tech·nic·al·ly agile class·i·fic·at·ion

Working Software

Delivering functional, high-quality software that meets customer needs and business objectives through iterative, incremental progress.

Working software is the tangible, functional output produced during a Sprint, representing a concrete artifact that delivers value to customers.

Image
https://nkdagility.com/resources/working-software/

Overview

Working Software is a core artifact in Agile, Scrum, and Lean frameworks, representing the tangible output of a team’s work. It is the product of iterative development, and it demonstrates progress and value delivery. Unlike methods or practices, which define how work is done, working software is the concrete result—the increment produced at the end of each Sprint or iteration.

In Scrum, working software is the primary measure of success for each Sprint, and it forms the Increment artifact. It is inspectable, adaptable, and directly informs decisions, allowing teams to adjust their efforts based on the feedback received. The Definition of Done ensures that the software meets predefined criteria of quality, ensuring that the Increment is valuable, functional, and ready for release.

The significance of working software lies in its ability to provide a real, tangible measure of progress. It aligns teams and stakeholders around what has been completed and what remains. Working software is not just code; it is a deliverable that addresses real-world needs and customer expectations, ensuring teams are always focused on delivering value.

In agile methodologies, working software is the product of continuous feedback and improvement. Teams release increments iteratively, ensuring they are always improving the software and adapting to changing requirements. By focusing on working software, organisations enhance collaboration, increase transparency, and drive continuous improvement. It also encourages adaptive planning, as teams continuously refine their work to meet new challenges and customer feedback.

Working software isn’t just about technical proficiency. It’s about delivering value consistently, responding to customer needs, and ensuring sustainability over time. By focusing on high-quality working software, teams ensure they are not just building features, but creating functional products that drive customer satisfaction, innovation, and business success.

Learn More about Working Software

Tags

Definition of Done

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 considered releasable.
Blog

Without Delivery, There Is No Value

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

Delivery is the only Measure of Progress in Scrum

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

Professional Scrum teams build software that works

Professional Scrum Teams prioritise software quality, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring each release is reliable, defect-free, and delivers real value.
Blog

The Scrum Master is accountable for Delivery

Explains how the Scrum Master is accountable for enabling effective product delivery, fostering team success, and ensuring each sprint produces a usable, valuable increment.
Blog

Definition of Done - Objective vs Subjective

Explains the difference between subjective goals and the objective Definition of Done in Scrum, highlighting how clear, measurable criteria ensure consistent product quality.
Blog

Getting started with a Definition of Done (DoD)

Explains how to create, apply, and improve a Definition of Done (DoD) in Scrum to ensure software quality, transparency, and consistent delivery of working increments.
Videos

The Importance of Delivering Working Software Every Iteration

Explains why delivering working software to users every iteration is vital in Agile, highlighting feedback, value, and practical steps for continuous improvement and success.
Engineering-Notes

Building a Resilient Token Server: Engineering for Flow, Fault Tolerance, and Speed

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

Building a culture of Quality

Explores how fostering a culture of quality and engineering excellence across teams leads to better, safer products, highlighting the impact of leadership and shared values.
Videos

The Power of Technical Excellence in Agile Development

Explores how technical excellence in Agile development reduces risk, prevents technical debt, and boosts product quality and delivery speed through strong engineering standards.
Blog

Your Evolving Definition of Done

Explains how the Definition of Done evolves in Scrum, aligning team practices with organisational standards to ensure consistent quality, compliance, and business value delivery.
Blog

A better way than staggered iterations for delivery

Explains why staggered iterations harm software delivery, increasing technical debt, and recommends cross-functional teams, test-first, and working software each sprint.
Blog

Stop Hiding Behind Complexity and Start Delivering Continuously

Continuous delivery is achievable for any software, regardless of complexity. Success depends on investment in automation, quality, and process improvement—not technical barriers.
Blog

Release planning and predictable delivery

Explores how agile teams can achieve predictable software delivery through quality focus, effective release planning, and continuous improvement, despite inherent uncertainty.
Videos

NKD Agility: Your partner in developing engineering excellence

Learn how NKD Agility supports organisations in building engineering excellence through modern practices like performance engineering, testing in production, and leadership.
Videos

Transforming Agility: How Azure DevOps Went from Two-Year Releases to 880,000 Deployments

Explores how Azure DevOps shifted from slow, two-year releases to rapid, continuous delivery, highlighting the benefits of fast feedback, agility, and frequent deployments.
Blog

Testing in Production Maximises Quality and Value

Explains how audience-based deployment and testing in production enable faster feedback, safer rollouts, and higher software quality by targeting real users and reducing risk.
Blog

You are doing it wrong if you are not using test first

Explains how adopting test-first practices in software development improves quality, reduces bugs, and enables confident continuous delivery by validating requirements early.
Videos

Is Your Project Ecosystem Truly Agile?

Explains why true agility requires end-to-end automation and short feedback loops, not just Agile teams, to maximise value and efficiency for stakeholders in project delivery.
Blog

Storms of Neglect The Perils of Not Delivering Usable Products in Agile Iterations

Failing to deliver a usable product each agile iteration leads to lost trust, technical debt, poor adaptability, misaligned expectations, low morale, and lack of feedback.
Videos

Unlocking Code Quality: The Transformative Power of Frequent Deployments

Explores how frequent code deployments improve code quality, reduce technical debt, enable faster feedback, and support iterative, user-focused software development.
Blog

Building a release pipeline with Release Management with Visual Studio 2013

Learn to build a scalable release pipeline with Visual Studio 2013’s integrated release management. Enhance your DevOps practices for continuous delivery success!
Blog

Quality enablement to achieve predictable delivery

Achieve predictable software delivery by establishing quality enablement. Learn key strategies to enhance your development process and reduce bugs.
Blog

Release Management with Team Foundation Server 2012

Enhance your release management strategy with Team Foundation Server 2012. Discover automation techniques and best practices for seamless deployments.
Blog

Professional Scrum Developer (.NET) Training in London

Join the Professional Scrum Developer training in London to enhance your .NET skills, collaborate in teams, and master Agile practices. Sign up now!
Videos

Unlocking Success in Agile: Why Your Definition of Done is Essential for Quality Delivery

Explains why a clear Definition of Done is vital in Agile and Scrum for quality delivery, transparency, and risk mitigation, with tips for team alignment and improvement.
Blog

How Usable Working Products Are Your Ultimate Weapon Against Risks

Delivering usable, working products frequently is key to reducing risk in Agile. Focus on feedback, automation, and lean practices over excessive documentation.
Blog

The fallacy of the rejected backlog item

Explains why rejecting individual backlog items at Sprint Review is a misconception, highlighting Scrum’s focus on learning, collaboration, and delivering a complete increment.
Blog

Can the Definition of Done change per Sprint?

The Definition of Done can evolve to improve quality but should not be weakened or vary per backlog item. Consistency ensures transparency and reliable product increments.
Blog

DOD has made it illegal to do waterfall

The US Department of Defence now requires agile, iterative software development, ending mandatory waterfall methods and influencing global government IT practices.
Videos

Detecting Agile BS: Lessons from the US Department of Defense

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 maturity in organisations.
Blog

Work can flow across the Sprint boundary

Explains how allowing work to flow across Sprint boundaries in Scrum can improve team throughput, as long as the Sprint Goal and Definition of Done are maintained.
Blog

I do continuous deliver, why should I Sprint?

Explains why Sprints are valuable even with continuous delivery, highlighting benefits for planning, feedback, communication, and predictability in Scrum teams.
Blog

Testing in the modern application lifecycle

Explore modern manual testing in agile development. Learn to integrate tools and streamline processes for effective quality assurance in your application lifecycle.
Videos

Unlocking Continuous Delivery: How Feature Flags Transform Software Development

Explains how feature flags enable safe, incremental software releases, support continuous delivery, and use user feedback to improve features before full rollout.
Blog

Risk Mitigation: Agile Usable Products vs Documentation in Traditional Project Management

Compares Agile’s risk mitigation through incremental, usable products with traditional project management’s reliance on documentation, highlighting adaptability and validation.
Blog

There is no place like production

Validating product value requires releasing features to real users in production, gathering feedback, and measuring usage, satisfaction, and business impact for improvement.
Videos

How Do You Know How Long It Takes to Deliver Value?

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 customers faster.
Guides

Manifesto for Agile Software Development

Discover more about Manifesto for Agile Software Development and how it can help you in your Agile journey!
Blog

Quality enablement with Visual Studio 2012

Discover how Visual Studio 2012 enables continuous quality in software development, helping you meet modern user expectations and enhance brand differentiation.
Blog

Automated Testing in a modern application lifecycle

Discover the essential role of automated testing in modern application lifecycles. Learn how to enhance software quality and streamline your development process.
Guides

Nexus Guide

Discover more about Nexus Guide and how it can help you in your Agile journey!
Videos

Are Your Teams Empowered to Change Requirements Based on User Feedback? If Not, You’re Probably Not Very Agile

Empowering teams to adapt requirements based on user feedback is key to true agility. Learn why backlog updates and team engagement drive better, user-focused products.
Videos

Unlocking Success: How Small Experiments Transformed Feature Delivery from 25 to 150 in Software Development

Explores how breaking features into small experiments boosts software delivery, enabling teams to deliver more features, reduce risk, and improve customer-focused products.
Videos

Why 'Definition of Done' is Crucial for Success in Scrum

Explains how a clear Definition of Done in Scrum ensures consistent quality, team alignment, and customer satisfaction across all projects, regardless of the solution.
Videos

Turning User Feedback into Actionable Work: A Guide to Maximizing Product Value

Learn how to quickly turn user feedback into actionable work items in Agile teams, improving product value through fast feedback loops, prioritisation, and continuous improvement.
Videos

Ditching the Myth of Special Sprints: Embrace True Agile Practices for Usable Products

Explains why relying on special Sprints undermines Agile, and advocates for continuous improvement, accountability, and delivering usable products each Sprint.
Blog

Great Scrum Masters Need Technical, Business, and Organisational Mastery

Scrum Masters are most effective when they combine leadership skills with technical, business, and organisational mastery to support teams, Product Owners, and change.
Videos

Technical Debt Management for Long-Term Quality

Explains how managing and repaying technical debt improves software quality, delivery speed, and long-term value by addressing both known and unknown code issues.
Blog

Avoid the pick-n-mix branching anti-pattern

Discover how to avoid the pick-n-mix branching anti-pattern in software development. Learn effective strategies to enhance code quality and team trust.
Videos

Maximising Deployment Frequency: The Key to Faster Time to Market and Business Success

Explores how increasing deployment frequency, stable environments, and fast feedback loops improve software delivery, reduce time to market, and align with business goals.
Videos

The Hidden Costs of Poor Quality Code—and How to Turn It Into a Superpower

Explores the financial, productivity, and reputational impacts of poor-quality code, and offers practical steps to turn code quality into a competitive advantage.
Blog

The Sprint is a container for Planning and not necessarily for Delivery

Explore how Scrum can enhance planning without strict delivery schedules. Learn to embrace Continuous Delivery for better software development practices.
Videos

Rethinking Continuous Delivery: Why Best Practices Don't Exist in Complex Environments

Explores why fixed best practices don’t suit complex continuous delivery, highlighting adaptive approaches like audience-based delivery, testing in production, and ongoing improvement.
Blog

Metrics that matter with evidence-based management

Discover how Evidence-Based Management can enhance your metrics and KPIs for better decision-making in software development. Elevate your team’s performance!
Videos

Special Sprints: Agile Banditry or Risk Management?

Explores why special sprints like Sprint Zero or hardening sprints undermine Agile by delaying work, increasing risk, and reducing continuous delivery of usable products.
Videos

Unlocking the True Power of Continuous Delivery: How Automation Transforms Software Development

Explains how automation in continuous delivery improves software reliability, reduces risk, and enables faster, safer deployments through consistent, rapid feedback loops.
Blog

Continuous value delivery with modern business applications

Discover how modern business applications enable continuous value delivery, transforming software development practices for happier consumers and faster updates.
Blog

Professional Scrum is for everyone in your organisation

Explains how involving everyone in Professional Scrum training fosters organisational agility, breaks down silos, and empowers teams to drive meaningful change together.
Blog

Create a Release Management pipeline for Professional Developers

Learn to create a Release Management pipeline for developers, enhancing automation and deployment efficiency with Team Foundation Server. Dive in now!
Blog

Naked ALM: starting with why and getting naked

Discover the essence of Application Lifecycle Management with Martin Hinshelwood. Learn to improve software delivery by starting with ‘why’ and embracing agility.
Blog

My first Scrum team in the wild

Discover insights from my first Scrum team experience, highlighting key practices and lessons learned to enhance your agile journey. Join the conversation!
Blog

The Definition of Done: Ensuring Quality without Compromising Value

Explains how to maintain clear, measurable quality standards with the Definition of Done, while avoiding confusion with acceptance criteria and preserving product value.
Videos

Maximise Your Scrum Process: Leveraging Azure DevOps for Agile Success

Learn how to customise Azure DevOps to support Scrum teams, manage backlogs, plan sprints, and improve agile workflows with practical setup and process tips.
Videos

Bridging the Gap: Understanding the True Meaning of "Done" in Agile Teams

Explores how Agile teams can clarify and align on the true meaning of “done” to ensure quality, reduce rework, and meet leadership expectations through clear definitions.
Blog

Why should I use Visual Studio ALM

Discover why Visual Studio ALM is essential for effective application lifecycle management. Learn key considerations for tool selection and maximize your team’s potential.
Blog

How to Set and Achieve Effective Sprint Goals

Learn how to define, craft, and achieve effective Sprint Goals in Scrum, using frameworks like SMART and OKR to align teams, deliver value, and improve accountability.
Videos

Transforming Scope Creep into Success: Embrace Agility and Deliver Value in a Changing Market

Learn how to turn scope creep into an advantage by adopting Agile methods, focusing on value delivery, and adapting to changing requirements in dynamic markets.
Recipes

Sprint Review Recipe

Discover more about Sprint Review Recipe and how it can help you in your Agile journey!
Videos

The Evolution of Product Management in the Agile Era

Explores how Agile transformed product management by enabling shorter release cycles, faster feedback, continuous delivery, and a stronger focus on built-in quality.
Videos

How to Discover Unrealized Value in Your Product

Learn how to identify and measure unrealised value in your product using Evidence-Based Management, key metrics, and actionable steps to improve customer satisfaction and growth.
Videos

Unlocking Agile Success: How Empirical Models Transform Project Outcomes

Explains how empirical Agile models improve project outcomes by increasing visibility, enabling change, reducing risk, and delivering value incrementally throughout development.
Videos

Transform Your Scrum Team in 90 Days: Strategies for Continuous Delivery and Empowerment

Learn practical steps to help Scrum teams achieve continuous delivery, clarify business value, integrate feedback, and build empowerment within 90 days for lasting agility.
Course

Continuous Delivery Using Azure DevOps Services Training

This two-day course provides students with the DevOps principles and related hands-on practices to work better as a team, scale their agility, share and integrate their work, and deliver working software continuously in order to enable faster delivery of value and receive early and valuable feedback.
Course

Applying Professional Scrum for Software Development (APS-SD) with Certification

Experience APS-SD: Hands-on Scrum training for delivering quality software. Gain practical skills in Agile, DevOps, and Scrum principles. Free PSD I certification exam included. Enhance your software development expertise.
Course

Managing Projects Using Visual Studio and Scrum Training

This three‐day course will help take your team and project to the next level. Using a combination of lecture, demonstrations, hands‐on activities, and team‐based exercises, attendees will experience how to deliver software using the Scrum framework and the corresponding tools and practices in Visual Studio.
Videos

Code Reviews for Quality Assurance

Explores code review practices for quality assurance, highlighting automation, pull requests, and early defect detection to ensure high-quality, reliable software delivery.

Connect with Martin Hinshelwood

If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.

Concepts


Categories


Tags

GitHub (3)
MVP (2)
Scaling (15)
Windows (96)

Our Happy Clients​

We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.​

Philips Logo
Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo
New Signature Logo
Flowmaster (a Mentor Graphics Company) Logo
YearUp.org Logo
Lean SA Logo

NIT A/S

Graham & Brown Logo
Emerson Process Management Logo
Milliman Logo
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo
Illumina Logo
Hubtel Ghana Logo
Schlumberger Logo
Boxit Document Solutions Logo
ProgramUtvikling Logo
Ericson Logo

CR2

Royal Air Force Logo
Department of Work and Pensions (UK) Logo
New Hampshire Supreme Court Logo
Nottingham County Council Logo
Washington Department of Enterprise Services Logo
Ghana Police Service Logo
Bistech Logo
Healthgrades Logo
Genus Breeding Ltd Logo
Emerson Process Management Logo
Capita Secure Information Solutions Ltd Logo
Cognizant Microsoft Business Group (MBG) Logo