The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

Agile Is Like A Roller Coaster! Today, we're going to be talking about how Agile is like a roller coaster. Now, you might be thinking, "What does Agile have to do with roller coasters?" But bear with us, because there are some striking similarities between the two. First of all, let's think about the structure of a roller coaster. It's made up of a series of ups and downs, tw...

What the?? Vanilla Ice Was The Perfect Agile Coach - Fixed vs Growth Mindset - PMBA Orlando Is this even possible? Thanks to all who attended my keynote session this morning! The conference is AMAZING as usual and we LOVE to have all of your support. Tune in today to learn how all of this can possibly be connected. https://www.pmbaconferences.com/

Moovin On Up - Farmer Finds Cow On The Roof Of His Barn! Today, we're talking about a story that made headlines for its unusual circumstances. So sit back, relax, and get ready to laugh! This story really MOOved me! I know I know... It is time I sent these cow jokes out to pasture. Our story takes us to the small town of Flushing, Michigan where a local farmer made a hilarious mistake. The far...

60 Second Sprints on The 5 Scrum Events... Ready? GO! The first event is the Sprint. The Sprint is a time-boxed period where the team works to deliver a potentially releasable product increment. A Sprint usually lasts between one and four weeks. During the Sprint, the team plans, designs, develops, and tests the product increment. The Sprint is a crucial event because it provides a fixed time fram...

Understanding Agile Product Strategy Agile Product Strategy is an iterative approach to product development that focuses on creating and delivering products that meet customer needs while also achieving business goals. Let's dive in! First, let's define what Agile Product Strategy is. Agile Product Strategy is a process that involves understanding customer needs, defining business goals, a...

Are Your User Stories Opened or Closed? A useful concept to keep in mind when writing or splitting user stories is to always try to write closed user stories. A closed user story is one that finishes with the user having achieved a meaningful goal. I like to think of the user being ready for a coffee break after finishing a closed user story. As an example of a story that is not closed, consider t...

What Is The Difference Between a ScrumMaster and The Agile Coach? First, let's define what Agile methodology is. Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development. It emphasizes collaboration, flexibility, and continuous improvement. Scrum and Kanban are two of the most popular Agile frameworks. Now, let's talk about the roles of a ScrumMaster and an Agile coach...

Evidence of Cheese-Making to Circumvent Lactose Intolerance 6000 Years Ago Found in Poland! Analysis of neolithic pottery shards shows that in Northern Europe, where poor soils and low sunlight made primitive agriculture extremely difficult, people were making cheese in places like Poland potentially as far back as 9,000 years ago. Examinations of perforated vessels not only found the presence of...

Can Agile and ITIL Play Nice Together? - What is Agile Service Management?  Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss how a very strict ITIL world and Agile play well together. 

How do you know if the ScrumMaster role is right for you? Join one of our FAVORITE Agile Coaches, Keis Kostaqi as we learn a little more about whether or not you fit into this accountability. 

Let’s talk about detail in user stories. Many of us are drawn to detail. It feels good to know exactly what features a product will contain. And it feels good to know precisely how a feature will be implemented. Knowing the details of something feels good. It certainly feels better than being in the middle of the morass of open issues, undecided features, and general uncertainty that make up most...

Join V. Lee Henson, President and Founder of AgileDad as we discuss how to handle On-Call incidents. Do NOT let your duty phone turn into a doo-doo phone. 

4 Uplifting Lessons From The Life of St. Patrick: Stay Faithful, Even When Life Is Hard Trust in God’s Plan Step Out in Faith Meet People Where They Are

AMAZING Stories Are Worth The INVESTment!  Bill Wake came up with a formula for writing perfect Agile Stories called INVEST:  Independent: The user story should be self-contained and not dependent on other stories. Negotiable: The details of the story can be negotiated and refined during the development process. Valuable: The story must provide value to the end user or customer. Estimabl...

Sprint Planning - Should Teams Sign Up For Tasks? This is a GREAT Question.. Join Agile Coach Keis Kostaqi as we explore what she feels is best for teams to do at Sprint Planning! What a way to kickoff International Women's Month! 

How Long Should Agile Teams Stay Together? This is such a good question. I recently got an email from Mike Cohn where we have a bit of a discussion surrounding The Tuckman model, (Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing). My thought is that mature Agile teams should be self-organized and self-regulated. This means that they have the power to adjust in order to maintain an AWESOME culture. What...

Should My Team Pull More Work Into a Sprint?  Not unless they plan to FINISH the items they pull in.. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what we can and should do when teams feel like they can take on more work. 

I could very easily have given you a list of 750 important things to celebrate in your life, but I took the liberty to narrow that list down to the top 3... Whether it is my wife, my kids, or my faith, there are many facets that make an AgileDad tick. 

I was talking to a colleague a while back about the primary accountability of Scrum teams. They said that it is the job of an agile team to create value. I disagree. An agile team's job is to deliver value. There's a subtle difference between creating value and delivering it. For me, it's like the difference between baking a cake and making a cake. I can bake a cake–it only involves opening a box,...

All companies want to be…Agile. It is like a sexy word isn’t it? It is the same as startups want to be “disruptive”. It is a buzzword, but what does it mean? In the dictionary, it means: able to move your body quickly and easily. So you move/act rather quickly and easily. Is your company an acrobat if it is agile? In all seriousness, the Agile Manifesto is a Bible for everyone who is starting thei...

Clearly communicate the benefits of Scrum, such as increased transparency, better collaboration, and faster delivery of value, to the team. This will help them understand why the framework is important and how it can benefit them. Provide training and education on Scrum principles and practices to the team, and even to the stakeholders. This will help them understand the framework and how to work...

What do you do to show appreciation for your employees? Each year we have a day to celebrate those who work for us.. Join V. Lee Henson as he discusses how the team at AgileDad celebrates who works WITH us! 

India’s Jal Jeevan Mission of tap water access continues to be one of the great, unsung stories of human development. Almost 79 million households have been provided with access to a tap water connection since the program’s launch in August 2019, bringing the total to 111 million, or 56% of rural households in the nation. How is this possible? AGILE Infrastructure! 

Here are the 7 Tips To Become a Successful ScrumMaster: Understand The Scrum Framework Develop Your Leadership Style?  Be A Strong Coach Understand The Business Build a Culture of Continual Improvement Gain Experience Get Certified! 

We recently received a letter from Mike Cohn which reads:  Back in 1975, Fred Brooks managed the IBM OS/360 project. This was one of the first software projects to be notoriously late. In fact, it was a year late. Brooks was asked, I suspect with shock and incredulity, “How does a project get to be a year late?” Brooks replied famously, “One day at a time.” I believe that daily scrums help ou...