50
votes
Accepted
How can a Scrum team work with a Waterfall team
Pretend the Waterfall team is an outside contractor
Since you're interfacing with the Waterfall team's code solely via an API, just pretend you're hiring an outside contractor to create that code for ...
- 615
42
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
Tom is an unguided projectile. Regardless of why he does what he does (whether he believes himself to be better or simply lacks proper guidance), the core issue here is that he not only second-guesses ...
- 626
39
votes
Developers can't see what they're doing wrong
I would like them to understand why I want to do something. [...] Any advice?
Don't theorize, show them.
Their current state of mind is that they know what they do works. And you come over and tell ...
- 8,436
21
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
Flater's answer is really good; let me add something that will also help: Acceptance Criteria (AC).
Acceptance Criteria
Every single story should have Acceptance Criteria, describing the functional ...
- 357
19
votes
What are "Consumed Story Points" in Trello?
Consumed Story Points: An Agile Anti-Pattern
"Consumed points" are a sort of burn-down metric that some practitioners use to track progress of a story against its original estimates. It's intended to ...
- 50.1k
19
votes
How can a Scrum team work with a Waterfall team
First of all, make it known to your stakeholders that there is a project risk in your project. The waterfall team is asking for things (final, unchanging requirements) that you don't have at the start ...
- 2,760
16
votes
Accepted
Sprint vs milestone vs release
Sprint
In the Scrum Framework all activities needed for the implementation of entries from the Scrum Product Backlog are performed within Sprints (also called 'Iterations'). Sprints are always short: ...
- 559
15
votes
Managing scope creep in Agile
TL;DR
Scope creep is a project risk, and must be controlled. However, in agile frameworks, scope is a variable constraint rather than a fixed one. To be an effective agilist, one needs to understand ...
- 50.1k
14
votes
Is gauging a team's performance using scores assigned by other stakeholders valuable?
There is nothing wrong with this type of scoring. This type of customer confidence score is the same general idea as NPS and a multitude of other score. Whether or not it is healthy is largely ...
- 16.9k
13
votes
Accepted
Difference between Scrum Master and Agile Delivery Manager
The "Agile delivery manager" seems to be an undefined/undocumented role, and from what I read in the job openings is mostly a combination of a Project Manager, a Product Owner and a Scrum Master. ...
- 5,543
13
votes
Accepted
Is gauging a team's performance using scores assigned by other stakeholders valuable?
Do other companies do this? Is it considered Agile? Can it show real insight?
No. No. No.
Why not? Because it's completely pointless. You said you have sprints. I guess they have tickets or stories ...
- 8,436
13
votes
What are the main reasons Scrum doesn't admit managers?
First, some clarification is important. Scrum does not expressly forbid any job. People in the Scrum Team can have any job titles as long as it respects the structure and rules of Scrum. Further, ...
- 16.9k
12
votes
Does running an agile squad mean that all squad members can do any work, or work should be divided based on skill set?
Cross Functional has more than one layer of meaning.
At the lowest level, a cross functional team simply means that all skills needed to deliver a usable increment are present on the team. At this ...
- 12.5k
10
votes
Accepted
Should we create an Epic for tech-debts
An epic is a large story. One that needs to be broken down into stories that fit comfortably within sprints. It isn't really meant to be used as a way of grouping stories together in a category.
...
- 19.5k
10
votes
Accepted
What are the benefits of queuing tasks as opposed to assigning them?
I will assume that the "push" approach is not only direct, but also immediate.
(Like when someone comes up to you and says "hey, Joe, can we roll this later today?").
The "...
- 267
9
votes
Accepted
Does SAFe yields better long term results than traditional Agile
First, I must say that my experience does not match the statement nor am I aware of any study that shows that. When SAFe or "pure" Agile are adopted well, they both have great throughput and quality.
...
- 16.9k
9
votes
Developers can't see what they're doing wrong
Simply telling your subordinates to do something they can't see the benefit from is a recipe for disaster, which you already acknowledge, so make it fun for them. Gamification may not be easy for you ...
- 199
8
votes
Are Project Managers redundant in a digital agency?
Disclaimer: I have never worked in a digital agency and I am aware that the role of Project Manager in Digital Agencies can be somewhat different to that commonly accepted in other I.T. operations ...
- 4,424
8
votes
Scrum compatibility with PMBOK® Guide
I think questions like this need to be answered with great care. PMBoK is not necessarily incompatible with Scrum but it has to be said that PMBoK started out very much as a predictive planning ...
8
votes
What to do with developers who don't follow requirements?
This is a problem most of the PMs face when there are really skilled Developers in their teams.
My answer will be a practical approach to handling this issue.
I hope you have been a PM for quite ...
- 181
8
votes
Client doesn't agree to put milestone in project scheduling
Here's one source: https://project-management-knowledge.com/definitions/e/external-dependency/
Simply research "external dependencies in project scheduling." Your schedule will simply be ...
- 37.1k
8
votes
How to ensure adherence to coding standards
In order to be cared about, standards must be understood.
You say that
a checklist[...]/checkboxes [are not] ideal
because
On previous teams, the coding standards were like an ethos that was upheld ...
- 14.8k
8
votes
Accepted
What is that SpaceX is doing differently that makes the company so successful
I have delivered several keynote workshops and talks about project management on SpaceX - everything you seek can be found in a careful reading of the book Elon Musk: How the Billionaire CEO of SpaceX ...
- 4,065
7
votes
Accepted
Kanban / Agile Goes Haywire
[E]veryone is assigning to my team mate although keeping me in loop but it doesn't make any sense. Where they communicate straight to my team mate. It seems like the process has been broken. (sic)
...
- 50.1k
7
votes
Team Member does not send meeting response via outlook
Before doing anything else, I would attempt to discover why he is skipping these meetings. Solve for X, not for Y. It may be that he has a legitimate concern about these meetings, and is simply ...
- 14.8k
7
votes
Accepted
How to sync work in small software team
One suggestion is that you shouldn't have a long requirements phase, followed by a long design phase and then a long development phase. Pick the most valuable part of the project and build this first. ...
- 241
7
votes
Accepted
Earning Respect of Team Members When I Know Very Little About the Topic?
I'm a manager of a software development team who was a designer. I started with almost no prior knowledge of writing code, other than simple html and CSS.
My initial view was that they are the ...
- 248
7
votes
Accepted
As a Scrum Master, how to handle management expectations on delivering story points?
You are doing the right things and acting as a Scrum Master should.
It sounds like you may need to do some coaching, explaining to the team, to management and to the stakeholders how Scrum works.
...
- 19.5k
7
votes
As a Scrum Master, how to handle management expectations on delivering story points?
Not sure if it would help, but an analogy I often used is comparing velocity to your time on a 5K run. (credit where it's due, I adopted the analogy from Mike Cohn) It's only observable. If you think, ...
- 16.9k
7
votes
How to structure standup for a large team?
How should I structure the stand-up meeting so that 25 people knows
what every other is doing?
You don't.
This is a X>Y Problem. Having a stand-up meeting with 25 people is a tentative to apply ...
- 8,615
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible