When in Doubt Ask “How Will I Know I’ve Done That?”
Tired of not knowing exactly what to create or test? Get in the habit of asking the magic question “How will I know I’ve done that?” In other words, ask the Product Owner (or whatever person you have...
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Agile Antipattern: Everything is priority 1
I was just working on some Powerpoint slides for our Agile Product Management Boot Camp coming up on March 9 and 10 and I realized I should post a blog entry about the point the slides are making....
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Agile antipattern: Code freezes during each iteration
Over the past 18 months I’ve encountered a number of teams where it is standard practice to have a code freeze late in the iteration. The reason given for this was “to allow QA to test what we created...
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New to agile? Do the simplest thing that works – THEN STOP!
As an agile trainer and coach I often see new teams struggle with a simple question: “How much to do on a user story?” A lot of people say the simplest thing that works is what should be implemented....
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New to agile? INVEST in good user stories
As a <user> I want <function> so that<value>. Above is a very simple user story template. How can something so simple be so hard to get right? User stories make up the heart of...
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New to agile? 3 ways to cut scope (and live)
The primary way I see teams release products faster is by reducing the scope of each product. However, this can’t be done in an arbitrary fashion. There are real business reasons for each feature...
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How to make a LOT more money using agile
Yesterday’s blog post dealt with how to manage scope for an agile project. Today I have to admit it was a bit of a setup. It was designed to set up today’s blog post which is really the important...
View ArticleAgile antipattern: Waiting for all the requirements before starting
Time for a short blog entry (I tend to be way too verbose!). I often see teams trying to make sure they have all of the requirements for their projects before they start doing any substantive work on...
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Agile pondering: Is it agile to have a “single wringable neck?”
In Scrum one of the named roles is that of Product Owner. Some people have taken to referring to this position as the “single wringable neck” on a Scrum team. This is because the Product Owner is...
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Patterns for Splitting User Stories
Update, October 2020: Richard’s latest story splitting resources are available at Humanizing Work. Good user stories follow Bill Wake’s INVEST model. They’re Independent, Negotiable, Valuable,...
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New to agile? Remember a user story is more than a card!
What’s wrong with the user story on the card? It seems to have everything we need: a) short title, b) a size (in this case 2), and c) a well-written story using the standard “As a … I want … so that...
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Agile antipattern: Sizing or estimating bug fixes
Is the bug to the left a large bug or a small bug? It looks HUGE to me! Well, in reality it is probably between .5 and .75 inches long. Not really a very big bug at all. Why do we care? Because...
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Splitting Stories in Chinese (or, 用户故事切分招数)
Thanks to Bob Jiang for the translation (with feedback from Evelyn Tian and Daniel Teng). This poster is also available in English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. You’re welcome to print copies...
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5 Key Skills Great Product Owners Have
Being Product Owner is hard. Actually, that’s not quite true. Anybody can make a list of things to build, call it a backlog, and bring it to a few meetings every month. Being a great Product Owner is...
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Reducing the Load on the Product Owner
Product Owners have it tough. They need to spend time and energy working to understand the needs of customers and users. They need to work with the development team to prioritize and decompose Product...
View Article80/20 Product Ownership Updates
A few updates on 80/20 Product Ownership, my online course that teaches you how to slice your work at every level of detail to get value and learning faster… New Bonus Units Not only do participants...
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Turn The Ship Around – A View Into Agile Leadership
Note: This post is adapted from some posts that I originally created on Adobe’s blog while I was an employee there. I recently finished reading former U.S. Navy Submarine Commander David Marquet’s book...
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Vertical Slices and Scale
Last week, I tweeted, Working in thin vertical slices is the keystone habit for agile software development. It enables so many other good practices. — Richard Lawrence (@rslawrence) June 22, 2016 Among...
View ArticleMaking Info Visible for Better Decisions
A key part of the ScrumMaster’s or Product Owner’s job is making information visible.* Whether that’s a product backlog, taskboard, cumulative flow diagram, or a one-off visual for a specific need,...
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Story Splitting Poster Now Available in Portuguese
Working in small increments of value—good user stories—is the key habit that makes the rest of Agile Software Development work. But people everywhere struggle to learn how to do it (which is why I’ve...
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