InfoQ Homepage Agile Content on InfoQ
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Working with Difficult People and Resistance in Scrum
How do you work with difficult and uncooperative people? People who are combative or unprofessional? People who seem actively opposed to the agenda?
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Scrum Training Exercises
Need to deliver some Scrum training? Exercises can be more effective than a dry presentation. These exercises teach Scrum principles and techniques.
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Game Theory and Agile Software Development
Game theory was initially developed in economics to understand behavior of firms, markets, consumers etc. Since then, its scope and use has expanded to various fields like politics, sociology, psychology and Agile software development.
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Do Use Cases Have a Place In Scrum?
In Scrum, requirements are commonly expressed as user stories. But is it OK to also make use of use cases in Scrum? And, if so, under what circumstances should you do so?
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Common Mistakes in Agile Adoptions
A number of commentators have written about common mistakes and antipatterns of Agile adoption. Factors range from over-reliance on tools to fixation with a particular process are commonly identified as inhibiting effective Agile adoption. The lists provide food for thought and advice on things to be wary of when implementing Agile.
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Effective Agile Meetings
Meetings are expensive. An all-day team meeting costs thousands of dollars, if we calculate the cost of all the people involved along with overheads. Hence, it is pragmatic to do a fair amount of preparation for the meeting to ensure that the Agile meetings are as effective as possible.
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What Agile Metrics Should We Report?
Good measurements support good management. So what metrics should be sent up through the management chain so management can best support Agile software development processes?
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Tobias Mayer on Scrum Alliance; Part 2
Tobias Mayer's career in Scrum includes becoming one of the earliest Certified Scrum Trainers, or "CST”, authorized to grant the Certified Scrum Master credential to students who attend his Scrum courses. His career also includes being banished from the Scrum Alliance and later reinstated by Ken Schwaber, the co-creator of the Scrum framework. This is the final segment of a very candid interview.
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Does Value Stream Mapping Work for Software Development?
Value stream mapping is a lean manufacturing technique used to analyze the flow of materials and information required to bring a product or service to a consumer. This process was successfully implemented in the manufacturing industry by Toyota and has been mapped to software development too. Does software development follow the same path as manufacturing?
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Who Wants This User Story?
Some user stories defy easy assignment of their benefits to a particular person. But how can we satisfy the standard "As a ... I want ... so that I can ...." user story template if we can't express who wants this work done?
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Blog Series - The State of Agile
The Agile Scout blog has put out a call for comments on The State of Agile. So far ten commentators have confirmed their willingness to contribute. The first five entries have been posted and some of their key points are reported in this news item. An eclectic group of authors from a wide range of backgrounds are providing their thoughts on how Agile has changed and where it is headed.
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Tobias Mayer on Scrum Alliance
Tobias Mayer held a high-profile role at the Scrum Alliance. He quit, and wrote a scathing blog post about the Scrum Alliance. In that post, he questions the Scrum knowledge of the leaders, questions the integrity of the Scrum Alliance board, and asserts that that the Scrum Alliance "has become the epitome of the dysfunctional organization that Scrum practitioners are committed to transforming."
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Are There Better Estimation Techniques for Experienced Teams?
The results of software estimation are important for stakeholders to take care of team allocation and budgeting. A widely prevalent technique to estimate in Agile has been Planning Poker, which is a consensus based. Does this way of estimating take too much time? Are there other methods which can be employed by experienced practitioners?
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Big Changes at Scrum Alliance
The Scrum Alliance has a new Managing Director, Donna Farmer. She issued an introductory email to Scrum Alliance members on Wednesday, soliciting feedback on the organization, and providing her email and phone number. Earlier, former creative director of the Scrum Alliance Tobias Mayer summarily quit his role in the organization, later making mention of the Scrum Alliance in a volatile blog post.
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Tips for Release Planning with Distributed Scrum
With teams in the US and India, how does one make release planning work? What if the team isn't even able to do their planning at the same time because of the time difference?