#MyCoreOfAgile: Global retrospective, what’s the one thing Agile is about for you?

I had an amazing conversation about the Core of Agile with some members of Torino’s local Agile community. We met at Trattoria Valenza. Which was an excellent location to enjoy tradition and look at what we can learn for the future.The conversation touched many points, but the one that I want to talk about is …

Two simple heuristics that will solve (most of) the problems you face as a Scrum Master

I regularly hear about the problems Scrum Masters face. After more than 200 interviews with Scrum Masters in the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, here are the 3 most common problems that we face in our work, in order of frequenc): As a Scrum Master, I lack support from management, and when they don’t actively fight …

Estimates anchor (limit!) benefits while not limiting costs! – a #NoEstimates blog post about value delivery

Estimation and estimates are a dreadful way to run a business. The basic idea is this: Estimates anchor benefits while not limiting your costs at all. Let’s look at this statement in parts. The second part (“estimates don’t limit costs”), is self-evident. Anyone looking at the track record of software projects will see the evidence. …

Don’t plan to fail! Or how to never be late, never ever! #NoEstimates

Project management methodologies involve some kind of estimates on the content of the project (i.e. scope) and effort/duration (i.e. schedule). Simple techniques like WBS (work breakdown structure) with Gantt Charts or more complex techniques like PERT (Program Evaluation and Review Technique) involve estimating the content and ultimately the duration or effort of each of the …

A #NoEstimates tool: The slicing meeting, replacing estimation meetings while creating shared understanding

Before we start, I’d like to thank to Neil Killick and Woody  Zuill for inspiring this technique with their work. Sit down. Let’s estimate This is not a good start of a meeting for many of us. Asking for estimates may be an easy thing to do, but going through the process of estimating Stories …

How to manage risk in Agile?

Unvalidated opinions are “bets”, with the caveat that they beget even more “bets” (decisions based on that opinion). So we can say that unvalidated opinions generate other unvalidated opinions based on the original one, therefore creating exponential growth in risk. The process of validating an opinion (like Popcorn Flow by Claudio Perrone) helps us jump …

How to define purpose for an Agile team? A practical guide to defining purpose and aligning with your organization’s goals

As a Scrum Master, we are often worried about what goes on with the teams we work with. We care about the people. We help the team communicate, collaborate so that they can achieve the team’s goals. However, we often don’t work on a larger goal: the goal of the organization that needs that team. …

Scan Agile 2016 call for sessions – announcement

It’s that time of the year. The Scan-Agile 2016 organizing team got together and put together the Call for Sessions for the 2016 edition of the conference. You can find the Call for Sessions at this link Help us out spread the word and tweet about it 🙂 See you all in Helsinki in March! …