The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad

4 Uplifting Lessons From The Life of St. Patrick: Stay Faithful, Even When Life Is Hard Trust in God’s Plan Step Out in Faith Meet People Where They Are

AMAZING Stories Are Worth The INVESTment!  Bill Wake came up with a formula for writing perfect Agile Stories called INVEST:  Independent: The user story should be self-contained and not dependent on other stories. Negotiable: The details of the story can be negotiated and refined during the development process. Valuable: The story must provide value to the end user or customer. Estimable: The story must be clear enough for the team to estimate the effort required to implement it. Sized Appropriately: The story should be small enough to be completed in a single sprint or iteration. Testable: The story should have clear acceptance criteria that can be used to verify when it is done. Join V. Lee Henson as we discuss some of the more fine details around this model. 

Sprint Planning - Should Teams Sign Up For Tasks? This is a GREAT Question.. Join Agile Coach Keis Kostaqi as we explore what she feels is best for teams to do at Sprint Planning! What a way to kickoff International Women's Month! 

How Long Should Agile Teams Stay Together? This is such a good question. I recently got an email from Mike Cohn where we have a bit of a discussion surrounding The Tuckman model, (Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing). My thought is that mature Agile teams should be self-organized and self-regulated. This means that they have the power to adjust in order to maintain an AWESOME culture. What are your thoughts? 

Should My Team Pull More Work Into a Sprint?  Not unless they plan to FINISH the items they pull in.. Join V. Lee Henson as we explore what we can and should do when teams feel like they can take on more work. 

I could very easily have given you a list of 750 important things to celebrate in your life, but I took the liberty to narrow that list down to the top 3... Whether it is my wife, my kids, or my faith, there are many facets that make an AgileDad tick. 

I was talking to a colleague a while back about the primary accountability of Scrum teams. They said that it is the job of an agile team to create value. I disagree. An agile team's job is to deliver value. There's a subtle difference between creating value and delivering it. For me, it's like the difference between baking a cake and making a cake. I can bake a cake–it only involves opening a box, adding water, and putting it in the oven. I’d eat it myself (of course!) but I wouldn’t want to serve it to my company. But when my daughter makes a cake she puts frosting on (the best part!) and often adds little decorative flourishes with more frosting. She might write on the cake. She might even add sprinkles. Her cake is finished and potentially shippable. It could definitely be served at a dinner party, or sold at a bake sale. Creating value is a start but it’s like a cake that hasn’t been decorated or even frosted. Delivering value goes further. It includes getting the new, valuable thing into your users’ hands. Creating a product that users will value is a necessary start. But the product only becomes valuable once it is delivered to users. When a team goes beyond creating value to delivering value frequently, it has learned to succeed with agile,

All companies want to be…Agile. It is like a sexy word isn’t it? It is the same as startups want to be “disruptive”. It is a buzzword, but what does it mean? In the dictionary, it means: able to move your body quickly and easily. So you move/act rather quickly and easily. Is your company an acrobat if it is agile? In all seriousness, the Agile Manifesto is a Bible for everyone who is starting their Agile journey, either through Scrum training or when a company is streamlining their processes. This manifesto is pretty simple in words, but when you are starting to implementing it, problems arise. The solution may be to attentively read it, put it into context and practice https://ritamaral15.medium.com/how-to-live-the-agile-manifesto-b282a8e33ee5

Clearly communicate the benefits of Scrum, such as increased transparency, better collaboration, and faster delivery of value, to the team. This will help them understand why the framework is important and how it can benefit them. Provide training and education on Scrum principles and practices to the team, and even to the stakeholders. This will help them understand the framework and how to work within it. Act as a coach for the team, helping them to identify and address any issues or challenges that arise. This will help build a culture of continuous improvement within the team. Encourage collaboration among team members and build a culture of trust. This will help the team understand the importance of working together effectively. Empower the team to take ownership of the process and make decisions about how to best implement Scrum. This will help create a sense of ownership and commitment among the team members. Celebrate the team’s successes and progress, this will help team members feel valued and motivated to continue working together. Provide regular feedback to the team on their progress and how they are implementing Scrum. This will help them understand what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Leading by example in terms of transparency and openness will create a culture of trust and respect, and team members will be more willing to follow the process. And finally, Be patient and understand that change takes time, it takes time for the team to understand, adopt and adapt to the new process, so be persistent in your efforts to educate and coach the team through the process. https://dejansoftware.medium.com/what-are-the-most-asymmetrical-problems-for-a-new-scrum-master-d586c7b7ba68

What do you do to show appreciation for your employees? Each year we have a day to celebrate those who work for us.. Join V. Lee Henson as he discusses how the team at AgileDad celebrates who works WITH us!