The Daily Standup

The Most Underrated Advantage of Short Sprints - Mike CohnA recent Gallup survey found that 80% of employees who received meaningful feedback in the past week are engaged at work.
For comparison, Gallup’s overall engagement numbers are often around 30%.
That’s a striking gap.
It suggests something many leaders overlook: performance may depend less on changing team structure and more on improving feedback inside the structure you already have.
When results lag, organizations often reach for the org chart. They reorganize teams, redraw reporting lines, or debate how many teams a coach or Scrum Master should work with.
Sometimes those changes help. But they rarely go far if feedback is infrequent, unclear, or missing altogether.
Feedback isn’t just a management technique. It’s a strategic advantage.
And agile teams have been building that advantage into the way they work for years.
 When people talk about one- or two-week sprints, they usually focus on speed.
 

• “We need to move faster.”
• “We need more output.”
• “We need shorter release cycles.”

But speed isn’t the real advantage of short sprints.
The advantage is shortening the time between action and learning.
A sprint isn’t a delivery cycle. It’s a feedback cycle.
Each sprint gives a team a natural point to stop and ask:
 

• Did we build the right thing?
• Did we misunderstand the need?
• Are we still aligned with stakeholders?
• Are we learning what we hoped to learn?

The shorter the sprint, the shorter the gap between assumption and validation.
That’s not about velocity. That’s about reducing risk.
 
Early Scrum teams often worked like this:
Sprint, sprint, sprint… then release.
That pattern made sense at the time in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was a huge improvement over what had come before. But it meant some feedback arrived in a big, delayed batch after the release.
Over time, many teams evolved to:
Sprint, release, sprint, release.
And today, many modern teams have gone further still. They release whenever it makes sense—sometimes multiple times per sprint, sometimes many times per day.
In other words, modern agile teams have largely decoupled sprints from releases.
So if sprints aren’t primarily about shipping anymore, what are they for?
Sprints provide a reliable cadence for feedback and alignment—even when delivery happens continuously.
 Many organizations treat the Sprint Review as a demo.
It’s not.
It’s where reality gets a vote.
The Sprint Review is where the team inspects what was built with the people who care about it, and adjusts course based on what they learn.
When that meeting becomes optional, rushed, or performative, you don’t just lose a ceremony. You lose your learning loop. And you start optimizing for finishing work instead of finishing the right work.
If weekly feedback really is one of the biggest drivers of engagement and performance—as Gallup’s numbers suggest—then the Sprint Review isn’t overhead. It’s how you reduce rework, prevent expensive surprises, and stay aligned with what actually matters.
 Of course, simply running one-week sprints doesn’t guarantee meaningful feedback.
Stakeholders can skip reviews.
Teams can ignore input.
The conversation can stay superficial.
Short cycles create the opportunity for feedback. Leaders decide whether to use it.
That’s where the advantage lives.
If you’re running one- or two-week sprints, ask yourself:
Are we using sprints as delivery deadlines—or as learning deadlines?
Because the real power of agile isn’t producing more every two weeks.
It’s learning more every two weeks.
And that’s a competitive advantage that will help you succeed with agileHow to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Corporate, Business or Functional Strategy? The differences between Corporate Strategy, Business Strategy, and Functional Strategy lie primarily in their scope, time horizon, and focus. These three levels form a hierarchy that ensures all parts of a diversified organization are aligned, moving from the broad, long-term vision down to specific, day-to-day actions.The structure of these strategies is often visualized as a pyramid, with the Corporate Strategy at the top providing the overall direction, the Business Strategy in the middle defining how to compete in specific markets, and the Functional Strategy at the bottom detailing execution within departments.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why, When, and How Do We Clean a BacklogTeams working in an agile way commonly use a backlog. However, teams often find that managing a backlog becomes more complex than expected once it begins to fill up.We can agree on the importance of managing the backlog. When used properly, the backlog should be the core repository for requirements (with product backlog items referencing other artefacts as needed). Yet, it may contain needs and requests from various stakeholders, each with a very different perspective. If it transforms — paraphrasing Allan Kelly, in “Moving Away from Backlog Driven Development: A New Chapter in Agility?” — into a bottomless pit, we will lose sight of what is important.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

How Are You Today? I'm Fine, Thanks...Have you ever asked someone, how are you today? Did you really care when you asked? How do you truly handle acting with kindness? How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Five Dimensions of Real Scrum Mastery

1. The Courage to Have Uncomfortable Conversations
2. The Art of Knowing When to Step In (And When to Step Back)
3. Creating a Space Where People Feel Safe to Be Human
4. Teaching Teams to Fish (Instead of Giving Them Fish)
5. Being the Change You Want to See

How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Is Sprint Planning Quietly Hurting Teamwork? - Mike Cohn
I hated group projects when I was in school. I didn’t want to rely on others for success. I wanted to be accountable for what I’d personally done.
Teams that are new to agile often feel the same way.
A developer will gladly take responsibility for their own code. But tell that same developer they’re also responsible for someone else’s code and you’ll often get a confused look.
And yet shared team accountability is one of the biggest predictors of whether an agile transition succeeds. High-performing agile teams understand: we succeed or fail together.
Until that shared accountability exists, people experience their “commitment” as individual. I have my tasks, you have yours. That mindset leads to predictable behaviors:
 

• People stick to the parts of the product they already know.
• They avoid work outside their primary skill or role.
• They optimize for being “done with my work,” not for finishing as a team.

So how do you help a team move from personal accountability to team accountability?
 
Team accountability doesn’t exist without personal accountability. If someone doesn’t feel responsible for completing work that is clearly theirs, they won’t feel responsible for the work of others.
A practical place to reinforce this is the Daily Scrum. Listen for whether people clearly state what they finished since yesterday—and whether they did what they said they would. If not, help the team talk about why, and what they’ll change today.
 
Sprint Planning is your next best lever. Near the end of planning, ask a simple question:
“Can we, as a team, meet the Sprint Goal and deliver these items?”
Emphasize that the sprint backlog represents a team commitment. If one person is overloaded, we don't wish them good luck, we offer to help.
That means  team members should speak up when someone is taking on too much, and then discuss how to lighten the load—by shifting work, pairing, swarming, or reducing scope.
Team accountability will always be bounded by skills. A programmer won’t suddenly do award-winning design work. But they might research image options, draft alt text, or assemble reference examples—small contributions that protect the bottleneck and help the team finish together.

One of the most practical ways to build shared accountability is to broaden skills across the team.
Look for opportunities for pairing, mobbing, or short “teach me” sessions where teammates transfer knowledge as they work. Then protect time for it. People will (rightfully) resent being told to broaden skills if they’re expected to do it on nights and weekends.
 
If you want team accountability, stop allocating tasks during sprint planning.
Instead of pre-assigning everything, leave tasks unassigned and have team members pull work from the sprint backlog day by day. This keeps work flowing, increases collaboration, and makes it easier for people to help where help is needed.
Personal accountability matters. But to succeed with agile, teams have to move beyond “my tasks” and toward “our outcome.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

The Lucky Green StringEvery year, St. Patrick’s Day turned the open floor into a sea of plastic shamrocks and forced cheer. There was a potluck, a “wear green or get pinched” joke that refused to die, and the inevitable moment when someone would nudge him and say, “C’mon, you’re Irish, right? Say something in Gaelic!” He wasn’t. His last name just sounded like it could be on a pub sign. By the time March rolled around this year, Liam had already decided: he would keep his head down, get his work done, and wait for the decorations to come down.On the morning of March 17, he arrived early to avoid the crowd. The office was quiet except for the hum of the lights. He dropped his bag at his desk and noticed a new bulletin board by the break room. Across the top, in crooked green letters, someone had pinned: “WHAT LUCK MEANS TO ME.” Underneath was a basket filled with small pieces of green string, each tied to a safety pin. A handwritten note said, “Take a string, share a story, pin it when you’re ready.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Is Agile Coaching a Waste of Money?Around the world, software organizations are desperately trying to improve how their teams build and deliver software. Companies will hire herds of “wise sage” coaches to bring them out of the Dark Ages but are often disappointed when nothing extraordinary happens. Despite pouring loads of money into coaching efforts, their applications still fail to perform, their customers are still not having their needs met, and it still takes forever to get an idea to become reality. This project is 50% over budget, that one has missed three delivery dates now, and nothing seems to be going as planned. While all this is going on, agile coaches are hard at work “making the world a better place.”How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Celebrating PI Day! “I finally see where I belong” often starts quietly, almost by accident. A student wanders into a Pi Day event because there’s free pie, not because they think math has anything to do with them. They expect to feel like an outsider again—another room where the “real” math people will do the talking. But as they listen, they hear a guest speaker casually mention being the first in their family to go to college, or struggling with math in middle school, or switching careers into STEM later in life. The stories sound less like polished genius and more like persistence, doubt, and small, stubborn steps forward.As the activities unfold, the room feels different from a normal class. There’s laughter during a silly pi‑recitation contest, teams arguing over who measured a circle more accurately, someone proudly wearing a homemade π shirt. Instead of being tested, everyone is invited to play: to estimate, to experiment, to be wrong and then correct themselves. In that environment, the student stops seeing math as a gate guarded by a few brilliant people and starts seeing it as a language that anyone can pick up, slowly, with practice.What makes Pi Day powerful in this story isn’t the number itself; it’s the way the day reframes who “gets” to enjoy math. The student notices a teacher cheering loudest for the kid who improved their pi‑digits record from 7 to 15, not just for the one who recites 200. They hear peers admit, “I thought this was going to be boring, but this is actually kind of fun.” For someone who has spent years feeling like they’re on the outside of every math conversation, that small, shared enthusiasm signals something profound: you don’t have to be the best to belong here.By the end of the day, nothing magical has happened to their test scores. What has changed is the story they tell themselves. Instead of “I’m not a math person,” it becomes “I’m a person learning math, and people like me are welcome at the table.” That internal shift doesn’t show up on a Pi Day poster, but it quietly shapes their future choices—raising a hand one more time, signing up for the next course, or even mentoring someone else who feels out of place. In that moment, surrounded by digits of π and crumbs of pie, they finally see where they belong—and it’s in the circle, not outside it.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/

Why I Switched to a Hybrid Approach and Tripled My Team’s Delivery RateAgile was supposed to be the answer. Stand-ups, sprints, retros, these rituals promised faster delivery, happier teams, and stakeholders who finally felt in sync with engineering. For a while, it worked. My team hit a rhythm, delivered features quickly, and felt engaged in the process.But over time, the cracks showed.Velocity slowed to a crawl. Stand-ups became theater. Engineers dreaded sprint planning. Stakeholders kept asking when features would actually be done. And remote work made it worse with Zoom fatigue, Slack overload, and endless context-switching draining the energy Agile was supposed to give us.At first, I blamed the team. Maybe we weren’t “doing Agile right.” So I doubled down on the rituals. More retros, stricter sprints, tighter velocity tracking. But the harder I pushed, the more Agile turned into bureaucracy.How to connect with AgileDad:- [website] ⁠https://www.agiledad.com/⁠- [instagram] ⁠https://www.instagram.com/agile_coach/⁠- [facebook] ⁠https://www.facebook.com/RealAgileDad/⁠- [Linkedin] ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/leehenson/