The Hidden Cost of Big Backlog Items
In creative work like software development, bigger always means riskier. Large backlog items increase complexity, delay feedback, and compromise quality. This post breaks down why “smaller is smarter” in Scrum and how decomposing large Product Backlog Items (PBIs) can dramatically improve your team’s flow, confidence, and results.
Why You Should Think Twice Before Changing Sprint Content
High-performing Scrum teams thrive on focus, commitment, and trust. Yet one of the fastest ways to erode that performance is to repeatedly change the Sprint after it’s begun. While Scrum allows flexibility, it’s not a license for chaos. In this article, we explore why scope changes during a Sprint are so damaging—and what leaders can do instead to protect team focus and boost long-term performance.
What to Do Instead of Extending a Sprint
Scrum Sprints provide empiricism, part of the Agile core beliefs, which is why extending a Sprint is never a good idea!
Keep Your Daily Scrum Short
Many Scrum events seem simple, but aren't. The Daily Scrum seems to be the event that causes the most problems for teams.
Keep Your Work In Process Low
The fastest team productivity killer is working on 3+ backlog items at once. You'll end up with a team that's great at starting work, but lousy at finishing it.
Swarming Backlog Items
Teams that "Swarm" backlog items find it's a better way to get work done than approaches that lead to handoffs and continuity loss.
Teaching the Scrum Framework
It's critical everyone on a new Scrum Team starts with the same understanding of Scrum. A learning structure called “ShuHaRi” can be related to teaching Scrum.
I Think We Broke Something... Somewhere
Many organizations transitioning to Agile Development suffer from a preconceived idea that coding tasks and testing tasks should be seen as separate activities.
More Than Just Code
Plan your transition to Agile Development for the long haul. It's more than just code. Treat it that way!
Measuring Scrum Team Productivity
Measuring Scrum Team productivity is something nearly every organization wants, but performance metrics should really only be created under two conditions.
Backlog Refinement Part 6: Slicing Backlog Items con't
This blog post seeks to provide some tips you can use to help your teams successfully do large item estimation. Part 6 of my series on Backlog Refinement!
Backlog Refinement Part 5: Slicing Backlog Items
This blog post seeks to provide some tips you can use to help your teams successfully do large item estimation. Part 5 of my series on Backlog Refinement!
Backlog Refinement Part 4: Estimating Backlog Items
Keeping the Product Backlog estimated is hard because of constant changes. What's the best estimation technique? Part 4 of my series on Backlog Refinement!
Backlog Refinement Part 3: When Have We Refined Enough?
How do you make sure the Scrum team refines enough backlog items for the next Sprint? Part 3 of my series on Backlog Refinement!
Backlog Refinement Part 2: How Small is Small Enough?
How do you know how small to make your backlog items before you stop refining them and move on to something else? Part 2 of my series on Backlog Refinement!
Backlog Refinement Part 1: What It Is and How It Works
While coaching Scrum teams I've noticed how difficult effective backlog refinement is, so I wrote a blog post series on how backlog refinement works.
Estimate Like a Pro
Estimation isn't about knowing how long something will take to build but about determining how complicated something is, then using practical experience.