TL;DR — While it’s good to think big, we need to act small, especially when we iteratively measure value in a CI/CD software release setting. Dang that Goofus and his IEEE 830–1998 SRS, why can’t he be more ‘Scrumtastic’ like Gallant? When I think of a small Product Backlog Item (PBI), I’m thinking of one that is reduced…
Tag: Scrum
N is for Negotiable — Part 2 of 6 of ‘Why it pays to INVEST in your User Stories’
TL;DR: If you’re looking to INVEST in your user stories by making them Negotiable, then for Pete’s sake don’t write them like requirements. Code by Contract As someone who prefers the Build-Measure-Learn approach to discovering and then delivering the right thing of value at the right time, nothing is scarier than reading the following words from…
Why it pays to INVEST in user stories
TL;DR — Love’m or Hate’m, it’s hard to deliver software that matters without user stories that are independent, negotiable, valuable, estimable, small, & testable. Here is one way you might want to make this magic happen. As you may be aware from some of my other posts, I attend some not-to-hush-hush meetups here near Raleigh where product…
Of course it’s okay to selectively incorporate SAFe® practices
TL;DR — As waterfall survivor I understand concerns over SAFe®. That said, I don’t think it’s necessary to toss the baby with the bathwater. I came up with the term ‘HyperScrumDamentalist’ a few years back in response to an overly-zealous scrum master who was more concerned over the letter of the law than the ‘Heart of Agile.’…
Of course it’s okay to split unfinished Product Backlog Items
TL;DR — The best refined stories of mice and men sometimes go awry. This includes dealing with stories sized with the best of intentions. I’m often intrigued — and sometimes amused — by broad and definitive proclamations made on behalf of the Agile manifesto. The following blog post showing up in my LinkedIn news feed being an example I’d like to…
A Cure for Sprint Demo Sleepy Heads
TL;DR: The better the sprint planning, the better the demo that follows. User Story As a product manager, it would be awesome if people didn’t fall asleep during sprint demos. Description When was the last time you spotted someone in your organization energetically skipping and hopping their way through the office singing “Whoo Hoo, it’s time…
You might be a HyperScrumDamentalist if …
tl;dr: A little hump day humor at the expense of cargo-cult agileistas everywhere. User Story As a product manager, I want to avoid prescriptive approaches to Agile. Description This past April at the TriAgile conference in Raleigh, I had the pleasure of listening to David Hussman give warning to the perils that await those who…