In which I share some links and guidance for getting started understanding Scrum specifically and agile methods generally. Quickest introduction Read the Scrum Guide. Essential reading To understand Scrum it helps to understand the idea of agile methods generally. The Agile Manifesto articulates the big idea of agile, that what's

In which I share and summarize resources about whether and when a unified "big" Scrum Product Owner role is preferable or when the role ought to be split between a Product Backlog Manager and a Product Manager. I have recently been in some discussions about how "big&

Agile Product Management with Scrum summarized In which I summarize Roman Pichler’s book on product management in Scrum, on transitioning into the product owner role. —— The product owner is responsible for the business value of the work of the Scrum team and for the resulting product, and has corresponding

In which I summarize and discuss chapter 6 of Roman Pichler’s book on product management in Scrum, on transitioning into the product owner role. Summary of Chapter 6 How to become a great product owner requires time and dedication Dos and Do nots Do say what needs doing. Do

In which I summarize and discuss chapter 5 of Roman Pichler’s book on product management in Scrum, on the product owner collaborating in sprint meetings. Summary of Chapter 5 So here’s the deal on what Scrum is. You take a small team. You free them to focus on

In which I summarize and discuss chapter 4 of Roman Pichler’s book, on release planning. Summary of Chapter 4 Release planning. The team should do it. The product owner should drive it. Mostly focused on the next release. Which should be soon. With less scope and more quality. And

In which I summarize and discuss chapter 3 of Roman Pichler’s book on the Scrum product owner role. Summary of Chapter 3 The product backlog is a beautifully simple prioritized queue of user stories. The DEEP qualities of the product backlog Detailed appropriately The highest priority items have the

In which I summarize the second chapter in Roman Pichler’s Agile Product Management with Scrum, on envisioning the product. —— Chapter 2 Summarized Here’s what I took from the second chapter of the book. The vision describes why the project is being undertaken and what the desired end state

In which I summarize the first chapter in Roman Pichler’s Agile Product Management with Scrum, on understanding the product owner role. Chapter 1 Summarized Here’s what I took from the first chapter of the book. (A previous post treated the preface .) Design by committee is problematic at best.

In which I summarize the preface to Roman Pichler’s Agile Product Management with Scrum. Summary of the preface Here’s what I took from the preface of the book. Agile practices involve close collaboration between business and technical people. product ownership has consistently been the major challenge and success

In which I consider Scrum through the lens of "minimum effective dose". I read a couple articles the other day about the pharmeceutial concept of minimum effective dose and applying that concept to other aspects of life. Considering treatment of disease with medicine, for any given particular person

In which I describe a proposed exercise for arriving at a Definition of Done. This post My Scrum team doesn’t yet have a written Definition of Done and we’ve gone a couple rounds of individual proposed drafts without feeling consensus, so I’m taking a shot at facilitating