Agile QuickTip: Get rid of the ‘Survey 7’ Level-Up to Get Feedback

Get rid of the ‘Survey 7’ to Level-Up the Way You Get Feedback Surveys can be a really effective tool when collecting feedback or gaining insights from different stakeholders.  Their versatility allows them to be used to get feedback from users and customers as well as to get ideas for improvements from team members.  Surveys […]

Agile QuickTip: Add Expiration Dates to Your Backlog Items

Add Expiration Dates to Your Backlog Items If you have a backlog that’s getting out of control, consider using expiration dates to help control the list and streamline your team’s priorities. Many mature agile teams or scrum teams that have been together for a while might find themselves with a backlog that’s hundreds if not […]

Agile QuickTip: A Wishlist of Ready!

A Wishlist of Ready! Many Agile and Scrum teams have adopted the practice of having a “Definition of Ready” as a way to explicitly define when a Story – or Backlog Item – is “Ready” for a team to take into a Sprint.  This often serves as an entrance gate for Stories and ideas to […]

Agile QuickTip: Explicit Sprint Learning Goals

Explicit Sprint Learning Goals On this edition of Agile Quick Tips, we’re going to be discussing how setting explicit sprint learning goals could help improve your team overall. Agile teams or scrum teams will often set goals during sprint planning that help them to maximize value and optimize the product that sprint. But what if […]

Agile QuickTip: Achievement Focused Daily Scrum

Achievement Focused Daily Scrum If you’re feeling like your daily Scrum or Stand-up is getting less valuable, and losing some of its effectiveness, why not turn things around by changing the focus to achievements rather than activities? Most Agile team’s Stand-ups or Scrums focus pretty heavily on activities. Questions asked in the daily Scrum include […]

Agile QuickTip: The Open Meeting Parking Lot

The Open Meeting Parking Lot Meetings getting off track? Have you thought about using the idea of an Open Meeting Parking Lot to make an entire meeting more focused? Many Agile teams complain about meetings that get derailed. This can be anything from a daily Scrum that takes much longer than ideal because everyone has […]

Agile QuickTip: Implicit Task Estimates Instead of Explicit Ones

Implicit Task Estimates Instead of Explicit Ones by Giora Morein  You’re about to learn how changing your task estimates from explicit to implicit could make all the difference to the productivity and experience of your Scrum teams. Sprint planning is where most Scrum or Agile teams will take a story or a different backlog item […]

Agile QuickTip: Vegas-Style Retrospective

Vegas-Style Retrospective by Giora Morein Vegas-style retrospective might really be the difference-maker in helping your team identify and exploit those improvement opportunities that can propel them through the stratosphere. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! This famous tag line might not immediately sound like it has much to do with agile learning or Scrum […]

Agile QuickTip: Begin and End Your Sprint in the Middle of the Day

Begin and End Your Sprint in the Middle of the Day My latest Agile QuickTip is all about how ending and starting your sprints in the middle of the day might make your team way more effective. Most scrum teams will end their sprints at the end of the day, and then start the next […]