Notes from a Tool User

Bonuses might get more features now, but at the cost of quality, collaboration, and a sustainable system

Common mistakes teams and organizations make

Hardening Sprints are one of the most common Scrum Anti-Patterns. They harm quality

Demystify GenAI with a hands-on simulation! See how it works mimicry, not magic

I tested AI code generation with the Tennis Kata. It outlined the basics, but the code was bloated, hard to read, and failed in a key case.

GenAI rolls dice, it doesn't think: a realistic look at what it can do and where it falls short.

Product Backlog Refinement - core to Scrum, yet so often we make it boring.

It is common in the early stages of Scrum implementation for there to be misunderstandings

We've had requests for a single page that lists all the ongoing [Beyond Scrum blog

Example mapping reduces feature creep, clarifies assumptions, and finds questions early

Three tools work together: Stories invite dialogue, Acceptance Criteria define specifics, Done ensures global quality

Hardening Sprints are one of the most common Scrum Anti-Patterns. They harm quality

Explore how organizational structure, decision-making, and metrics contribute to the complexity tax. Learn to start simplifying

Understand how simplifying processes leads to more resilient teams. Start to identify unnecessary complexity.

Explore if AI helps at the bottleneck, if you have safeguards for errors, and if it increases collaboration. Don't succumb to shiny tools!

Reading resources for Scrum developers to help effectiveness and efficiency.

To be a good Product Owner, continued learning is essential.

A good ScrumMaster knows that learning doesn’t begin and end with a workshop.

Spotify never really used the famous model. Or don't create tribes

People go into the office but still don't see their team, joining the same virtual meetings they would from home

When things go wrong, look at the system that made it possible

Daily Scrum is about improving communication, not status reporting

The team doesn't understand that Daily Scrum is for them, not a management reporting tool.

There is no required format for DailyScrum.

Why Scrum recommends stable team membership

I was shopping for a new pair of pants. My expected price was $75 for a decent pair of

Effective Estimation is less about how big the item is and more about a common understanding of the item

Most work items spend more time waiting than actually being worked on

Bring work to teams, not people to projects. Measure value, not busyness

Models simplify reality, but can dangerously misrepresent what is really going

Your a ScrumMaster? Isn't that Team Lead with a bad haircut?

People go into the office but still don't see their team, joining the same virtual meetings they would from home

The more the manager takes control, the more decisions they make, the longer wait times for everything

In most organizations, work spends more time waiting to be worked on, than being worked on. To go faster? Look for the queues

Most work items spend more time waiting than actually being worked on

Bring work to teams, not people to projects. Measure value, not busyness

In most organizations, work spends more time waiting to be worked on, than being worked on. To go faster? Look for the queues

Most work items spend more time waiting than actually being worked on

Bring work to teams, not people to projects. Measure value, not busyness

_Frequently in workshops, I get asked, “Where shouldn’t we use Scrum?” The short answer is

In construction, a lot of emphasis is placed on predictability­, getting the requirements

At its core, Agile is a set of [Values](external:https://agilemanifesto.org/) and

Example mapping reduces feature creep, clarifies assumptions, and finds questions early

Three tools work together: Stories invite dialogue, Acceptance Criteria define specifics, Done ensures global quality

Collaborating and using examples improves the quality and understanding of the Acceptance Criteria

The Scrum Guide says POs aren't required at Daily Scrum, but should they be? Explore why Product Owners should attend to increase team value.

How having the client as Product Owner is a bit like playing Jenga with a blind fold. Entertaining to watch, painful to play.

As a Product Owner, saying yes is easy, but can lead to incoherent products. Use Stakeholder Akido to say no and protect your backlog.

Looking beyond GenAI promises to understand real-world impact. Why faster coding might be creating bigger problems in the longer term.

Explore how organizational structure, decision-making, and metrics contribute to the complexity tax. Learn to start simplifying

Understand how simplifying processes leads to more resilient teams. Start to identify unnecessary complexity.

From the Cambridge Dictionary, facilitation is “the act of helping other people to deal

Data and metrics are not synonymous. Velocity won't help your team improve

Boring, Repetitive Retrospectives, create disengagement and lead to inaction

Applying for a job the traditional way has rarely worked well. It’s getting worse now

There are many ways to redefine a work environment to support greater creativity that have

Games make a memorable way to learn, build a book with your team and practice Scrum

Scrum wasn't intended to be waterfall done in iterations

Product Backlog Refinement - core to Scrum, yet so often we make it boring.

_Scrum team **Working Agreements** are a simple, powerful way of creating explicit

The Scrum Guide says POs aren't required at Daily Scrum, but should they be? Explore why Product Owners should attend to increase team value.

Is IRCC's focus on speed creating unfair visa denials? Explore how mis-measurement clogs the system and hurts applicants.

A tool to visualize options

the best measures still won't measure your biggest risks

New research suggests AI coding tools may actually slow down experienced developers by 19%, despite developers perceiving they work 20% faster.

Big-bang rewrites (even with AI) just create tomorrows legacy code base faster

[A Personal Retrospective on the Agile 2009

Teams are more effective they have goals. Finish 7 User Stories is not a meaningful Sprint goal

Good Scrum teams know that they own the Sprint Backlog. Great teams experiment.

Replace Show and Tell with Show and Play. Saving Boring Sprint Reviews one Step at a Time

I tested AI code generation with the Tennis Kata. It outlined the basics, but the code was bloated, hard to read, and failed in a key case.

Effective testing should be done to ensure that a Product solves the business problem, in

- Does TDD really work? I've written about this before: [Advantages of

Bring work to teams, not people to projects. Measure value, not busyness

Grouping individuals together doesn’t make them a team.

Onboarding over task work to help new people become team members

Example mapping reduces feature creep, clarifies assumptions, and finds questions early

Three tools work together: Stories invite dialogue, Acceptance Criteria define specifics, Done ensures global quality

It is common in the early stages of Scrum implementation for there to be misunderstandings