. Here are five backlog refinement antipatterns to avoid, from focusing on estimates to removing requirements too quickly.
Question: I thought that getting a promotion would be great! However, it’s a totally different part of the organization, and what worked for me in terms of evaluating my old team is creating some problems—both with the people and with the results I send to management. I thought project management was supposed to be a methodology that worked regardless of the industry or part of the company in which it was used. What’s going on?
Organizations are recognizing that they need to go beyond the traditional metrics of scope, schedule and budget to determine project success—but those metrics still matter as indicators of how effective and efficient a company’s planning approach is.
Are you measuring “personal” velocity? Stop! A team was having estimation problems on its project—and the PM discovered a problem with how story points were being used. Enter value stream maps to help expose delays so the team can decide what to do.
The global disruption inflicted by the pandemic has accelerated organizational transformation. While there is lot of buzz around digital transformation, we should not overlook the importance of service transitions—and how they have changed through our new ways of working.
Well-framed problem statements can greatly improve a team’s problem solving, but they also can help project leaders define goals and objectives, design metrics and develop strategies. Here’s practical guidance on creating more effective problem statements, from the author of People Solve Problems.
It is generally more accurate to use capacity rather than velocity to carry out sprint planning. Here’s why, along with five steps to make the most of this approach—including determining the team’s capacity, selecting and estimating, and adding work safely.
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I see where one young boy has just passed 500 hours sitting in a treetop. There is a good deal of discussion as to what to do with a civilization that produces prodigies like that. Wouldn't it be a good idea to take his ladder away from him and leave him up there? - Will Rogers |
