The Self-Managing Team Canvas

The Self-Managing Team Canvas

In our team coaching efforts we have used the Team Self-Managing Canvas to grow teaminess. Teaminess is not a dictionary word, yet 😉 Teaminess refers to a feeling of being one in effort, behavior, and communication toward achieving shared purposes. For teams that are...

Eight Proven Strategies for Better Team Collaboration

Eight Proven Strategies for Better Team Collaboration

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it had taken place.  Too many meetings are ending \with unclear priorities, poorly delegated dependencies, and a lower confidence in the team’s direction.  It’s a hard challenge — and it just...

Visual guide to the scrum framework

Visual guide to the scrum framework

Visual guide to the Scrum framework is a great resource to get your entire development team on the same page and speaking the same language, as it breaks down the high-level terms, artifacts, and events in an easy-to-understand format.

Definition of Done : Why it matters?

Definition of Done : Why it matters?

One of the first things we recommend new Agile teams establish a “Definition of Done”.  A shared definition of "done" is crucial to highly functioning Agile Teams in helping them develop practices and behavior that drive quality, consistency and transparency. Why it...

CPR Technique

CPR Technique

The software world has misused so many terms from the medical profession that one more would not hurt. CPR - Categorize, Prioritize, Resolve. This is simple mnemonic that aids me to be methodical in my approach towards uncovering and resolving impediments. Categorize:...

Walk the dog

Walk the dog

This is a simple technique with a marketing twist to its name. This title came to me while coaching a team that was struggling to behave cross functionally and were paralyzed at delivering working software at the end of their sprint. It is a simple mental discipline...

Velocity

Velocity

Def: Velocity is the amount of estimated product backlog that a team can fully implement through product owner acceptance within a given sprint [time-box]. The amount of product backlog in the definition above is often expressed in terms of "story points" or "ideal...

What is Definition of Done (DoD)?

What is Definition of Done (DoD)?

DoD is a collection of valuable deliverables required to produce software. Deliverable that add verifiable/demonstrable addition of value to the product are part of the definition of done. Such as writing code, coding comments, unit testing, integration testing,...