Which SAFe® course is right for me? With the massive interest in Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe®) and the related SAFe Courses, we’re getting a lot of inquiry regarding the route we recommend for aspiring SAFe® change agents. In this article we create a mapping of the various routes one can take to become certified, and […]
INVEST in your user stories Why do so many of us battle with writing good user stories? I often see people that struggle with user story slicing and dicing. “Is it too big”, “where should I slice it?”, “can this be included in that user story as part of the same user journey” are questions […]
Join us for a brief look into the worlds of Traditional vs Agile testing. Testers working on Traditional teams Traditionally testers are only involved right at the end of the SDLC/PDLC value chain. They had no inputs into the writing of the requirements. During development they didn’t have the opportunity to quickly pick up ‘issues’ […]
A good Scrum Master needs to have these top soft skills to be effective in their role. The list is by no means comprehensive, please feel free to add more in the comments. Communicator – the primary function is communication and the use of communication to get things done. The Scrum Master is always facilitating meetings […]
The Agile Initiate Project Phase In the previous article we looked at the Concept phase of Agile projects. In this article we look at the Initiate phase. The goal of the Initiate phase is to confirm feasibility, and design and plan for development. The initiate phase is about Understanding quality goals of the product Defining key […]
Four phases to deliver value on Agile projects Briefly listed, the phases that we will be discussing in this series of four articles are: Concept phase – which is where we outline the goals, outcomes and justification for the initiative. Initiate phase – where we identify the foundations of the solution, build an initial prioritized backlog and […]
Purpose Alignment Model Background & Use The Purpose Alignment Model was created by Nick Nickolaisen and is therefore also called the Nickolaisen Model. The model is used to help people prioritize work based on purpose. It helps us define the purpose of product or project work that we are considering. When we know the purpose […]
A user story map, conceived by Jeff Patton, allows us to create a high level backlog of a potential product, or it may serve in organizing ordered backlogs. The idea originated from customer journey maps used in interaction design methods. A user story map connects software functionality to customer journeys and business workflows, showing how […]
Many teams jump into product development with only a vision in their midst. With the vision floating around, teams dissipate and start creating user stories through scoping sessions with product value teams, which includes customers, business counterparts, end users etc. Although the product vision is necessary, it is not sufficient to start a program right. […]
Part of the ‘Designing and Implementing a Successful Agile Transformation’ series of posts. Agile Transformation Critical Success Factors Vision An Agile Transformation, as with any change initiative or project, starts off with a vision. The person with this vision has seen the extraordinary results that Lean thinking and Agile Principles and Values bring to an […]