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How to Implement Hypothesis-Driven Development

Practicing Hypothesis-Driven Development is thinking about the development of new ideas, products and services – even organizational change – as a series of experiments to determine whether an expected outcome will be achieved. The process is iterated upon until a desirable outcome is obtained or the idea is determined to be not viable.

Read the complete article here: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/how-implement-hypothesis-driven-development

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Christiaan Verwijs’ journey towards becoming a Professional Scrum Trainer

Becoming a Professional Scrum Trainer isn’t an easy task. You need to:

  • Pass a preliminary interview with Scrum.org where you demonstrate that you have at least 4 years of demonstrable, intense experience as a Scrum Master;
  • Pass the PSM-I, PSM-II and PSM-III with a 95% score;
  • Pass the Train-the-Trainer event;
  • Pass a ‘peer review’ by a group of Professional Scrum Trainers;

Read Christiaan’s full story here: https://medium.com/the-liberators/my-road-to-professional-scrum-trainer-a347f34fe65e

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Why Agile Teams Should Estimate at Two Different Levels

It is very common for agile teams, especially Scrum teams, to estimate both their product backlog and sprint backlogs. In this article, Mike Cohn will address:

  • Why estimating both the product backlog and sprint backlog can be useful even though it seems redundant
  • Why teams should estimate the two backlogs in different units
  • When teams should estimate
  • Whether all teams should estimate

Although I think you should not try to use hours for estimation, I agree using different valuations for an estimation is best. I find using T-shirt sizes for PBIs and Story Points for SBIs work well.

Read the complete article here, and also take note of some excellent comments at the bottom: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/why-agile-teams-should-estimate-at-two-different-levels

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Kick-start 3 Scrum Teams with a string of Liberating Structures

Christiaan Verwijs wrote an excellent article about how he kick-started three Scrum Teams using a string of Liberating Structures. The complete article can be found here: https://medium.com/the-liberators/we-kick-started-three-scrum-teams-with-this-awesome-string-of-liberating-structures-19b4a409cb8d

Steps he took:

  • Defined a clear goal (purpose) of the workshop
  • Used Impromptu Networking to introduce a little fun which would make it easier to make a personal connection with each other.
  • Used Appreciative Interviews to let them discover what they would need to become a successful team.
  • Used Nine Whys to discover both their individual purpose and business reason for the team’s to exist.
  • Used What I Need From You to express their needs from each other.
  • Used Min Specs to identify team needs and created a team manifesto.
  • Used 15% Solutions to identify what the first step would be for everybody to start working effectively with Scrum.
  • Used Social Network Webbing to close the day in a positive vibe.
  • Used a number of energizers and punctuations to take a break from the intense interaction of Liberating Structures.

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Scrum Foundations Videos

This video series is the perfect introduction to Scrum as Mike Cohn explains the fundamentals of this framework starting with the five values. It covers the different roles as well as the different ceremonies that are crucial to making Scrum work like the Daily Scrum and Sprint Planning. You’ll also learn about artifacts such as the product backlog. Finally, you’ll understand how Scrum helps you improve efficiency & quality with timeboxing, definition of done, and backlog refinement.

You'll need to sign up to get access to the videos here:
https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/exclusive/scrum-foundations-available-now

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Nine Questions Scrum Masters and Product Owners Should Be Asking

In the following article Mike Cohn shares his favorite questions to ask: https://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/nine-questions-scrum-masters-and-product-owners-should-be-asking

Two Questions about Estimates

  • I’m not looking for an estimate. But if I asked for an estimate, what unit pops into your minds: Hours, days, weeks, months, or years?
  • How confident are you in that estimate?

Three Questions About Team Decisions

  • What are three other options you considered before making this decisions?
  • What’s the worst thing that could happen if we pursue this direction?
  • What has to go right for this to be the best decision?

Two Questions about Meetings

  • Do we need everyone who is here now?
  • Should anyone else be here?

One Question to Ask When Wandering Around

  • Does anyone else need to know about this?

One Question to Ask During Daily Standups

  • What do you know that I don’t know?