Why a Forecast is SO MUCH BETTER Than a Commitment
The Scrum Guide says that a Scrum team makes a forecast during Sprint Planning, but managers want a commitment. What’s the difference and why is a forecast much better than a commitment?
A Bigger Product Backlog Isn’t a Better One
Product Backlogs should be relatively short. The longer they get, the harder they are to use effectively. In this blog post, I talk about why a large Product Backlog is bad news and what you can do to fix it.
How to Instill Strong Leadership Skills in Your Kids
As a parent, you want nothing more than to see your kids thrive. Instilling strong leadership skills in them when they're young can help pave the path toward future success. Read on for additional resources courtesy of Artisan Agility that can help your child become a future leader.
A “Reality Framework” for Metrics
Thanks to 20th century management theory, the world is filled with metrics and measures that are questionable. Many are useless. For example, a commonly used but effectively useless metric for knowledge creation workers (like those in IT, marketing, and other creative careers): utilization. Utilization is a metric that was meant to measure the percentage
Evaluating the Performance of a Scrum Master
Measuring the performance of an employee is never easy to do. It’s made much more difficult when we have a hard time understanding exactly what a person is supposed to be doing. In this blog post, we’ll clear up all of your questions about Scrum Masters, their accountabilities, and how
How We Kill Productivity Instead of Improving It
Around the world, people are getting sicker and sicker. But COVID isn’t the culprit.
Three Important Lessons for the Entrepreneur
Let's be clear from the very beginning - starting a new business is scary. The unending lists of things you have to worry about - visioning, messaging, marketing, product and service development, infrastructure - even if you don't do it all yourself, it can be incredibly overwhelming! However, it's also amazingly liberating. Take it from
A Little of a Lot Instead of a Lot of a Little
A piece of advice I find myself always giving to Product Owners goes to the very heart of how empiricism (the basic workflow of a good Scrum team) is supposed to work. It makes all the difference in the world to effective product ownership.
Outcomes Focused Teams and Why Sprint Goals Are Critical!
This is story about two Scrum teams that need to go from New York to San Francisco in ten business days. Because they have ten business days to get there, both teams decide to drive a car. The car they are driving can only be driven eight hours a day, Monday through Friday.
Leaders, Are You Ready For the Post-COVID Exodus?
June 6, 2022 – Updated to include the latest statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. January 7, 2022 – Updated to include the latest statistics from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The affects of COVID on employee satisfaction continues to echo through the United States and the
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!
Artisan News – April 2021
Included in this Newsletter: The New Certified Scrum Developer Program, Recovery from COVID-19, and a Return to In Person Training?