Agile Bites

If you're on LinkedIn at all, you've seen the classic "Efficiency vs. Value" dichotomy. While stating that teams should focus on delivering value and not efficiency makes for a punchy post, elevating one while ignoring the other doesn't make sense.

Caring about efficiency doesn't mean you don't care about value. If you care about producing value (which you should), one of the best ways you can do this is by increasing your efficiency, thus getting things into the hands of users more quickly and getting their feedback quickly.

So if the false "efficiency vs. value" dichotomy ever makes you feel like caring about efficiency comes at the expense of delivering value, this episode is here to tell you that you CAN and actually MUST successfully care about both.

Despite how "limiting" limits on work in progress sound, they're actually an excellent tool for improving your team's flow and speed. WIP limits optimize your team for FINISHING rather than starting. And that cuts down the time work spent in progress, getting features in the hands of users faster and you receiving feedback sooner.

In this episode, we're showing you the value of WIP limits (whether you're using Scrum or Kanban) and sharing approaches and tips to get the most benefit out of them.

People tend to have a lot of mixed feelings associated with metrics. They can seem intimidating and like a lot of extra work—or even an oppressive tool used by some managers. But when used properly, metrics can be the guiding star on your path to Agility.

In this episode, we're showing you the value metrics can bring (hello, better projections and team improvements!). Plus, we're giving you three simple metrics you can start using with your teams right now. And trust us—once you start, you won't ever want to go back.

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So you've got an idea that you think will make your team's lives easier, but the only way it will be implemented successfully is if they all get on board. So how do you convince those involved to accept, and better yet, support the vision?

In this episode, we're breaking down strategies for getting buy-in. And *spoiler alert* — it's not always about it being your idea.

Before you write this episode off as another anti-Scrum talk, hear us out—Scrum is not a bad system, but a lot of the teams using it are not who Scrum was made for.

Scrum was meant for exploratory development—the kind of development when you don't even know the next piece you'll be building—and most software development teams don't fall into that category.

So why are so many dev teams trying to fit a round peg into a square hole with Scrum when another system would be so much more valuable? And what do you do if that sounds like you? Listen to this episode to find out!

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Happy, Halloween, Agile Spooks and Ghouls! In this special episode, we're sharing three truly chilling Agile horror stories about the Middle Management Slasher, a shadowy project with no owner, and the treacherous Pit of WIP.

So gather around, grab your emotional-support sticky note pads, and get ready to hear some bone-chilling software tales of Agile terror.

If you've been listening to our podcast, you know we're not the biggest fan of themed retrospectives (see Ep. 1 "Retrospectives That Work"). But not everyone shares the same opinion, and some find them to be a valuable tool for their team.

In the spirit of sharing valuable knowledge and continuing the longstanding debate of themed retros vs. non-themed retros, we've invited a guest with a compelling argument for spicing up those retro meetings.

Hear from Chris Stone, an Agile coach who is an advocate and creator of hundreds of themed retro templates, as he shares his perspective on the value he's seen with themed retrospectives.

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Too many stand-ups (or daily Scrums, for our Scrum friends out there) have turned into status updates, and that's hardly valuable for anyone.

Say goodbye to everyone going around the circle, proving that they've been staying busy. Use your stand-ups as an opportunity for your team to come together and come up with their plan of attack for the day to stay on track as a group and reach team goals.

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Despite the coder stereotype, programming is not best done alone in a dark room. Building software is a team sport, and features are best tackled by tackling them as a group (aka swarming).

Swarming is one of the most powerful and effective ways to increase your team's throughput. But so many teams struggle to execute it. Find out how simple swarming really can be for your team and how it can not only increase efficiency but also morale.

100% utilization rates— we know it doesn't sound like the most exciting thing to hear about, but it could be the key factor that's slowing you down.

What if we told you that the people working on your project should not be as busy as possible?

Sounds crazy, right? But if delivery is your ultimate goal, optimizing your system for everyone to be "busy" could be working against your flow and decreasing your delivery rate.

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