Index

A

accountability, 33–34, 41

collaborative teams, 41

organizations, improving, 145

Scrum Masters, 127–129

Scrum Teams, 33–34

adaptable teams, characteristics of, 46–47

adaptable teams, characteristics of, 46–47

adaptation, empiricism, 3

Agile Manifesto, 67–68

agile mindsets, 2

estimation and, 105–106

planning and, 98–99

agile transformations, improving organizations, 152–153

agility (business)

emergent solutions and, 157–160

self-assessments, 161–162

agreements (working), 29–30

alignments (planning), creating, 100–101

analyzing, 63

answers, analyzing, 168

approaches

context-based approaches (Scrum Masters), varying, 131–132

different approaches, experimenting with, 18–20

ATDD (Acceptance Test-Driven Development), 65–66

automation, “Done” increments, 66–68

autonomy, team members, 26

B

backlogs, Scrum Boards, 59–60

BDD (Behavior-Driven Development), 65

blocked PBI, 63

boundaries, Scrum Teams, 34–35

budgeting (iterative/incremental), 150–152

build stability metrics, “Done” increments, 69

burndowns

example of, 61

Sprint Retrospectives, 61

business agility, 161–162

emergent solutions and, 157–160

self-assessments, 161–162

business goals, measuring achievement of, 83–84

business impact, Sprint Goals, 56–57

C

career paths, 140–141

capabilities (individual/team), growing, 124

career paths (individual), 140–141

change model (Satir), 44–45

coaching skills

Scrum Masters, 132–134

Scrum Teams, 10

code coverage metrics, “Done” increments, 69

code reviews, “Done” increments, 68

collaborative teams, 4, 36

accountability, 41

commitment, 40–41

conflict, 38–39

consensus, 40–41

Fist of Five, 40–41

Roman voting, 40–41

trust, 36–38

commitment

collaborative teams, 40–41

teamwork, self-assessments, 167

complexity metrics, “Done” increments, 69

Community of Practice. See CoP

confirmations (User Stories), 88

conflict

collaborative teams, 38–39

spectrum of, 39

consensus

collaborative teams, 40–41

Sprint Goals, 56

context-based approaches (Scrum Masters), varying, 131–132

continuous improvement (self-assessments), need for, 12–13

control (illusion of), letting go, 146

CoP (Community of Practice), 126–127

courage (teamwork), self-assessments, 167

conversations (User Stories), 88

cross-functional teams, 4

customers, measuring

happiness, 83

results, 84

cycle times, measuring/analyzing

flow, 63

transparency, 63

D

Daily Scrums, 165

effectiveness of, 57–58

self-assessments, 165

Sprint Goals, 57–58

as status meetings, 172–173

defect metrics, “Done” increments, 69

Definition of Done. See DoD

Development Team, 28–29, 164

DevOps, “Done” increments, 68

diagnosing product problems, 84–85

different approaches, experimenting with, 18–20

distributed teams, 143–144

documenting requirements

Product Backlogs, 171–172

Product Owners, 171

DoD (Definition of Done), 50–54

benefits of, 51–52

creating, 52–54

defined, 50–51

Now, Next, Future technique, 53–54

PBI, 58

technical debt, 71

dogmatic Scrum, 14

“Done” increments, 34, 49–50

E

emergent solutions and business agility, 157–160

emotional intelligence, team members, 25, 26

empiricism, 3, 162–166

adaptation, 3

estimation, 105–106

inspection, 3

planning and, 98–99

Scrum Framework, 3–4

self-assessments, 162–166

transparency, 3–4

velocity, improving, 124

estimations

planning, 104–106

agile mindsets, 105–106

empiricism, 105–106

group estimation, 105–106

teamwork, 105–106

scope-based, improving organizations, 149–150

evolution of organizations, need for, 137–138

evolving plans/funding of products, 151–152

F

facilitation skills, Scrum Teams, 9–10

failure as success, 20–21

fast delivery versus feedback, determining value, 78–79

feedback

loops, 3

stakeholder feedback and value, 91–92

versus fast delivery when determining value, 78–79

flow

blocked PBI, 63

cycle times, 63

Kanban, 64

measuring/analyzing, 63

PBI, 63

Sprint Burndowns, 63

throughput charts, 63

WIP, 63

focus

Sprint Goals, 56–57

teamwork, self-assessments, 167

“force field” analysis, 116–117

forecasting

probabalistic forecasting, 110

Sprints, 109–110

forming teams, 42

frameworks

“Done” increments, 34

empiricism, 3–4

guard rails, 6

Team Processes, 6

funding

evolving plans/funding of products, 151–152

initiatives, 148

G

goals

business goals, measuring achievement of, 83–84

Scrum Teams, 32–33

shared goals, 32–33

Sprint Goals, 33, 55–58

governance processes, 169–170

group development, Tuckman’s model of, 42

group estimation, 105–106

growth (continuous), Scrum Team development, 125

guard rails, Scrum Framework, 6

H

happiness (customer), measuring, 83

HDD (Hypotheses-Driven Development), 87

hypotheses, PBI as, 87

I

identity of Scrum Teams, 5, 23–24

illusion of control, letting go, 146

impacts

quantifying, 121–122

teams, improving organizations, 141–143

impediments

chart example, 121

identifying, 118–119

impacts, quantifying, 121–122

prioritizing, 123

removing, 118–119, 123

stakeholder engagement and, 123

tracking, 121–122

velocity, improving, 124

“waste snakes,” 119–121

improvement (continuous), self-assessments, 12–13

incremental changes versus quick benefits, Scrum Teams, 13

incremental/iterative budgeting, 150–152

increments, self-assessments, 164

individual capabilities, growing, 124

individual/team development, 138

accountability, 145

budgeting (iterative/incremental), 150–152

career paths, 140–141

control (illusion of), letting go, 146

evolving plans/funding of products, 151–152

Iron Triangle, 146–148

organizations, improving, 138

performance reviews, 139

score-based estimations, 149–150

sourcing strategies, 141–143

team impacts, 141–143

initiatives, funding, 148

inspection, empiricism, 3

intelligence (emotional), team members, 25, 26

interruptions, tracking, 122

intervention, appropriateness of (Scrum Masters), 134

intrinsic motivation, team members, 25–26

Iron Triangle, 97–98, 146–148

iterative/incremental budgeting, 150–152

J – K – L

Kanban, measuring/analyzing flow/transparency, 64

knowledge/experience, Scrum Team development, 126

large releases, 113

leadership

Scrum Teams, 35

servant leadership, 11–12

learning

as value, 90–91

continuous learning and Scrum Team development, 125

length of Sprints, 109

M

managing Sprint Goals, 56

mastery, team members, 26

measuring

business goals, achievement of, 83–84

customer happiness, 83

customer results, 84

product problems, diagnosing with measures, 84–85

progress, 80

quality, “Done” increments, 68–70

Sprint Goals, 56

success, 80, 97–98, 129–131, 173

value, 83–85

mechanical (zombie) Scrum, 14

meetings (status), Daily Scrums as, 172–173

methodology, Scrum as, 169–170

mindsets (agile), 2

estimation and, 105–106

planning and, 98–99

misconceptions about Scrum, 169

motivation (intrinsic), team members, 25–26

MVP (Minimum Viable Product), 99

N

norming, Scrum Teams, 42

north (pointing), Scrum Masters, 132

Now, Next, Future technique (DoD), 53–54

O

one-day Sprints, 58–59

one-size-fits-all Scrum, 14

openness (teamwork), self-assessments, 167

outcomes (user), PBI and, 85–87

outsourcing product support, 142

P

pair programming, 125

PBI (Product Backlog Items), 58–59

blocked PBI, 63

Development Teams, 58–59

DoD, 58

“Done” increments, 58–59

experiments and, 87

flow, measuring/analyzing, 63

HDD, 87

hypotheses and, 87

pitfalls of, 88–89

product value, 80–81

small PBI, 58

Sprint Goals, 56, 58–59

technical debt, 71–72

transparency, measuring/analyzing, 63

user outcomes and, 85–87

User Stories, 88–89

valuable outcomes, focusing on, 106–107

performance

reviews, 139

Scrum Teams, 7, 43

personality, team members, 25–26

personas, defined, 81–82

planning

agile mindsets and, 98–99

aim of, 95

alignments, creating, 100–101

empiricism and, 98–99

estimation and, 104–106

evolving plans/funding of products, 151–152

PBI, valuable outcomes, 106–107

Product Backlog refinement, 101–104

product mindset, 96–97

“Ready,” defined, 102–103

releases, 112–113

Scrum Teams and, 96

self-assessments, 163

Sprints, 107–112

success, measuring, 97–98

pointing north, Scrum Masters, 132

practice, community of (CoP), 126–127

preparing for Sprints, 174

prioritizing impediments, 123

probabalistic forecasting, 110

problem-solving, experimenting with different approaches, 18–20

Processes (Team), 6

Product Backlog Items. See PBI

Product Backlogs

as request lists, 172

documenting requirements, 171–172

evolving plans/funding of products, 151–152

refinement, 101–104

self-assessments, 164–165

Product Increments, Scrum Teams, 5

Product Owners, 58–59

documenting requirements, 171

self-assessments, 162–163

product problems, diagnosing, 84–85

Product Roadmaps, defined, 82

product support, outsourcing, 142

product value, 80

defined, 81–82

PBI, 80–81

progress, measuring, 80

success, measuring, 80

Product Vision

defined, 81

enlivening, 81–83

productive teams, characteristics of, 46–47

progress

measuring, 80

Scrum Boards, 59–60

Scrum Teams, 42–45

Sprint Burndowns, 61

visualizing, 59–61

WIP, limiting, 62–63

purpose

statements, 31

team members, 26

Q

quality

building in, 64–66

build stability metrics, 69

code coverage metrics, 69

complexity metrics, 69

defect metrics, 69

“Done” increments, 64–66, 68–70

metrics, 68–70

trends, 69–70

R

“Ready,”

defined, 102–103

Sprints, refining as, 111–112

releases

large releases, 113

planning, 112–113

sizing, 113

small releases, 113

repaying technical debt, 73

request lists, Product Backlogs as, 172

requirements documents

Product Backlogs, 171–172

Product Owners and, 171

respect (teamwork), self-assessments, 167–168

results (customer), measuring, 84

retrospectives

setbacks, dealing with, 43

Sprint Burndowns, 61

reviews (performance), 139

roadmaps, defined, 82

root cause analysis, 15–17

S

Satir change model, 44–45

scaling organizations, 149–150, 153–154

score-based estimations, improving organizations, 149–150

Scrum

as methodology, 169–170

as “silver bullet” for development speed, 170–171

best practices, 14

common dysfunctions, 14–15

defined, 1

dogmatic scrums, 14

good enough scrums, 15

governance processes, 169–170

mechanical (zombie) scrums, 14

misconceptions about, 169

one-size-fits-all scrums, 14

root cause analysis, 15–17

snowflake Scrum, 15

undone Scrum, 14

water-Scrum-fall, 14–15

zombie (mechanical) Scrum, 14

Scrum Boards, 59–60

Scrum Framework

“Done” increments, 34

empiricism, 3–4

guard rails, 6

Team Processes, 6

Scrum Masters

accountability, 127–129

approaches, 131–132

coaching skills, 132–134

context-based approaches, varying, 131–132

Development Teams and, 173

impediments, managing, 123

intervention, appropriateness of, 134

pointing north, 132

self-assessments, 166

servant leadership, 11–12

success, measuring, 129–131

teaching skills, 132

upholding Scrum, 132

Scrum Teams

accountability, 33–34, 145

adaptable teams, characteristics of, 46–47

adjourning, 43

autonomy, 26

boundaries, 34–35

budgeting (iterative/incremental), 150–152

capabilities, 7–12

capabilities (individual/team), growing, 124

career paths, 140–141

coaching skills, 10

collaborative teams, 4, 36–41

continuous improvement, need for, 12–13

control (illusion of), letting go, 146

CoP, 126–127

cross-functional teams, 4

developing/improving, 138

Development Team, 28–29, 30

distributed teams, 143–144

emotional intelligence, 25, 26

empiricism, 3–4

evolving plans/funding of products, 151–152

facilitation skills, 9–10

feedback loops, 3

forming, 42

foundations, building, 23–47

identity, 5, 23–24

impediments, managing, 118–124

improving, 115–134

incremental changes versus quick benefits, 13

intrinsic motivation, 25–26

Iron Triangle, 146–148

knowledge/experience, leveraging, 126

leadership, 35

mastery, 26

motivation to change, 116–117

norming, 42

organizations, improving, 138

pair programming, 125

performance, 7, 43

performance reviews, 139

personality, 25–26

planning, keys to, 96

Product Increments, 5

Product Vision, 81–83

productive teams, characteristics of, 46–47

progress, 42–45, 80

purpose of, 5, 26

purpose statements, 31

score-based estimations, 149–150

Scrum Boards, 59–60

Scrum Masters, 127–134

selecting team members, 27–28

self-assessments, 162–163

self-organizing teams, 4, 31–32, 35

servant leadership, 11–12

setbacks, dealing with, 43

shared goals, 32–33

skills/talents of team members, 24–27

sourcing strategies, 141–143

Sprint Goals, 33

Sprint Retrospectives, 115–118

stable teams, 4–5, 44–45

stakeholder engagement and, 123

storming, 42

success, measuring, 80

teaching skills, 8–9

team impacts, 141–143

Team Processes, 6

teamwork, 4–5

technical excellence, 10–11

time-boxes, 3, 34

training, 126

transparency, 3–4, 144–145

Tuckman’s model of group development, 42

value, measuring, 83–85

velocity, improving, 124

“waste snakes,” 119–121

working agreements, 29–30

self-assessments

answers, analyzing, 168

business agility, 161–162

commitment (teamwork), 167

continuous improvement, need for, 12–13

courage (teamwork), 167

Daily Scrums, 165

Development Teams, 164

empiricism, 162–166

focus (teamwork), 167

increments, 164

openness (teamwork), 167

Product Owners, 162–166

respect (teamwork), 167–168

Scrum Teams, 162–163

Sprint Planning, 163

Sprint Retrospectives, 166

Sprint Reviews, 165–166

Sprints, 163–164

teamwork, 167–168

self-organizing teams, 4, 31–32, 35

servant leadership

Scrum Masters, 11–12

Scrum Teams, 11–12

setbacks, dealing with, 43

shared goals, Scrum Teams, 32–33

“silver bullet” for development speed, Scrum as, 170–171

sizing releases, 113

skills/talents of team members, 24–27

skills, Scrum Team

coaching skills, 10

facilitation skills, 9–10

teaching skills, 8–9

small releases, 113

solutions (emergent), business agility and, 157–160

solving problems, experimenting with different approaches, 18–20

sourcing strategies, improving organizations, 141–143

speed, improving, 124

Sprint Backlogs, 59–60

completing for Sprint success, 173

Scrum Boards, 59–60

Sprint Burndowns, 61

example of, 61

flow, 63

Sprint Retrospectives, 61

transparency, 63

Sprint Goals, 33, 55–58

business impact, achieving, 56–57

compound Sprint Goals, 56

consensus, 56

creating, 55–57

Daily Scrums, 57–58

“Done” increments, 55–58

focus of, 56–57

managing, 56

measuring, 56

PBI, 56, 58–59

Sprint Planning, self-assessments, 163

Sprint Retrospectives, 166

facilitating, 117–118

Scrum Teams, developing/improving, 115–118

self-assessments, 166

setbacks, dealing with, 43

Sprint Burndowns, 61

Sprint Reviews, 166

as Acceptance Review meetings, 173–174

self-assessments, 165–166

setbacks, dealing with, 43

value, 91

Sprints, 107–108, 163–164, 174

“Done” increments, 34, 174

forecasting, 109–110

improving, 111

length of, 109

one-day Sprints, 58–59

planning, 107–112

preparing for, 174

“Ready,” refining as, 111–112

self-assessments, 163–164

success, measuring, 173

value, improving, 89–90

stability, build stability metrics, 69

stable teams, 4–5, 44–45

stakeholder feedback, value, 91–92

stakeholders, impediments, managing, 123

statements (purpose), 31

status meetings, Daily Scrums as, 172–173

storming, Scrum Teams, 42

support (product), outsourcing, 142

T

TDD (Test-Driven Development), 65

teaching skills

Scrum Masters, 132

Scrum Teams, 8–9

Team Processes, 6

teams

accountability, 33–34, 145

adaptable teams, characteristics of, 46–47

adjourning, 43

autonomy, 26

boundaries, 34–35

budgeting (iterative/incremental), 150–152

capabilities, 7–12, 124

career paths, 140–141

coaching skills, 10

collaborative teams, 4, 36–41

continuous improvement, need for, 12–13

control (illusion of), letting go, 146

CoP, 126–127

cross-functional teams, 4

developing/improving, 138

Development Team, 28–30

distributed teams, 143–144

emotional intelligence, 25–26

empiricism, 3–4

facilitation skills, 9–10

feedback loops, 3

forming, 42

foundations, building, 23–47

identity, 5, 23–24

intrinsic motivation, 25–26

motivation to change, 116–117

norming, 42

productive teams, characteristics of, 46–47

progress, 42–45, 80

purpose of, 5, 26

purpose statements, 31

selecting team members, 27–28

self-assessments, 162–163

self-organizing teams, 4, 31–32, 35

servant leadership, 11–12

setbacks, dealing with, 43

shared goals, 32–33

skills/talents of team members, 24–27

sourcing strategies, 141–143

stable teams, 4–5, 44–45

storming, 42

success, measuring, 80

teaching skills, 8–9

team impacts, 141–143

Team Processes, 6

teamwork, 4–5

Tuckman’s model of group development, 42

working agreements, 29–30

teamwork, 167–168

commitment, 167

courage, 167

focus, 167

openness, 167

respect, 167–168

self-assessments, 167–168

technical debt, 70–73

DoD, 71

“Done” increments, 70–73

examples of, 70

PBI, 71–72

repayment, visibility of, 73

transparency, 71–72

visualizing, 73

technical excellence, Scrum Teams, 10–11

testing, levels of, 67

throughput charts, 63

time-boxes

feedback loops, 3

Scrum Teams, 3, 34

tracking

impediments, 121–122

interruptions, 122

progress

Scrum Boards, 59–60

Sprint Burndowns, 61

training, Scrum Team development, 126

transformations (agile), improving organizations, 152–153

transparency, 144–145

trends

quality of “Done” increments, measuring, 69–70

value, 90

trust

building, 37–38

collaborative teams, 36–38

U

undone Scrum, 14

user outcomes, PBI and, 85–87

User Stories, 88–89

V

value

defined, 77–78

fast delivery versus feedback, 78–79

improving during Sprints, 89–90

learning as, 90–91

measuring, 83–85

personas, 81–82

Product Roadmaps, 82

product value, 80–82

Product Vision, 81–83

Sprint Reviews, 91

stakeholder feedback, 91–92

trends, 90

User Stories, 88

velocity, improving, 124

visualizing

progress

Scrum Boards, 59–60

Sprint Burndowns, 61

technical debt, 73

waste, 119–121

voting (Roman), collaborative teams, 40–41

W

WIP (Work In Progress)

flow, measuring/analyzing, 63

limiting, 62–63

tracking, 63

transparency, measuring/analyzing, 63

working agreements, 29–30

X – Y – Z

zombie (mechanical) Scrum, 14