The entire agile team needs to be involved in a continuous process of identifying ways to simplify work, right up until a story is complete. Smaller stories ensure that development work is rapid and trackable. Mitch Goldstein details how to focus on breaking stories down into a more estimable, “digestible” size.

For the longest time, software architecture was something you built, adapted to your team or situation, and left in place—the old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality. Now, more rapid changes aren’t just expected, they’re necessary.

This idea of a team in charge of itself is difficult for many people to accept. Traditional practices condition us to wait for someone to tell us what to do, and managers are accustomed to controlling everyone’s work and knowing everyone’s status. But agile teams can manage themselves—in fact, it's essential to agile.