The seven wastes of software development — Scrum is founded on empiricism and lean thinking. In a previous post, I highlighted how Scrum promotes lean thinking. It’s subtle, but it’s there. If Scrum promotes lean thinking, then Scrum should help teams and organisations reduce waste. “Lean thinking reduces waste and focuses on the essentials” — SG 2020 …

Focus on what matters, discard the rest — Scrum is founded on empiricism and lean thinking. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is observed. Lean thinking reduces waste and focuses on the essentials. — Scrum Guide 2020 This short, 32-word paragraph seems simple. …

A story of collaboration between silos — In Part 1 we saw that aligning individual goals under a common vision using OKRs was one way of fighting silo mentality. In Part 2 we saw that to pursue higher levels of flow efficiency you must actively look for ways to reduce superfluous work. This time, we will follow…

Repetition is the key to mastery — In a previous article, I discussed how Scrum promotes lean thinking. To manage complexity, Scrum also relies on empiricism. Scrum is founded on empiricism and lean thinking. Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is observed. — SG2020 In a nutshell, empiricism means working…

Organisational agility is all about effective portfolio management — In Part 1 we saw that aligning individual goals under a common vision using OKRs was one way of fighting silo mentality. In Part 2 we saw that to pursue higher levels of flow efficiency you must actively look for ways to reduce superfluous work. In Part 3 we saw…

The Efficiency Paradox — In a previous post, I introduced the concept of Bonus Driven Development (BDD) as an illness that affects organisations with silo mentality. One way to treat this illness is to align each silo’s individual goal under a common vision. …

Beware the local optimisation trap! — “Project X will have to wait. It may be important to you but we have our own priorities.” How many times have you heard something like this? How many projects, initiatives, requests (you name it) suffer unnecessary delays because of this way of thinking? What motivates such behaviour? In my…

If a Scrum Team achieves the Sprint Goal early, must they then continue the Sprint? — One of the questions in the Scrum Open assessment asks about the proper time to consider a Sprint as “over”. The correct answer for this particular question is “When the time-box expires”. The answer makes sense since Sprints are fixed length events of one month or less to create consistency. …