The Overlooked Virtue of Agility: Diligence
Explores why diligence—consistent attention to quality and standards—is vital in Agile teams, how it’s often overlooked, and practical steps to foster …
Techniques and methodologies for high-quality software engineering.
Software Development encompasses the techniques and methodologies employed to engineer high-quality software solutions that meet user needs and business objectives. It is a systematic approach that integrates various practices, including Agile, Lean, and DevOps, to enhance collaboration, efficiency, and adaptability within teams. This concept is crucial as it enables organisations to deliver value predictably and sustainably, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and responsiveness to change.
By focusing on iterative development, teams can quickly adapt to feedback and evolving requirements, ensuring that the software remains relevant and effective. The emphasis on automation, testing, and integration within Software Development practices reduces the risk of defects and accelerates delivery cycles, allowing for frequent releases that enhance customer satisfaction. Moreover, it promotes a holistic view of the software lifecycle, encouraging cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing among team members.
This long-term, systemic approach not only improves the quality of the software produced but also cultivates an environment where innovation thrives, enabling organisations to remain competitive in a rapidly changing market. The integration of evidence-based management principles further supports informed decision-making, ensuring that teams can navigate complexity and uncertainty effectively. By prioritising these practices, organisations can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage through enhanced software development capabilities that align with their strategic goals and customer expectations.
Explores why diligence—consistent attention to quality and standards—is vital in Agile teams, how it’s often overlooked, and practical steps to foster …
Explains why a clear Definition of Done is vital in Agile and Scrum for quality delivery, transparency, and risk mitigation, with tips for team …
Learn to spot six key signs of sloth in Agile teams, including missed deliveries, ignored feedback, rigid processes, and lack of adaptation, to …
Understand and apply Agile Values and Principles based on first principles. Build a foundation for true agility and continuous value delivery
Learn how Evidence-Based Management uses data to guide Agile teams, improve decision-making, track value, and boost innovation, customer satisfaction, …
Delivering usable, working products frequently is key to reducing risk in Agile. Focus on feedback, automation, and lean practices over excessive …
Explains how to gather key metrics for evidence-based management in software organisations, focusing on value delivery, time to market, and ability to …
Explains why rejecting individual backlog items at Sprint Review is a misconception, highlighting Scrum’s focus on learning, collaboration, and …
The Definition of Done can evolve to improve quality but should not be weakened or vary per backlog item. Consistency ensures transparency and …
The US Department of Defence now requires agile, iterative software development, ending mandatory waterfall methods and influencing global government …
Explains how modern business applications use continuous delivery to release new features frequently, reduce risk, and improve customer satisfaction …
Resilience must be built into products from the start, ensuring they withstand failures like outages or network loss, rather than being treated as an …
Many product development surprises stem from poor backlog management, not true unknowns. Regular refinement and reflection help teams anticipate and …
Explains why relying on story points and velocity signals team immaturity in Scrum, and highlights better ways to build confidence and predictability …
Explains the importance of passing builds, common causes of build failures, how to identify issues and responsible users, and best practices for build …
Learn how to spot fake Agile practices using six key questions from the US Department of Defense, and discover steps to assess and improve true Agile …
A practical guide to Evidence-Based Management, showing how organisations use experiments, feedback, and key value areas to improve value delivery …
Explains why Sprints are valuable even with continuous delivery, highlighting benefits for planning, feedback, communication, and predictability in …
Provides ALM consulting, training, and assessments across Scotland, UK, and Europe, specialising in lean-agile, TFS, Visual Studio, Scrum, and process …
Covers presenting Visual Studio ALM features and the process of upgrading from TFS 2010 to TFS 2012, including benefits, challenges, and key …
Reflects on lessons learned at SSW in software process, technology, and communication, and details a career move to an ALM consultant role at …
Understand the Agile philosophy and its impact on organisations. Go beyond frameworks to explore Agile as a guiding ethos for value delivery.
Explores the difference between adopting agile practices superficially and truly embracing agile values, highlighting the need for deep organisational …
Explores challenges and solutions for manual testing in agile software development, focusing on tracking, automation, actionable bugs, and integrated …
Explores how Scrum Masters and Product Owners balance leadership, authority, and team autonomy to ensure accountability, effective self-management, …
Explores how automation boosts software development by reducing errors, speeding up deployments, and ensuring consistent, high-quality releases in …
Overview of a session at NDC London demonstrating new features in Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Online, with end-to-end ALM demos for .NET …
Explores how greed in Agile leads to overwork and reduced value, offering strategies for value-driven delivery, balanced sprints, team trust, and …
Compares Agile’s risk mitigation through incremental, usable products with traditional project management’s reliance on documentation, highlighting …
Reflects on experiences with Professional Scrum, highlighting its impact on software development, team culture, training, and the challenges of …
Scrum Masters require proven expertise, not entry-level skills. Hiring juniors in this role risks team performance and agile success; experience is …
Explains how Kaizen’s continuous improvement principles enhance Scrum and Agile teams, with practical tips for retrospectives, workflow optimisation, …
Explains how involving everyone in Professional Scrum training fosters organisational agility, breaks down silos, and empowers teams to drive …
Explains why treating bugs as tasks in Azure DevOps is an anti-pattern, its impact on transparency, quality, and planning, and offers guidance for …
Explores whether Scrum Teams should adopt No Estimates, comparing estimation methods, team maturity, and metrics like cycle time, throughput, WIP, and …
Explains how to use a single Team Project and Team Field in TFS to streamline cross-team work item tracking, reporting, and collaboration across …
Ensuring every team member understands and connects their daily work to the product vision and strategic goals is key to true Agile alignment, …
The biggest challenge with new scrum teams is overcoming misconceptions about scrum and shifting focus from process mechanics to core agile principles …
Explores whether Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) is a useful term, its role in agile software delivery, and differences in adoption across …
A personal account of moving from traditional project management to Agile, highlighting lessons learned with Scrum and DevOps to improve teamwork, …
Explains how Agile teams can measure and improve Time to Market using key metrics like lead time, cycle time, and time to fix to deliver value to …
Explores how visionary Product Owners at Microsoft drove Agile transformation, shortened feedback cycles, and reshaped product development culture and …
Professional Scrum training introduced Ghana Police officers to Agile methods, using hands-on sprints to support organisational change and …
Learn how to diagnose and resolve partially succeeded builds in Team Foundation Build Services 2010 by tracing test failures, identifying code issues, …
Explores how Agile teams can avoid overloading backlogs, Sprints, and products by focusing on prioritisation, value delivery, and lean, effective …
Learn best practices for organising solution and project files in version control, including folder structure, naming conventions, and branching for …
Identifies seven common Agile pitfalls—quick fixes, backlog overload, resource focus, lack of accountability, blame, imitation, and pride—and offers …
Explains recent changes to Scrum aimed at reducing rigidity, clarifying core practices, and providing a checklist to help teams assess if they are …
Explores how software factories, web services, and specialised development teams can speed up software delivery, improve adaptability, and meet …
The PSU course bridges the gap in product development by integrating user experience and design into Scrum, enabling teams to deliver more valuable, …
Agile emphasises values and principles to guide teams through complex, uncertain work, enabling adaptation and improvement where fixed steps cannot …
Explains how to integrate Design Sprint activities within Scrum by embedding design and UX work into regular sprints and backlog refinement, avoiding …
Summary of a multi-team Professional Scrum training at DFDS Seaways in Immingham, UK, highlighting co-located learning, cross-team collaboration, and …
Covers a two-day, hands-on Scrum.org course in Alameda, teaching Scrum principles, teamwork, and practical software delivery for all roles in the …
Explains burndown charts in Scrum, their purpose, common issues, and compares tracking by hours, story points, and acceptance tests to improve team …
Covers hands-on experiences teaching the Professional Scrum Foundations course in Salt Lake City, highlighting teamwork, agile practices, and …
Explores the US Department of Defence’s shift from traditional waterfall delivery to lean-agile methods, highlighting new procurement rules and the …
Explores how automation in software development reduces human error, improves reliability, and streamlines workflows, using real-world examples and …
Learn what to look for when hiring an Agile coach, including key qualities like teaching, mentoring, and inspiring teams to adopt Agile practices and …
Learn how Kanban practices can be integrated into Professional Scrum teams to improve workflow, transparency, and delivery using the new Scrum.org PSK …
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Jack Links
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.
Lockheed Martin
Kongsberg Maritime
Graham & Brown
Ericson
Epic Games
Deliotte
DFDS
Illumina
ProgramUtvikling
MacDonald Humfrey (Automation) Ltd.
CR2
Higher Education Statistics Agency
YearUp.org
Trayport
Boeing
Bistech
Royal Air Force
Washington Department of Transport
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
Washington Department of Enterprise Services
Nottingham County Council
Ghana Police Service
NIT A/S
Graham & Brown
Lean SA
Boeing
Slaughter and May
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG)