Operational Practices: Streamlining Workflows for Continuous Improvement

Explains how to actively manage Kanban workflows by monitoring work in progress, resolving bottlenecks, and optimising flow for greater efficiency and …

Explains how adopting Kanban improves workflow, predictability, and transparency for any team or industry, offering practical insights and benefits …

Learn how to move from traditional project management to Kanban, including steps, benefits, and tips for a smooth, gradual transition to Agile …

Explains how Kanban can be integrated with Scrum to improve workflow visibility, provide key metrics, and enable continuous improvement in agile …

Learn how to launch a Kanban pilot, define workflows, use metrics like cycle time and throughput, and foster continuous improvement for better team …

Using Blocked columns on Kanban boards hides workflow issues, causes task stagnation, and reduces transparency. Use tags to indicate blockages and …

Explains Kanban as a flexible strategy for visualising, analysing, and improving workflows, enabling continuous improvement and efficiency across any …

Learn how Evidence-Based Management helps organisations measure delivered value using key metrics like customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and …

Explores how practising moderation in Agile—by keeping backlogs lean, limiting work in progress, and focusing on value—boosts team efficiency and …

Engineering excellence isn’t perfection—it’s continuous improvement, clean code, and fast feedback. Unlock true agility with modern Agile and DevOps …

Optimising how often software is deployed to enhance feedback loops and value delivery.

Explains how Scrum supports continuous flow and agility by prioritising Sprint Goals, Done increments, CI/CD practices, and outcomes over rigid sprint …

Many Scrum Masters lack core Scrum knowledge and technical skills, leading to poor team support. Learn key competencies needed for effective, …

Learn how evolving engineering practices like Feature Flags, TDD, and refactoring enable smoother Sprint workflows and reduce technical debt in Scrum …

Delivering working, valuable software at the end of each iteration, ensuring value is incrementally added to the product.

Worried about cloud migration chaos? Discover why a hybrid approach beats “lift and shift” and how to align teams for a seamless, risk-free …

Using hypothesis-driven approaches to test ideas and validate assumptions in agile workflows.

Azure DevOps is a product from Microsoft that provides tools around CI/CD, collaboration, and agile project management. Other names are Team …

Team performance is a systemic indicator of how well a team consistently delivers value, reflecting its collaborative and technical delivery …

Many product development surprises stem from poor backlog management, not true unknowns. Regular refinement and reflection help teams anticipate and …

A Service Level Expectation predicts how long work items take to complete, helping Scrum Teams improve workflow, identify issues, and set clear …

Answers common questions about integrating design and UX work into Scrum Sprints, clarifying why dedicated Design Sprints aren’t needed and how to …

Inspecting and adapting the increment to ensure transparency and stakeholder feedback.

True organisational resilience means improving technical health—like testing, automation, and architecture—beyond just surviving incidents or …

Technical debt includes slow feedback, fragile systems, and manual processes that hinder progress. Addressing it early with automation and testing …

Technical debt limits business agility, slows engineering, and hinders innovation. Managing it with automation and transparency is key to staying …

Team issues with quality or delivery often stem from weak systems, lacking clear standards, automation, and leadership support—not just team …

Explores why traditional Dev-Test-Staging-Production pipelines fall short and highlights audience-based deployment for safer, faster feedback in real …

Drive high-quality software development with Acceptance Test Driven Development (ATDD). Define clear, testable acceptance criteria before …

Unlock engineering excellence with Azure DevOps—boost traceability, transparency, and developer experience for agile, high-performing teams.

Explores how lacking developer control over production, telemetry, and deployments undermines DevOps, leading to fragile automation and failed …

Best practices for enabling effective distributed and remote agile teams.

Explore and compare Agile frameworks. Understand their principles, applications, and impact on organisational agility and value delivery.

Delaying software releases increases failure risk. Frequent, small releases improve success rates, adaptability, and recovery, as shown by CHAOS …

Driving software design through automated tests for better quality.

Explores how inefficient processes, not individual shortcomings, hinder developer productivity and performance, highlighting the need for systemic …

Unlock seamless governance, security, and scale with Azure DevOps—integrated tooling that lets you deliver value, not just manage complexity.

Frequent changes to the Definition of Done reduce team quality and predictability. Consistent, enforced standards are key to reliable delivery and …

Platform Engineering is the practice of designing, building, and maintaining internal platforms that enable developers to deliver value independently, …

Frequent software releases reduce risk, enable faster feedback, and help teams adapt to user needs, preventing costly mistakes and improving overall …

Throughput is a delivery metric used to inspect how much work is completed per unit of time, enabling analysis of flow efficiency and system …

Staging environments can’t fully replicate production, often leading to false confidence. Real risk reduction comes from safe, incremental releases to …

Balancing backlog refinement prevents wasted effort and chaos. Aim for just enough detail so developers can plan sprints confidently without …

Highlights the importance of delivering a usable product each sprint in Agile, warning against focusing on process over outcomes and emphasising real …

Strategies for iterative and continuous value delivery to customers.

Deliver what matters. Shape systems and decisions around customer outcomes, not internal convenience.

Scrum Masters must have technical and business expertise to guide teams, improve code quality, and drive real agility—not just schedule meetings. …

Microsoft’s switch to 3-week Sprints increased team anxiety due to greater transparency, exposing inefficiencies but enabling faster, more frequent …

Ensuring backlog items meet a clear, actionable standard before sprint planning.

Explains why using blocked columns for stalled tasks on project boards harms workflow, and suggests better ways to highlight and address blocked work …

Explores how adopting a shared framework and structured communication can turn team chaos into collaboration, boosting trust, engagement, and …

Explains the Scrum Master's role in ensuring team delivery by fostering agility, removing blockers, and being accountable for improving team …

Enable Business Agility to rapidly adapt, innovate, and deliver value in an ever-changing market.

Managing and reducing technical debt to maintain sustainable development velocity.

Resilience must be designed into products from the start, not added later. Build systems to detect, contain, and recover from failures, making …

Martin is in EST for 6 months and available for hands-on consulting in North America. This month’s spotlight: How tracking estimation accuracy is …

Explores how technical excellence in Agile development reduces risk, prevents technical debt, and boosts product quality and delivery speed through …

The foundation of Agile: clean code, automation, and test-first development.

Many organisations cite software complexity as a barrier to continuous delivery, but real obstacles are technical debt and lack of investment in …

Managing the development, maintenance, and governance of software applications throughout their lifecycle.