story slicing
Slicing and Dicing
Slicing stories can be challenging, but once you have done this, what do you do with the original, parent story?
Gary Evans
Agile expert Gary K. Evans is the author of "The Effective Scrum Master." With 30+ years of experience, he has helped organizations master Agile practices. Gary maintains a lifelong love for soccer.
scrum master
Rotating the Scrum Master Role
Rotating the Scrum Master role within your team may be a disaster, or it may yield specific and desirable benefits if done carefully.
product backlog
Dependency is a 4-letter Word
Dependencies are the downfall of many sprints. Viewing the team's Product Backlog too linearly can set any Scrum team up for failure.
backlog management
Basics - Work Item Hierarchy
Each level of our backlog work items has a specific scope of coverage and precision of expression. Populating and managing our backlogs is much easier when we simplify these differences.
daily standup
A Nuance on Standup Reporting
The Daily Standup is often regarded as simple and mechanical, yet it has multiple nuances. This post addresses two critical considerations for a Scrum Master about how the developers' progress reports are organized.
scrum practices
Cargo Cult Scrum
Each Scrum event is important, but an effective Scrum Master will understand that the nuanced outcomes of the events are the goals we should pursue
backlog management
Backlog Management Observations
Four vignettes on where a failure of Sprint Backlog discipline can create pain.
sprint planning
My Top 3 Sprint Planning Mistakes
The top 3 mistakes I have observed in Sprint Planning events.
distributed team
Distributed Communication
Distributed teams are the norm in today's software world, and working with a geographically distributed team brings its own, peculiar demands on a Scrum Master.
spike
Nailing the Spike
The misuse of "spikes" by agile teams is common and unfortunate. Properly understanding the unique semantics and goal of a spike is important for the team's success.
scrum practices
Scrum Master Threat Surface
For Scrum Masters the job market has become visibly unfriendly, and all of us must ruthlessly evaluate if our value is greater than the external market threats against our role.
Stories 101 for Scrum Masters
As a Scrum Master you normally will not write stories. But it is critical for your role as a Sherpa (an expert) to know how to guide your developers so they do not accept into their Sprint Backlog stories that are not well-formed and clear. Remember that your developers