Is Scope Creep Anti-Scrum?
"Scope creep" is a term that I see being used by Scrum teams. I've always wondered if this term smells of inadequate Scrum implementation. It's an indication of traditional project management that's disguised in the appearance of Scrum.
To explai...
Why Big Bosses Say They're Tired of Agile (or, The Scrum Speech After One Year)
In my journey from a small town and poor farmer family of India to the "Big B's (Bosses)" of the world's largest corporations, I've seen some strange behaviors.
Whenever I set up an Agile transformation workshop or an Agile center of excellence i...
Micro PDCA: Improve Your Improvement
The concern about continuous improvement has been a constant at Facta TI since the company's inception. This concern made some practices emerge in a natural way, and they quietly became part of our days. In fact, they became so natural to us tha...
Agile Software Development: A People Business
Let's face it: People skills is not an area in which the software development community has traditionally excelled. The very traits that can help a developer excel at technical problem solving can often make him or her challenging to work with day...
Step 1: Use a Checklist
When you're about to engage in a risky activity, such as flying an airplane, it's wise to be prepared. The cost of a mistake may be measured in lives. Thankfully, aviators have figured out a simple but effective means to keep planes flying safely....
Should Defects Be Considered User Stories?
User stories and story points
A user story is a description of functionality at the lowest level of granularity that can be independently developed and demonstrated to generate feedback. Since, in Scrum, we focus on developing the smallest increm...
Becoming a Certified Scrum Professional
Considering the increasing number of companies practicing Agile, getting a ScrumMaster on the rolls has almost become mandatory. Consequently, lot of people (including PMPs) are getting themselves certified as ScrumMasters (or Certified Scrum Deve...