Blog on Agile principles, practices, and project management tools
Meaningful Agile
ScrumDesk 6.31: Convert Backlog Items to Epics
Convert backlog item to a feature or epic Sometimes might happen that the user story is bigger than thought originally. In such a case the Product Owner had to create a new epic, enter necessary details and move backlog items to it. For such a situation, we added a new command Convert backlog item to epic. Select any backlog item card and choose click the icon in the side [...]
ScrumDesk 6.30.1: Clone Tasks
Clone task After few years, the agile squad used to find a structure of subtasks that are repeated for every backlog item. ScrumDesk offers the possibility to define story templates in such case, but sometimes quicker action is necessary. Clone subtask Now it is easy to clone a task by one click on Copy icon displayed on a card in the top right corner, or in the [...]
ScrumDesk 6.29.1: Improved Root Cause Analysis Editor + Kanban
Root Cause Analysis Editor We are glad to see more and more (and especially experienced) agile teams use the Root Cause Analysis editor to build a shared understanding of the reasons for their impediments. This way agile teams can focus on the true cause of the problem instead of solving some indicators. In this version, we redesigned the RCA editor and provided many new options so your analysis [...]
ScrumImpulz 2018, 6th year of the Slovak conference about agile practices
ScrumImpulz 2018, the oldest Slovak conference about Agile practices The sixth year of the Slovak ScrumImpulz conference will be held on May 31, 2018, in Bratislava. Like every year, we would like to bring quality speakers who do not only talk about Agile an Scrum but live by it in their real lives. There has been more than enough theories published in the past 10 years [...]
Establish self-organization in Agile Team
Self-organized teams are fundamental to the success of agile approaches. But what does self-organization means? 5-6 years ago we started to introduce agile to CxO of multiple clients. I remember that the most unbelievable for them was a term self-organized teams. Well, it was unimaginable to see people working without any Mr. Commander. Without somebody who delegates work, knows what is expected and how to achieve that in [...]
Who is Product Owner? The Product Owner Role description
Chooses the right things. Many customers of our consultancy services ask us for some brief and practical description of the role of the Product Owner. Here is our attempt to provide not just some theory, but some additional practical tips for this role as well. The Product Owner The Product Owner role is a key role responsible for the Return of Investment of the product. He is the [...]
Epical epic. Agile epic examples
What is an agile epic, what to use it for, and foremost how? Requirements. Small, large, technical, business, operational, and researchable. And above all, plenty of them. During four years of ScrumDesk development, we have more than 800 requirements in our backlog. And these are the only requirements that we have decided to implement without any further ideas that would be nice to have. It is, of course, [...]
De-bugize! Plan bug fixing in Scrum
Are you distressed by the huge amount of defects in the product? In this article, you will learn about what practical possibilities you have in agile teams and managing error correction. One of the first questions that pop up whilst introducing agile is how to deal with errors. Too often I hear an immediate answer: ‘Agile is not appropriate for fixing mistakes, it is a nonsense, impossible and unwanted.‘ In [...]
Hey Scrum Master and Product Owner! Do not overdo it with perfectionism.
Story A: Joe I’ve known ever since high school. Incredibly nice, funny guy. The one you’d like to have in a team. Scrum was always an interesting topic for Joe and he’d read many books about it and showed a lot of interest. When I asked the team who'd wanted to be a Scrum Master, Joe raised his hand saying he’d like to give it a try, if [...]
Training Lean Change Agent, Bratislava, 11-12 December 2017
In today’s environment, change managers are under increasing pressure to deliver change at speed. They’re having to adapt how IT and Digital projects are being delivered around them. Senior stakeholders are looking to change managers to provide novel approaches to make change happen. Time to change how we do change What do we need instead? For Change Agents, Managers and Leaders, adopting a Lean/Agile approach is one of [...]
40 benefits of Agile vs. traditional approaches
Last year many people asked us about the benefits of Agile compared to traditional ways of creating products. Because of that we had a short brainstorming session and came up with this list of forty advantages of Agile: A customer gets value regularly even during the first weeks of development. Products are usable after the first two weeks. Continuous risk reduction from the start of a project. Results are [...]
Drugs and Team Spirit
Teamwork is a part of my professional life for the last 20 years. In roles from a team member, team leader, to manager and mentor I had an opportunity to observe different team setups as well as different team dynamics and how it influences the final result. I have always been curious about these hidden influences behind how things work. Especially behind the teamwork. This led me to [...]
Course Certified Product Owner, November 2017, Bratislava
Trainer: Zuzi Šochová Date: 6-7 November 2017 Location: Bratislava, Slovakia NOTE: Please note that this training will be in English. CSPO - Certified Scrum Product Owner Course - is trained by Scrum Alliance certified trainer CST and you will definitely enjoy it. We look at Scrum from the Product Owner's point of view, covering several concepts on how to create a product and build Product Backlog. We cover not only Scrum but Agile Product [...]
Course Certified Scrum Master, 23-24.10.2017, Bratislava
Trainer: Zuzi Šochová Date: 23-24 November, 2017 Location: Bratislava, Slovakia Regular Price: 1200 EUR excluding VAT Early Price: 1000 EUR excluding VAT expires 23 October, 2017 NOTE: Please note that this training will be in English. CSM - Certified Scrum Master course is unique opportunity to look at Scrum from the ScrumMaster point of view. You will definitely enjoy it. The course gives participants hands-on experience using Scrum in an interactive form – the [...]
Please attend the sprint review. Make your sprint review great.
In the last week, I attended a couple of sprint review sessions. Some of you maybe call them sprint demo. Ok, simply to say, the meeting at the end of the sprint where you are supposed to show your sprint's achievements. In my case, all sprint review sessions had something in common. People were missing. About the sprint review In Scrum, the sprint review is a session that [...]