Pragmatic Thinking: Leveraging Experience to Navigate Complexity

Explains how fragmented automation and tool silos harm software delivery, and advocates for unified engineering systems and platform engineering to …

Scrum teams must deliver working software to real users every Sprint; true progress is measured by delivery to production, not just by completing …

Excessive handoffs in software development create delays, reduce quality, and harm team morale. Learn how eliminating handoffs boosts agility, flow, …

Using data, metrics, and feedback to drive continuous improvement in teams and processes.

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

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

Continuous Improvement is the ongoing practice of relentless reflection and adaptation, driven by empirical evidence, aimed at consistently enhancing …

NKD Agility helped SLB unify 800+ engineering teams by consolidating DevOps systems, standardizing processes, and improving visibility, collaboration, …

Discover why “done” means live in production—not just code complete. Learn to deliver real value, close feedback loops, and drive outcomes that …

Argues that the Scrum Master role requires proven mastery and real-world experience, not entry-level skills or certifications, and should be earned …

Explore proven strategies from Azure DevOps for building resilient, reliable software systems—covering transparency, automation, telemetry, incident …

Explains how Scrum teams can strategically allow unfinished work to flow across Sprint boundaries, enhancing throughput, responsiveness, and …

NKD Agility helped SLB unify build and release processes across 90 teams in 13 countries, boosting team ownership, efficiency, and engineering …

A cross-border product team overcame misalignment and role confusion through immersive mentorship, boosting collaboration, engineering engagement, and …

The Scrum Master is an accountability in Scrum, responsible for enabling the effectiveness of the Scrum Team and fostering continuous improvement …

Explains how to engineer a robust, fault-tolerant token counting server using FastAPI and PowerShell, covering error handling, retries, fallbacks, and …

Practical experience is essential for effective Scrum Masters; certification alone is insufficient. True expertise comes from guiding teams, solving …

Adapting based on evidence, not assumptions, through inspection and transparency.

Change succeeds when everyone understands and engages with it. Broad Scrum training empowers all roles to identify blockers and drive real, lasting …

Comprehensive guide to using OKRs for shared focus, measurable outcomes, and strategic learning, including roles, events, best practices, and common …

Explains how technical leaders can break down organisational silos and enforce better branching, team structures, and architecture to improve software …

Explains why promoting code through multiple branches slows delivery, increases risk, and suggests GitHub Flow or Release Flow as simpler, safer …

Measuring individual cycle time in Kanban misleads teams, hides real bottlenecks, and harms flow. Focus on system-wide metrics like PCE, WIP, and …

Explains how Windows OS updates shifted from infrequent, risky releases to safe, staged rollouts using ring-based deployment and real-time user …

Learn why simple branching strategies like GitHub Flow and Release Flow help teams deliver faster, reduce risk, and avoid the pitfalls of complex …

Learn how to upgrade legacy .NET and ASP.NET MVC projects to SDK-style for easier builds, modern tooling, and future readiness, including tips for …

Explains how self-managing teams in Scrum need structure and leadership, clarifying the Scrum Master's role in maintaining clarity, alignment, and …

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

Velocity measures how quickly teams turn ideas into value, using build, test, deploy, and feedback times—not just story points—to track real delivery …

Stop paying the hidden costs of weak delivery. Discover how a strong, shared definition of done builds trust, quality, and real agility in your team.

Unlock your team's true potential—discover why a powerful definition of done drives real business impact, customer value, and lasting competitive …

Unlock a smarter Definition of Done—start small, evolve standards, and build team momentum without overwhelm. Discover how progress drives excellence.

Stop firefighting late-stage bugs—discover how shifting left saves time, money, and reputation by building quality in from the start. Learn the …

Value in software is only realised through delivery. Frequent releases validate assumptions, reduce risk, and enable rapid feedback, adaptation, and …

Explains the difference between subjective goals and the objective Definition of Done in Scrum, highlighting how clear, measurable criteria ensure …

Tracking individual cycle time can harm team performance by encouraging task cherry-picking, reduced collaboration, and lower quality, without …

Stop flying blind after release—learn why telemetry is vital to your Definition of Done and how real feedback drives better software, value, and team …

Explores how effective capacity planning shifts focus from individual hours to system-level flow, using Lean and Agile principles to improve …

Evidence-Based Management (EBM) is a strategy for improving an organisation’s ability to deliver value by making decisions based on evidence, not …

Rollback is often riskier than rolling forward, especially for stateful apps. Safer deployment relies on progressive delivery and fail-forward …

Optimising the throughput of work across the value stream to improve speed and reduce bottlenecks.

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 fear hinders true agility in teams, emphasising the need to foster courage and trust for effective Agile, Scrum, and DevOps practices and …

A London flood shut down most datacentres, but Rackspace stayed online by regularly live-testing failures, proving true resilience comes from …

Many agile transformations restrict team autonomy, leading to control and compliance instead of true ownership, adaptability, and meaningful …

Agnostic Agile is a movement that promotes ethical, context-driven agility by prioritising principles over rigid frameworks. Championed by thought …

Common Goals are a first principle of effective delivery. They align strategy with execution, enabling every decision, every Sprint, and every line of …

Explores why team autonomy in Scrum must be balanced with alignment to strategic goals, highlighting the role of clear objectives and leadership in …

Explores key qualities of an effective Scrum Master, focusing on team empowerment, backlog management, collaboration, and removing organisational …

Explains how Scrum Masters are naturally chosen by teams based on trust, experience, and leadership, highlighting the importance of peer selection …

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

Minimising waste while maximising learning in product creation.

Testing product ideas with real users to ensure market fit and customer value.

Copying scaled agile frameworks fails because each business needs a tailored, evidence-based approach to agility that fits its unique culture, …

Struggling with technical debt? Discover practical ways to tackle legacy systems, boost team morale, and deliver value—without grinding to a halt.

Getting Started with the Definition of Done (DoD). Every team should define what is required, what criteria must be met, for a product increment to be …

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

Applying software engineering principles to ensure scalable and reliable systems.

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 …