People & Teams

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Santa checking list Would Santa Claus Make a Good Product Owner?

The elves working on Project Santa—you know, the big delivery that happens every December 24—have decided to go agile. But Santa, the product owner, is busy and not always available to answer questions or provide guidance. What kind of suggestions and improvements should they address in their retrospective?

Dave Browett's picture Dave Browett
cross out waste Use Lean Thinking to Accelerate DevOps Performance for Agile Teams

Leaders in agile organizations should consider adding lean techniques to their DevOps practices. Lean thinking can accelerate DevOps delivery by providing a set of processes and principles to help create more beneficial products, save money, boost productivity, reduce waste, and map to value.

Gail Ferreira's picture Gail Ferreira
writing in a notebook Pair Writing: The Benefits of Working with a Partner

For many, pair programming delivers benefits such as increased focus, improved team relationships, and better code. Tom Breur and Michael Mahlberg found that pair writing can work, too, and the advantages bear a lot of resemblance to those of pair programming—more concentration, productive feedback, and better writing.

Tom Breur's picture Tom Breur Michael Mahlberg
rugby What Rugby Can Teach You about Trust in Agile Teams

Unconditional support, trust, respect, generosity, and courage are the behavioral values required for agile—and also for rugby. On the surface, the software development methodology and the rough team sport may seem to have little in common. But Luis Novella writes that rugby can actually teach you a lot about agile.

Luis Novella's picture Luis Novella
globe Rethinking Workflow for Virtual Teams

When you switch from working in an office with all your coworkers right beside you to working remotely and collaborating with people in other countries or even time zones, you have to change more about how you work than just the way you communicate. Magnus Ljadas details how his virtual team modified their tools, infrastructure, and processes.

Magnus Ljadas's picture Magnus Ljadas
Agile leadership Seven Signs of Great Agile Leadership

Agile teams are self-organizing, which means they do not need supervisors—at least in theory. But they do need leaders to create a shared vision of what the product will be. And having an agile team means that anyone can step up … including you. Lanette Creamer outlines seven qualities possessed by great agile leaders.

Lanette  Creamer's picture Lanette Creamer
Five ways 5 Ways Testers Can Mitigate Practical Risks in an Agile Team

Testers who analyze quality in every aspect of the team’s deliverables also have a responsibility to mitigate risks and practical issues that are bound to come up, and help the team succeed in their product as well as at being agile. Here are five such issues that testers can help the team alleviate or avoid.

Nishi Grover's picture Nishi Grover
Definition of done How Agile Teams Should Use the Definition of Done

The definition of done is an informal checklist that the team agrees applies to all pieces of work. But how does the definition compare to acceptance criteria? And should it apply to every task, or every story? How often should you review or change your definition? Allan Kelly helps you navigate your team's definition of done.

Allan Kelly's picture Allan Kelly
Scrum standup meeting The Scrum Daily Standup Meeting: Your Questions Answered

The daily standup, or daily scrum, is a short meeting the team uses to briefly communicate work commitments with each other. Dick Carlson answers some questions that agile teams, management, stakeholders, and those who are thinking about transitioning to agile commonly have about these daily standup meetings.

Dick Carlson's picture Dick Carlson
Test automation Test Automation in the Agile World

After decades of talking about test automation, the agile movement suddenly seems to be taking it seriously. You might be wondering what all the buzz is about. Sanjay Zalavadia talks about why test tooling is suddenly so critical, when teams should think of automating, and how to bring the change so that your team will embrace it.

Sanjay Zalavadia's picture Sanjay Zalavadia

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