The Agile Daily Standup - AgileDad AgileDad ~ V. Lee Henson

Avoid Overloading Your Sprints - Mike Cohn

Someone asked me the other day, “Is there a maximum size for a sprint backlog item?” The simple answer is yes. A team should not bring any item that is more than half of its average velocity into an iteration.As an example, if a team’s average velocity is 30, and the team estimates using the Fibonacci series, the maximum size sprint backlog item would be 13. 

In general, I’d like items much smaller than that. But half of the average velocity is the max. 

To understand why large items create problems, consider a recent experience I had at a hotel. My room was on the 15th floor. That floor also had a handful of meeting rooms, each of which looked as if it held around 20 people. 

One afternoon, I left my room and went to the bank of elevators. Unfortunately, this was seconds after the meetings let out, sending hoards of attendees surging out of the meeting rooms. I suddenly found myself waiting for the elevator with perhaps 70 other people. 

Those elevators, each with a capacity of around 10 people, were not designed for a sudden need to transport 70 people. They were designed instead to transport individuals or small groups of 2, 3, 4 or 5. 

Each sprint is like an elevator. It’s very effective when you load your sprints up with a set of small items. Put something large into a sprint, though, and work can back up just like passengers waiting for an elevator. 

But what if the team needs to bring in something bigger in a certain sprint?

My first recommendation is to attempt to split the item into smaller items. (I wrote about 5 simple ways to split stories. Try those first.)

If you can’t split it, go ahead and bring the large item into the sprint but balance its largeness by bringing in some much smaller items. Doing so will smooth the flow of work from one skill to another, such as from programmers to testers.

Keeping things smaller will smooth the flow of work through an iteration, and will help you succeed with agile.

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The Top AI Tools For Product Managers:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoYxTrSg7WvRTz_2C1OAnHC2fkWTcQyxx

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Don’t say “No” hastily to any request
Be a part of the development team, not their manager
Keep your cool
Moderate the conversation
Be the presentation
Be confident, but not a jerk
Be proactive
Acknowledge your mistakes
Share the credit
Just be a great product manager



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People Don't Buy Your Product... They Buy YOU!

For this one.. You just need to listen.

~ Lee



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The Product Owner - Steering the Team to Success

Imagine a world where requirements are constantly changing, priorities are shifting, and stakeholders are never satisfied. Sounds like a nightmare, right? Well, that’s where the Product Owner steps in like a superhero to save the day.

The Product Owner is like the captain of a ship in Agile development. They steer the team in the right direction, prioritize work, and ensure that the end product meets the needs of the customers. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it!


Creating and maintaining the product backlog
Setting priorities for the team
Ensuring the product meets the customer’s needs
Acting as a bridge between stakeholders and the development team
Making tough decisions when necessary

To be a successful Product Owner, you need a unique set of skills. Here are a few that are essential:


Excellent communication skills
Strong leadership abilities
Empathy for the end-users
Decisiveness
Adaptability

Being a Product Owner is not all rainbows and unicorns. There are challenges that come with the job, such as:


Managing competing priorities
Dealing with difficult stakeholders
Adapting to changing requirements
Making tough decisions under pressure

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Scrum Has Transformed Itself

I’ve noticed that what we understand by Scrum is like the telephone game. Everyone interprets something, passes it on, and the next person picks up what they think is relevant. And to complicate matters further, it’s a changing game. Scrum is not static; its own creators realize its shortcomings and fix them over time. Moreover, after downloading the official guides, versions from 2010 to 2020, I’ve seen it has changed a lot. Things many of us take for granted as the foundation of Scrum no longer exist. And all for the better!

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