Agile Pain Relief Consulting

Scrum and Agile Training and Resources

Agile Glossary and Reference Library

World’s Largest Opinionated Agile Reference Library. The content is created and the links are curated through the lens of Agile Pain Relief Consulting’s view of what is effective in the practice of Scrum and Agile. We don’t accept submissions, and emails to that effect are marked as spam. Book listings may use affiliate links that could result in a small commission received by us if you purchase, but they do not affect the price at all. From experience, this won’t amount to anything more than a cup of coffee in a year.

We’re always looking for all things Agile. As a result, we’ve amassed a large collection of information covering lots of practical topics, techniques, tips, and case studies which we believe may help you toward your Scrum/Agile goals. They have been curated and organized into one spot, to share with you to help you on your Agile journey. We routinely scan for broken links, but if you spot one before we do, please let us know.

  • 10 Minute Build10 Minute Build is the idea that we should be able to build a system and run its test suites in 10 minutes or less. Fast build-and-test provides quicker(...)
  • Acceptance CriteriaAcceptance Criteria are used to ensure that a feature (or User Story) the team is building meets the needs of the End User. The common practice is for(...)
  • AgileAgile is a mindset for doing work in a team environment that improves teamwork, professional performance, and adaptability. The Agile mindset is focused(...)
  • Agile Anti-PatternsIn software development work, a design pattern is a description of a solution to a recurring problem. It outlines the elements that are necessary to solve(...)
  • Agile ArchitectsAgile Architect – An Oxymoron Agile Architects Reimagined? Not at the top of the pyramid, but perhaps aside Resource Links: Coaching the Agile(...)
  • Agile Architectural PatternsResource Links: Catalog of Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture Event Sourcing Mistakes we made adopting event sourcing (and how we(...)
  • Agile ArchitectureAgile Architecture emphasizes the minimum amount of design upfront, and focusing on building something and evolving the architecture as our understanding(...)
  • Agile Branching StrategiesGit, Mercurial and other source control tools provide robust and easy to use branching capabilities. For work with OpenSource software —where anyone could(...)
  • Agile Business IntelligenceBusiness Intelligence (aka BI) is the dark art of extracting knowledge from a database in a way that humans can understand it. Agile Business Intelligence(...)
  • Agile ContractsTraditional fixed price, fixed outcome contracts don't fare well in an Agile world. The traditional approach puts the emphasis on getting the details(...)
  • Agile DocumentationAgile Documentation. Is it an oxymoron? The Agile Manifesto says "Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation". It doesn't say no documentation, and(...)
  • Agile Engineering PracticesIn my workshops, I often have people who are focused on the question: “How can I help my team go faster?”, or “How can we deliver this Product sooner?”(...)
  • Agile for Embedded SoftwareEmbedded Software Development is about building software that is installed inside a device example: thermostat, car engine controller, planes, WiFi(...)
  • Agile Game DevelopmentAgile Game Development is different from classical software development. Building a game from scratch will require a broader group of people than we're(...)
  • Agile GovernmentAgile is about adapting to changing requirements and needs. Governments, just like anyone else, have to deal with dynamic issues as they arise and evolve,(...)
  • Agile HardwareAgile approaches have taken over the world of software, because teams that deliver value sooner with higher quality beat the slow. Hardware teams face(...)
  • Agile/Lean UXAgile or Lean UX (User eXperience) is about incorporating UX into the flow of work of a development team. Many try the approach of having the UX people(...)
  • Agile Mainframe DevelopmentResource Links: Agile in a Mainframe and Cobol world Make Your Mainframe Systems and Technology More Agile: An Interview with Jay McFarling and(...)
  • Agile Organizational StructureIt's strange to start becoming Agile and assume that Organizational Structure won't change. As Agile steers an organization to focus on Product and(...)
  • Agile Outside of SoftwareIn the over 20 years since the Agile Manifesto was written, we've seen Agile approaches applied in a large variety of fields outside of software(...)
  • Agile ProcurementTraditional fixed price, fixed outcome contracts don't fare well in an Agile world. The traditional approach puts the emphasis on getting the details(...)
  • Agile Sales and MarketingSales and Marketing are challenged in the same way that software development was over 20 years ago. The work is often split over multiple groups, and(...)
  • Agile SchoolsScrum in the world of work, allows teams to self-organize around a common goal (Delivering a Product). Scrum in education is about getting kids to self(...)
  • Agile TheatreAgile's success is also its Achilles heel. Everyone wants to do Agile, but not everyone wants to make any changes to be Agile. There is a lot of focus on(...)
  • Appreciative InquiryAppreciative Inquiry is an approach to team development and organizational change that works by focusing on the strengths and positive aspects of the(...)
  • Approval TestsResource Links: Approval Tests Approval Tests with Llewellyn Falco Approval Testing Using ApprovalTests in .Net 17 Wpf See Also: Legacy(...)
  • ARC Motivational ModelARC motivation model is part of Self Determination Theory, which shows there are two kinds of motivation: Intrinsic and Extrinsic. Intrinsic(...)
  • Backlog RefinementProduct Backlog Refinement (formerly known as "Product Backlog Grooming") is a session during which the Scrum Team (Developers, Product Owner,(...)
  • Behaviour Driven Development [BDD]Behaviour Driven Development (or BDD) is an approach that gets team members to collaborate on describing the behaviours of the user story or product(...)
  • BottlenecksA bottleneck is a constraint that slows the delivery of value in our system. That is awfully abstract language, so let’s provide an example from everyday(...)
  • BugsResource Links: 0 Bugs Policy The #1 bug predictor is not technical, it's organizational complexity Bug Prediction Tool from Google Bug(...)
  • BurndownsBurndown charts graph work remaining vs time. They were originally used for tracking work in Sprints and across releases. Sprint Burndowns that track(...)
  • Business Analyst in ScrumIn traditional approaches, the Business Analyst gathers the requirements months or years ahead of the team. Clearly that doesn't work in an Agile world.(...)
  • Case StudiesResource Links: Adobe Premiere Pro Scrum Adoption Agile Transformation @ Salesforce.com An Agile Adoption and Transformation Survival Guide (...)
  • Causal Loop DiagramA Causal Loop Diagram is a visual representation and reference that helps to understand cause and effect connections. It works best when people work(...)
  • CoachingAgile Coaching is an ill-defined concept. Self-described "Agile Coaches" appeared in the Agile world long before there was a definition. ScrumAlliance(...)
  • Code InspectionTraditional approaches put a lot of emphasis on Code Inspection or Reviews for finding defects. In human terms, that is like an editing process. The(...)
  • Code ReviewsTraditional approaches put a lot of emphasis on Code Inspection or Reviews for finding defects. In human terms, that is like an editing process. The(...)
  • Code SmellsA code smell is a hint that something might be wrong in your codebase. A smell isn't always a problem, rather it’s a hint that a further look is(...)
  • Collective Code OwnershipCollective Code Ownership is the premise that the whole team owns the code. Anyone on the team can add new features, fix a bug, write a test case, or(...)
  • ColocationColocation is when team members are in the same physical location so in-person interaction and collaboration can take place. While the Scrum Guide does(...)
  • Community of PracticeA Community of Practice (CoP) is a group that brings people with a common cause or purpose together on a regular basis. They can be formed around a role(...)
  • Complexity and the Cynefin FrameworkWe encounter complexity whenever we're asked to estimate how long it will take to fix a bug. Or when we're asked how long it will take to bring a novel(...)
  • Continuous DeliveryContinuous Delivery is the game of delivering features to Production whenever a change is made. It shortens the feedback, and even the payment cycle,(...)
  • Continuous Delivery and DeploymentContinuous Delivery is the game of delivering features to Production whenever a change is made. It shortens the feedback, and even the payment cycle,(...)
  • Continuous DeploymentContinuous Delivery is the game of delivering features to Production whenever a change is made. It shortens the feedback, and even the payment cycle,(...)
  • Continuous Integration [CI]In software development, Continuous Integration is the practice of merging all developers' working code to the main or head branch several times a day.(...)
  • ContractsTraditional fixed price, fixed outcome contracts don't fare well in an Agile world. The traditional approach puts the emphasis on getting the details(...)
  • Core ProtocolsA set of protocols that can aid teams in improving communications. They're modelled on a similar principle to Design patterns. Resource Links: (...)
  • Cross-Functional TeamsIn the Agile world a cross-functional team is one that has all the skills it requires to get the work finished, without relying on external help. Wow,(...)
  • Cross-SkillingCross-skilling is where a team member decides (without being pushed) to learn a new skill area. This learning will, of course, take time and in the short(...)
  • Cumulative Flow Diagram [CFD]A Cumulative Flow Diagram is a visual summary of the information contained on the Scrum Wall, Task Board, or Kanban Wall. A Cumulative Flow Diagram(...)
  • Cycle TimeCycle Time is the time it takes from the moment a team starts work on an item, until the moment value is delivered to the customer. It matters because the(...)
  • CynefinWe encounter complexity whenever we're asked to estimate how long it will take to fix a bug. Or when we're asked how long it will take to bring a novel(...)
  • Daily ScrumThe Daily Scrum is the daily meeting where the Scrum Team get ready to collaborate for the day, and check if they’re still on track to complete their goal(...)
  • Daily StandupThe Daily Scrum is the daily meeting where the Scrum Team get ready to collaborate for the day, and check if they’re still on track to complete their goal(...)
  • Dark AgileAgile's success is also its Achilles heel. Everyone wants to do Agile, but not everyone wants to make any changes to be Agile. There is a lot of focus on(...)
  • Dark ScrumAgile's success is also its Achilles heel. Everyone wants to do Agile, but not everyone wants to make any changes to be Agile. There is a lot of focus on(...)
  • Decision Making ToolsAgile Teams need to make small decisions frequently. Many teams experiment with majority rules and quickly discover that it's a way to ensure a few team(...)
  • Dedicated Team MembershipPeople should be dedicated to one and only one team. The science of team work shows this over and over again. Yet, on occasion, we’re stuck when we have(...)
  • DefectsResource Links: 0 Bugs Policy The #1 bug predictor is not technical, it's organizational complexity Bug Prediction Tool from Google Bug(...)
  • Definition of DoneDefinition of Done is the official checklist that Scrum Teams maintain of the qualities they intend their work to achieve. It helps the team assess(...)
  • Definition of ReadyDefinition of Ready is an agreement between the Product Owner and the team that describes what state Product Backlog Items (or User Stories) need to be in(...)
  • DependenciesResource Links: A lesson in agile: How one team ended dependency delays Agile Organizations Must Address Both Structural and Instantiated(...)
  • DevelopersIf you thought that ScrumMaster was a poorly named role in Scrum, check out Developers. In recent years, the ScrumGuide has been making changes to help(...)
  • DevOpsDevOps (also now DevSecOps) is the practice of Development working more closely with Operations. Over time, the Developers automate various aspects of(...)
  • Distributed TeamsResource Links: 12 ways to improve cross-office collaboration Agile Alternatives for a Geographically Distributed Team Agile in Dispersed or(...)
  • DiversityDiversity in Agile helps reduce the risk of problems created through cognitive and other biases, by ensuring the Scrum team has access to a wider range of(...)
  • DocumentationAgile Documentation. Is it an oxymoron? The Agile Manifesto says "Working Software over Comprehensive Documentation". It doesn't say no documentation, and(...)
  • Dot VotingDot voting is a mechanism to help an Agile team select a single item from many or prioritize among a number of options. It's a remarkably simple tool. We(...)
  • Effective TeamsCalling a group of individuals a "team" is only a label, unless they're organized and empowered with distinct characteristics to allow them to function(...)
  • Emergent ArchitectureAgile Architecture emphasizes the minimum amount of design upfront, and focusing on building something and evolving the architecture as our understanding(...)
  • Empathy MapEmpathy Maps are a tool to help us record what we understand about our audience. The maps prompt the team to answer questions about what the users do,(...)
  • Engineering PracticesIn my workshops, I often have people who are focused on the question: “How can I help my team go faster?”, or “How can we deliver this Product sooner?”(...)
  • Ensemble (formerly Mob) ProgrammingEnsemble Programming (formerly known as Mob Programming) is the logical extension of Pair Programming. The entire team work together to deliver a single(...)
  • EstimationAn estimate is a qualified guess to help people make a decision about doing work. In the Agile world, one approach to estimation has become prevalent: the(...)
  • Evolutionary ArchitectureAgile Architecture emphasizes the minimum amount of design upfront, and focusing on building something and evolving the architecture as our understanding(...)
  • Extreme ProgrammingResource Links: Extreme Programming What is Extreme Programming? EXTREME PROGRAMMING BOOKS Extreme Programming Installed – Ron Jeffries,(...)
  • FacilitationFacilitation is the art of helping a group of people reach agreement or understanding, without direct involvement in the process itself. In the game of(...)
  • Failure Demand"Failure demand is demand caused by a failure to do something or do something right for the customer." - John Seddon 2009 All work a team does comes(...)
  • Failure ModesResource Links: 10 Reasons Why You Are Doomed to Fail With Scrum 12 Failure Modes in Agile Transformation 12 Reasons Scrums Fail for Agile(...)
  • Fake AgileAgile's success is also its Achilles heel. Everyone wants to do Agile, but not everyone wants to make any changes to be Agile. There is a lot of focus on(...)
  • Feedback Giving and Taking Design Criticism – with Rebecca Wirfs-Brock Early Feedback Reduces Anger and Frustration Scrum Anti-Patterns: Micromanagement How(...)
  • ForecastingForecasting in the Agile world asks the difficult questions: How much of our product backlog will ready by a certain date? or By which date a specific(...)
  • Healthy TeamsMagic of Science and Teams – #GOAT13 Presentation How Escape Rooms Teach About Teams Resource Links: Healthy teams, unhealthy teams: in your(...)
  • Impact MappingImpact Mapping is a tool to help teams focus their work on the feature by identifying portfolio items or strategic changes that will have the greatest(...)
  • Impact of AgileResource Links: The Impact of Lean and Agile Quantified – Rally Research Study
  • ImpedimentsIn the context of a Scrum team, anything that slows the team’s progress towards the Sprint Goal is an impediment. And since one of the primary(...)
  • Improvement ExperimentsAgile teams attempt to use Retrospectives as a tool for Team Improvement. Yet our improvements often lead nowhere. Consider making your improvements into(...)
  • InterruptionsTeam members get interrupted throughout their working day. Some of the interruptions are high value - e.g. a team member asking questions that helps the(...)
  • Iterative and Incremental DevelopmentIterative and Incremental Development is fancy language for working in cycles and always releasing a version of the product at the end of a cycle. In(...)
  • KanbanKanban isn't just a board that you find in JIRA or Trello. It is a method to help improve the flow of work through a system. A kanban board is one way to(...)
  • Large Scale ScrumLeSS, aka Large Scale Scrum. The abbreviation leads to some good puns (do more with LeSS). There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to scaling. When the(...)
  • Lean Software DevelopmentResource Links: Applying Lean Tools and Techniques to Scrum Grown-Up Lean - The Nature of Software Little's Law - The ONE thing you can do to(...)
  • Lean StartupLean Startup is a way for a group of people with a product idea to test it with the market and gain rapid feedback on whether the world wants what they're(...)
  • Lean Startup ExperimentsA core concept of Lean Startup is that we need to validate aspects of your product or business idea that are assumptions or that represent risk. Looking(...)
  • Lean UXAgile or Lean UX (User eXperience) is about incorporating UX into the flow of work of a development team. Many try the approach of having the UX people(...)
  • Learning TimeSlack, in the context of Agile/Scrum, is when the time isn't solely focused on delivering. (It's important not to confuse this with Slack, a popular(...)
  • Legacy Code and SystemsLegacy code is often described as code checked into the system without a unit test. A popular definition from Michael Feathers, author of Working(...)
  • Liberating StructuresLiberating Structures are tools that create balance in self-organization, which is at the heart of all Agile approaches. Too often self-organized events(...)
  • MaintenanceWhen a team has a product that is live in the field, they need a pattern to handle the support issues that come up, so that the critical defects get fixed(...)
  • Metrics and MeasurementMetrics are the tools we use (and misuse) to help us understand how we're evolving. Used well, Metrics can give us feedback on our team's experiments and(...)
  • Minimum Viable Product [MVP]MVP or Minimum Viable Product is often misunderstood, and confused with MCF - Minimum Crappy Feature. Where MCF is the minimum version of a product or(...)
  • Mini Waterfalls in ScrumAlias: Mini Waterfalls in Scrum A Scrum team should work on only a couple of Product Backlog Items (or User Stories) at a time. Most of the work should(...)
  • Mob ProgrammingEnsemble Programming (formerly known as Mob Programming) is the logical extension of Pair Programming. The entire team work together to deliver a single(...)
  • MoraleTeam health checks have been popular in the Agile Community for years. Getting people to pay attention to the joy in their teams is a boon. The challenge(...)
  • MotivationTraditional approaches in the workplace assume that there is a strong linkage between motivation and financial reward. Theory is, if you pay people enough(...)
  • MultitaskingBuried in most job ads is the phrase "Looking for a great multitasker". Too bad they don't exist. Contrary to what some books would have you believe,(...)
  • MVPMVP or Minimum Viable Product is often misunderstood, and confused with MCF - Minimum Crappy Feature. Where MCF is the minimum version of a product or(...)
  • Niko-NikoNiko-Niko calendars are used to track mood, energy, happiness, etc, but not everyone thinks that they're a good idea. The good: a team that tracks how(...)
  • OnboardingOnboarding is a term to describe introducing a newly-hired person into an organization. In the case of Scrum and Agile teams, it's important to recognize(...)
  • Organizational StructureIt's strange to start becoming Agile and assume that Organizational Structure won't change. As Agile steers an organization to focus on Product and(...)
  • Pair ProgrammingPair Programming is when two people write code together on one machine. This collaboration helps improve code quality, readability, and simplicity. Not(...)
  • Part-time Team MembersPeople should be dedicated to one and only one team. The science of team work shows this over and over again. Yet, on occasion, we’re stuck when we have(...)
  • PersonaA Persona is a fictional character created to represent a group of users of a product. A persona is based in research of real users, usually discovered(...)
  • Personal READMEGithub style READMEs can be turned to personal use. A Personal README, aka Personal Manual, is a document that describes how a person likes to communicate(...)
  • Planning PokerAn estimate is a qualified guess to help people make a decision about doing work. In the Agile world, one approach to estimation has become prevalent: the(...)
  • Portfolio ManagementAgile Portfolio Management is a tool for a group of teams that have too many major chunks of work in flight. Traditional Portfolio Management is centred(...)
  • PrioritizationResource Links: 20 Product Prioritization Techniques: A Map and Guided Tour The 2023 guide to product prioritization + the best frameworks An(...)
  • Product BacklogThe Product Backlog is an ordered list of all the work items or value the Product Owner would like to see the Team work on in the foreseeable future.(...)
  • Product Backlog GroomingProduct Backlog Refinement (formerly known as "Product Backlog Grooming") is a session during which the Scrum Team (Developers, Product Owner,(...)
  • Product Backlog RefinementProduct Backlog Refinement (formerly known as "Product Backlog Grooming") is a session during which the Scrum Team (Developers, Product Owner,(...)
  • Product ExperimentsA core concept of Lean Startup is that we need to validate aspects of your product or business idea that are assumptions or that represent risk. Looking(...)
  • Production SupportWhen a team has a product that is live in the field, they need a pattern to handle the support issues that come up, so that the critical defects get fixed(...)
  • Product Owner Role"The Product Owner owns the product that the team is building." “The Product Owner is accountable for maximizing the value of the product resulting from(...)
  • Product StrategyIn traditional approaches, a Roadmap is a list of dates and promises that are being made to the customer. Traditional Roadmaps don’t work because there is(...)
  • Product VisionThe Product Vision is a shared understanding of the overall goal and purpose for creating a product. Your vision describes the motivation behind creating(...)
  • Project vs. ProductResource Links: Project Focus Is An Impediment to Long-Lived Teams Products Over Projects Product vs. Project Teams Skateboards vs. Cars(...)
  • Psychological SafetyPsychological safety is about being part of a team and knowing that you can share ideas and information without fear. Psychological safety isn’t the(...)
  • Pull RequestsPull Requests are a proposal to merge a set of changes from one branch to another. They emerged from the world of open source and are optimized for(...)
  • Quality Assurance in ScrumIn traditional approaches, the QA, Tester, or Quality Assurance tests the work of developers in a separate phase - sometimes months later. Clearly that(...)
  • RefactoringRefactoring is the process of restructuring existing code without changing its external behaviour. Refactoring is done to improve the simplicity and(...)
  • Remote TeamsResource Links: 12 ways to improve cross-office collaboration Agile Alternatives for a Geographically Distributed Team Agile in Dispersed or(...)
  • Resource Utilization TrapIn many organizations, the people who do the work are treated like economic resources (think: iron ore) and it’s felt that they have a price, and so must(...)
  • RetrospectiveThe Sprint Retrospective is an event at the end of the Sprint where the Scrum Team reflects on all that happened in that period, with the intention to(...)
  • Roadmaps and StrategyIn traditional approaches, a Roadmap is a list of dates and promises that are being made to the customer. Traditional Roadmaps don’t work because there is(...)
  • SAFeScaled Agile Framework, aka SAFe, is probably the least Agile approach to getting many teams to work together. At the heart of all of Agile approaches has(...)
  • Safety CheckA team safety check is a way of understanding the team’s readiness to be open and honest. It starts with a question like “Are you able to be open and(...)
  • Scaled Agile FrameworkScaled Agile Framework, aka SAFe, is probably the least Agile approach to getting many teams to work together. At the heart of all of Agile approaches has(...)
  • Scaling and Large TeamsWhen attempting to get many teams to work effectively together in an Agile world, we need some coordination model. This is typically referred to as(...)
  • SCARF ModelThe SCARF Model of human behaviour is useful to understand how people respond to the world through the lenses of Status, Certainty, Autonomy, Relatedness,(...)
  • ScrumScrum is an approach to applying the Agile mindset. Scrum is a way of organizing a team of people to deliver incremental parts or features of a product(...)
  • ScrumMaster Anti-PatternsAn Anti-Pattern is a recurring pattern that frequently shows up, where the behaviour creates new problems somewhere else in the system. Example: the(...)
  • ScrumMaster RoleThe ScrumMaster is one of the more poorly-named aspects of Scrum. The intended meaning isn’t to imply a controller or giver of orders. Rather, a(...)
  • ScrummerfallAlias: Mini Waterfalls in Scrum A Scrum team should work on only a couple of Product Backlog Items (or User Stories) at a time. Most of the work should(...)
  • Scrum TeamThe Scrum Team is all of the people needed to get the product built and into the customer’s hands: ScrumMaster, who helps the team grow capacity to(...)
  • Scrum vs KanbanScrum is a tool that organizes a team to deliver value to a customer. Along the way, the team is expected to improve the product and also the way they(...)
  • Security in ScrumHow do we build Secure products in Scrum? In a world where the development team deliver value every Sprint, it is hard to see how to ensure products are(...)
  • Self-OrganizationA self-organizing team is one where team members make all relevant decisions on how to achieve their goals. Contrary to the beliefs some people hold,(...)
  • Self-Selecting TeamsThe default assumption when creating a new team is that the management and team leads will do the selecting and organizing. (Wait, team leads... are they(...)
  • Servant LeadershipServant leadership is the act of leading through service to others. Okay, so how does that differ from traditional leadership? Traditional leadership(...)
  • Skills MatrixCross-skilling is where a team member decides (without being pushed) to learn a new skill area. This learning will, of course, take time and in the short(...)
  • SlackSlack, in the context of Agile/Scrum, is when the time isn't solely focused on delivering. (It's important not to confuse this with Slack, a popular(...)
  • Software Engineering PracticesIn my workshops, I often have people who are focused on the question: “How can I help my team go faster?”, or “How can we deliver this Product sooner?”(...)
  • Special TeamsSometimes organizations form Special Teams assigned to tackle technical bugs or other challenges. Frequently, these special teams make the very problem(...)
  • Specification by ExampleBehaviour Driven Development (or BDD) is an approach that gets team members to collaborate on describing the behaviours of the user story or product(...)
  • Spotify ModelThe "Spotify Model" is often misunderstood and misapplied in organizations. It consists of Squads, Tribes, Chapters, and Guilds. Squads are like Scrum(...)
  • SprintA Sprint is a fixed period, ranging from one week to one month in length, during which the Scrum Team works to meet specific customer needs. As one Sprint(...)
  • Sprint BacklogThe Sprint Backlog is a list of Product Backlog Items (PBIs) the Team has committed to for the next Sprint. It is the Scrum Team’s plan for how to achieve(...)
  • Sprint BurndownBurndown charts graph work remaining vs time. They were originally used for tracking work in Sprints and across releases. Sprint Burndowns that track(...)
  • Sprint GoalSprint Goal is a single product objective shared by the Scrum Team that describes the purpose of the Sprint and ensures that everyone moves in the same(...)
  • Sprint LengthThe ScrumGuide says that Sprints "are fixed length events of one month or less to create consistency" and "When a Sprint’s horizon is too long the Sprint(...)
  • Sprint PlanningSprint Planning is an event at the beginning of a Sprint where the Team plans the items they can complete in the next Sprint. They also craft a Goal to(...)
  • Sprint RetrospectiveThe Sprint Retrospective is an event at the end of the Sprint where the Scrum Team reflects on all that happened in that period, with the intention to(...)
  • Sprint ReviewSprint Review is an event at the end of the Sprint where the Scrum Team review the completed work with stakeholders. Stakeholders provide feedback on the(...)
  • Stable TeamsA stable team is one in which team membership doesn’t change often and, instead, is consistent over time.  When team membership changes every few months,(...)
  • Story MappingA Story Map is a way to help visualize the flow or story of a product. Across the top or horizontal axis of the map we place the major steps (often(...)
  • Story SplittingUser Story Splitting is the art of splitting User Stories or Product Backlog Items (PBI) into smaller parts when an item is too big. My recommendation is(...)
  • StrategyIn traditional approaches, a Roadmap is a list of dates and promises that are being made to the customer. Traditional Roadmaps don’t work because there is(...)
  • SwarmingIf Pair Programming is two people working together on a single problem at the same time (pre-Covid, Pairing meant sitting side by side with one computer),(...)
  • Systems ThinkingSystems Thinking takes the view that any problem we're working on is part of a larger, interconnected system. Instead of making a quick fix, Systems(...)
  • TDD vs BDDTest Driven Development [TDD] and Behaviour Driven Development [BDD] are often confused because the similarity of their names. TDD is the original(...)
  • Team Formation ModelsTeam Formation Models are helpful in understanding what state a team is at, and then using that information to make an educated guess as to what will help(...)
  • Team LaunchThe purpose of the team launch or liftoff is to help the team move from a group of unconnected  people to have the start of a real team. (Additional(...)
  • Team LearningSlack, in the context of Agile/Scrum, is when the time isn't solely focused on delivering. (It's important not to confuse this with Slack, a popular(...)
  • Team SizeThe Scrum Guide offers very limited guidance, suggesting 3-9 people per team (exclusive of ScrumMaster and Product Owner), without giving reasons or(...)
  • Technical DebtTechnical Debt is a deeply misunderstood term. It was originally coined at the beginning of Agile time by Ward Cunningham - from 1992: Shipping(...)
  • Test Driven Development [TDD]Test Driven Development (TDD) is the engineering practice where the developer writes their Unit Test case before they write their code. Like Unit Testing,(...)
  • TestingAgile Testing is "collaborative testing practices that occur continuously, from inception to delivery and beyond, supporting frequent delivery of value(...)
  • Theory of ConstraintsThe Theory of Constraints is a system improvement tool. It illustrates how in a system where we find a bottleneck, the bottleneck is the constraint that(...)
  • Trunk Based DevelopmentGit, Mercurial and other source control tools provide robust and easy to use branching capabilities. For work with OpenSource software —where anyone could(...)
  • Unit TestingUnit Testing is an approach to test small, isolated chunks of code that prove whether the method did what the developer intended when the test was(...)
  • User StoryIn Scrum, a User Story is a tool used to provoke, and then summarize, a conversation between the Development Team and their Product Owner, for a better(...)
  • User Story SplittingUser Story Splitting is the art of splitting User Stories or Product Backlog Items (PBI) into smaller parts when an item is too big. My recommendation is(...)
  • UXAgile or Lean UX (User eXperience) is about incorporating UX into the flow of work of a development team. Many try the approach of having the UX people(...)
  • VisionThe Product Vision is a shared understanding of the overall goal and purpose for creating a product. Your vision describes the motivation behind creating(...)
  • When to Use ScrumFrequently in workshops, I get asked, “Where shouldn’t we use Scrum?” The short answer is there are lots of instances where the Scrum framework doesn’t(...)
  • Working AgreementsA Working Agreement is a short set of guidelines created by the Team, for the Team, that establishes what the expectations of the Team are for one(...)
  • Work in ProgressIn Scrum, Work in Progress is the batch of User Stories or Product Backlog Items that have been started but not finished. These are also referred to as(...)
  • Work WeekOur modern work week of five days on and two days off is nothing more than an accident of history. Many organizations, and now even countries, are(...)
  • Zombie ScrumAgile's success is also its Achilles heel. Everyone wants to do Agile, but not everyone wants to make any changes to be Agile. There is a lot of focus on(...)
  • Zoom FatigueDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, we learned the hard way that being on Zoom, or any other video conferencing system, wears us down. A few things we've(...)