Agile Development Methods

Agile Development Methods

Agile Development Stories
Are You Focusing on the Right Thing in Your Sprint Reviews?The role of demonstration in a sprint review often takes on more importance than it should, even to the extent that some teams refer to the review as a demo. By focusing on the demo you risk having the team do all the talking, rather than a two-way conversation between the team and the stakeholders.
The Three Pillars of Agile Quality and Testing: The Pillars Explained

When adopting agile, organizations can be plagued with quality imbalance. Bob Galen found that all agile testing practices and activities can be grouped into three categories: development and test automation, software testing, and cross-functional team practices. He reviews these "pillars" of agile.

The Three Pillars of Agile Quality and Testing: InspirationBob Galen has noticed that when it comes to agile quality and testing practices, people tend to be either all in or under-practicing some techniques. But it is the interplay across practices that is most important for effectiveness. Here, he discusses his three pillars of agile quality and testing.
“Post-Heroic” Leaders and Agile TeamsSelf-organizing agile teams still need management, but they need a different kind of management from the autocratic style many teams in nonagile organizations have. A "post-heroic" leader is able to shift from an authoritative manner to a collaborative one as needed to optimize team performance.
Focus on the Most Challenging Parts of Your Project

We estimate to make decisions and to give an answer to the question, "When will this be done?" But estimation has limits, and trying to estimate too precisely in an agile project is wasteful. By driving the backlog based on priority, you can better deliver what is valuable to the business.

Meeting the Goal of Estimation

The classic discussion for agile estimation is about whether points or hours are better. But there is now a third option: a movement called #NoEstimates. It actually does involve estimation, but you break down work in priority order and estimate only when you know enough to estimate accurately.

Meetings: The Good, the Bad, and the UglyMeetings are a crucial part of the communication process, but they endure a lot of ridicule. You can’t do away with them entirely—meetings are essential to an agile process like Scrum. Rather than avoiding all meetings, it’s better to work at making the times you meet with people more effective.
Managers Are Still Good for Self-Organizing Agile TeamsWhen teams self-organize to deliver software and solve problems, they can be more robust, effective, and directed. But this begs the question: If agile teams self-organize, do they really need managers? Yes, they do. Managers help create conditions that help teams thrive. Read on to find out how.