Tag: scrum grooming

23 March 2016 / Agile & Scrum
Surprise Surprise: Benefits of Cross-Functional Teams

Stage Backlog Refinement session.  Purpose  Our Product Owner came up with new stories to be estimated. 14 to be precise.  It required some preparation however.  We have 2 teams, and they do the Backlog Refinement together.  Around 20 people in one room, partly offshore, estimating together is quite a challenge! Meeting Progress The meeting was slowly progressing and at the same time the activity was...

19 February 2016 / Agile & Scrum
Splitting Backlog Items Part 3: How

In a sequence of blog posts based on our “Sharpen your story splitting skills” at XPDays 2015 to frame our useful deck of cards with splitting patterns, we bring you the last blogpost about how to split backlog items.  Background Many times during our session we got questions like: "What’s the best pattern?" "Can you give us advice on how to split?" "When to apply which pattern?"...

10 February 2016 / Agile & Scrum
Splitting Backlog Items Part 2: Who

After XPDays 2015 in our session “Sharpen your story splitting skills”, we concluded that some additional framing was needed for our useful deck of cards with splitting patterns.  This article is the successor of the "Splitting Backlog Items Part 1: When" post, and will handle about the people and aims to help you understand dysfunctions that make item splitting a pain and the reasons for good practices. Background Quite frequently we see...

1 April 2013 / Agile & Scrum
Most common mistakes in scrum ceremonies 2/7: estimating stories

Spending too much effort in estimating stories People have the tendency to spend too much effort on estimating the incoming work. Having some basics skills available, like high/low showdown, deal and slide and planning poker will help the team to make well educated estimates they feel comfortable with. These techniques are also designed to maximize the return on investment of your time when it comes...