I wanted to introduce you to the cause and effect clock as a workshop tool for coaches Why do you need a new clock thing anyway? I have been putting together some rough playbooks for agile coaches lately. Not real guides but some rough notes for a couple of groups. In particular, I have been… Continue reading The cause and effect clock for agile coaches
Category: Implementation
Notes on story walls – story or task?
In my last article, I talked about "story walls" but in fact, I focused on task walls. The difference is minor but choosing one over the other can help improve collaboration among the team. Task walls, predictably, are about tasks - "today I will do task 1" while story walls focus on the thing being… Continue reading Notes on story walls – story or task?
Different Retrospectives and pre-mortems
Some different sets of questions to ask when doing retrospectives.
Dealing with baddies on agile projects
[Editors note - this is a long an obscure article that made sense to me and some people I explained it to. If it is not making sense half way through abort rather than continuing ... it either makes sense early on or does not make sense at all] I was running an agile course… Continue reading Dealing with baddies on agile projects
Clarifying agile roles – speed dating?
I went through this quick meeting with an agile class recently and I said I would post this for the crew to refer back to. In agile teams there are a couple of core roles and then the rest depends on the kind of work the team does. But we can give some more clarity… Continue reading Clarifying agile roles – speed dating?
Velocity is great but meaningless on its own
I just wrote a couple of entries on “velocity” and now I want to look at some of the implications of using it. Here I will be looking at how we interpret velocity and how we can use it. In particular I will be looking at how it relates to concepts such as “done”, “regression… Continue reading Velocity is great but meaningless on its own
What does a velocity chart look like in an agile team?
In my last article I gave a brief description of “velocity” and how I might use it in a training course. I ended up measuring progress in “coffee points.” This allowed me to plan my training topics and to share our progress during the day with the students in the class so we could continuously… Continue reading What does a velocity chart look like in an agile team?
Using value stream maps
A value stream is a “Lean Manufacturing” tool. It is a way to identify where customers experience value and where we consume value to provide our product or service. The approach is quite simple. Problem Begin with a problem statement (here are some templates). In this example I will begin with the problem that we… Continue reading Using value stream maps
Can I still use a use case on my agile project – even if the cool kids don’t use them anymore?
I have been told that use cases are very old fashioned now and that all the cool people have moved onto agile user stories. But I am old school and I still like to pull the old approaches out every now and then and take them for a spin. I found myself explaining use cases… Continue reading Can I still use a use case on my agile project – even if the cool kids don’t use them anymore?
The humble trade-off matrix
I have been doing some business analyst training recently and I spoke about a "trade-off matrix" a couple of times. A couple of people have asked for a good link to explain what one is and why they are so cool. So I looked on the web and couldn't find anything decent enough to send… Continue reading The humble trade-off matrix
James King 