One of the more frequently asked questions in my Scrum workshops is around the difference between Definition of “Done” and Acceptance Criteria, and how they relate to User Stories. While Acceptance Criteria is a commonly understood concept in software development, Definition ...continue reading

How long should a Scrum Sprint be? A Scrum Sprint is a short period of time when the Scrum Team works, but there is no hard rule as to how long that should be – in this post, we cover the pros and cons of shorter and longer Sprints and how you can discover what works best for ...continue reading

In 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 the problem, including context and the consequences of certain actions, without prompting the reader to solve the problem a ...continue reading

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 ...continue reading

Working Agreements are a simple, powerful way of creating explicit guidelines for what kind of work culture you want for your Team. They are a reminder for everyone about how they can commit to respectful behaviour and communication. In this post we’ll help you understand why ...continue reading

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 ...continue reading

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 ...continue reading

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 – ...continue reading

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 ...continue reading

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 ...continue reading