Whenever you are building and deploying a complex system, there are always going to be bugs, defects, and unforeseen problems with usability — commonly referred to as Production Support issues. Today, our ScrumMaster and their Team grapple with these issues, to help you understand how they affect a Scrum Team and what you can do […]
Scrum Anti-Patterns: The Hardening Sprint
Hardening Sprints are one of the most common kinds of Scrum Anti-Patterns: ways of addressing recurring problems that seem like effective solutions at the time but in fact hamper productivity or create more problems later on. Here we introduce why they are used, why they are not an effective design pattern, and how you can […]
Scrum by Example – The Story of an Incomplete Sprint
A Scrum Sprint is incomplete when the Team can’t deliver the working features they committed to. We cover the reasons for this and how you can help your Team. Dramatis Personae Steve – a ScrumMaster and the hero of our story Paula – the Product Owner of Steve’s Team Tonia – the Team’s Quality Assurance […]
Scrum by Example – Product Backlog Refinement in Action
In Scrum, Product Backlog Refinement is an essential meeting of the Product Owner and the Development Team to gain clarity and a shared understanding of what needs to be done through discussion and sharing of ideas. The following is a guide example of how to run an effective Product Backlog Refinement meeting. Dramatis Personae: Steve […]
What Are the Limits of the Scrum Framework?
Frequently 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 fit. However, to give a more complete and effective answer to this question, first we need to have an idea of why and when Scrum does work and what the […]
Scrum by Example – How to Deal with Bad User Stories as a ScrumMaster
It is common in the early stages of Scrum implementation for there to be misunderstandings about what User Stories are for and what makes them useful. A ScrumMaster’s task is to be able to help the Team and Product Owner when they are faced with ineffective User Stories as they go into Sprint Planning. Dramatis […]