(Presented as Part 3 in the Scrum Alone is Not Enough series.) In the last post of this series I talked about Portfolio Management, and how it aims to ensure that a team is always working on the highest priority work, without outside pressure taking their focus away from a manageable goal. Portfolio Management has […]
Organizational Improvement
Portfolio Management
(Presented as Part 2 in the Scrum Alone is Not Enough series.) As mentioned in the introduction to the Scrum Alone is Not Enough series, Scrum is simply the framework and, to work best, other tools and patterns need to be incorporated to build the most effective systems. In many organizations, we see common challenges: […]
Future Perspective for Change: Why Backcasting Helps Get You Where You Want to Be
When a product team starts work on a product, it’s important that they understand the vision. This is, as they say, a bit of a no-brainer since otherwise they might build something that completely misses the mark. In a modern Agile world, we’re expecting a mix of Product Management, Developers, ScrumMaster, the Customer and perhaps […]
Be Better with Better Data
Data and metrics are not synonymous. Let’s tackle that misunderstanding right out of the gate. Data is a number or set of numbers. “Three days.” There. That’s data. Is it useful to you? Of course not, because you have no context to go with it. Metrics is the context and measurement of where, and under […]
Red-Yellow-Green Status Reports and Other Models – How They Should and Shouldn’t Be Used
Red-Yellow-Green status reports are a widely-used tool to help executives have a fast and simple understanding of the current state of a project through a visual model that makes it easy to spot patterns. Green means everything is good, yellow means there’s some risk, and red means the project is in serious trouble. Simple, right? […]
Scrum Anti-Patterns: Micromanagement
A design pattern is a description of a solution to a recurring problem. It outlines the elements that are necessary to solve the challenge without prompting the reader to address the issue in a specific way. Unfortunately, we also regularly see recurring patterns of ineffective behaviour. These are called Anti-Patterns. The following is an exploration […]
The Role of Agile Managers: Why Job Titles Are Dangerous
Managers transitioning from waterfall to Agile will need to renegotiate their relationship with their teams if they are to succeed. A manager cannot simply become an Agile Manager – a big part of a transition requires a rethinking of how job titles are assigned and the leadership responsibility that comes with them. I was recently […]
How to Be an Effective Manager in Scrum
You’re a manager. You recently helped implement Scrum in your organization. You have received praise for this, because quality of work is now steadily improving and customers are delighted by the steady stream of product improvements. Your Scrum teams are now self-organizing. Things are flowing so smoothly now, the team has taken on tasks that […]