Sprint Goals: Why the Plan Matters Less Than You Might Think
This information will help you take a BIG step toward having product dev, service, and support teams be self-managing. (Yes, really!)
Sprint Goals: The Key to a Well-Executed Sprint
The 4 Keys to Making Agile Development Work for Your Company
Do Scrum Team Members have to be Full Time? #AskArtisan
Scrum Team members CAN be part-time, but this week’s #AskArtisan video shares insight on helping them maximize their time, and pitfalls to look out for.
How Many People Should be on One Scrum Team? #AskArtisan
I'm often asked about the ideal number of people on one Scrum Team, but maybe a better question is why and how any number becomes too many?
Why a Forecast is SO MUCH BETTER Than a Commitment
How We Kill Productivity Instead of Improving It
A Little of a Lot Instead of a Lot of a Little
Development and Support at the Same Time?
How can a development team focus on max product value while also handling support-based interruptions? Here are a few things to pay attention to!
The Importance of Value to the Product Owner
Understanding outcome value isn’t just beneficial, it’s critically important. After all, delivering value is our priority!
It's All About Value
One small change can make a BIG difference to your Product Owner success. Before worrying about putting value on backlog items, here's some simple tips.
Simplify Your Work by Slicing
When slicing a backlog item, we're taking a complex problem and paring it down into smaller problems, which are easier to solve and build.
Should Scrum Teams be Dedicated to a Single Product?
Should Scrum teams be dedicated to a single product? The truth is, there's times when you want a dedicated team and times when you don't. Let me explain!
Get the Problem Right or You'll Get the Solution Wrong
Good software solves the customer's problems, but to provide the right solution, you must start with the right problem.
5 Ways to At Least DOUBLE Team Performance
Here's 5 steps you can take as a manager or ScrumMaster to help DOUBLE your Development Team's performance (#5 is a shocker; it's easy but SUPER non-intuitive!)
Speeding up Your Scrum Teams
Effective Scrum use is more than Sprint Planning, Daily Scrums, and so on. To see a big difference in your team's Sprints, make these workflow changes.
What Do Testers REALLY Do On a Scrum Team?
Analysis, design, coding, and testing are done constantly rather than in phases, meaning testing ISN'T just a phase but an ongoing part of Agile Development.
Self-Managing Teams
When I teach or coach people about Scrum, we talk about self-organization, but the importance of self-organizational principles cannot be understated.
The Specialist Bottleneck: A Real Challenge in Agile Teams
Scarce specialists like technical writers, DBAs, and UX analysts often become overloaded in Agile environments. Assigning them to multiple Scrum teams seems like a fix—but leads to delays, frustration, and poor outcomes. This article offers 5 proven strategies to solve the specialist bottleneck while improving flow, reducing risk, and enhancing learning across teams.
Why Shorter Sprints Give You a Competitive Edge
Shorter Sprints aren’t just a trend—they’re a strategic advantage. While Scrum allows Sprint lengths up to one calendar month, more and more teams are choosing to run 1- or 2-week Sprints. This post explores why shorter cycles reduce complexity, increase adaptability, and result in higher-performing teams—and how to experiment with Sprint length to find your team’s sweet spot.