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Scrum team member fixing a bicycle 3 Common Scrum Anti-Patterns and How to Fix Them

For a Scrum team to operate successfully, the entire team must honor the Scrum values of commitment, courage, focus, openness, and respect. But it's easy to fall into practices that can erode trust and collaboration. Here are three common anti-patterns that emerge in Scrum, as well as the solutions to overcome them.

Owen Gotimer's picture
Owen Gotimer
Pile of documents in an inbox From Documentation to Automation

A defined, repeatable process frees people from spending energy thinking about solved problems, and an automated one makes this even easier. While not all development steps can be easily automated, some can, and documentation is an essential first step. Automate what makes sense and you'll have reliable processes.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Sparkly "2020" sign Plan for the Year the Agile Way

The start of a new year always comes with new resolutions, goals, and a set of plans to grow in the future. The excitement and energy that a new start brings can rejuvenate a team. However, if you’re not careful, that same ambition can lead to failure. This year, adjust your strategy and plan in a more agile manner.

Alan Crouch's picture
Alan Crouch
Requirements document The Curse of Rushed Requirements

When development is outsourced, a documented baseline of expected functionality sets expectations for both the client and developer. Acknowledging that agile practices are flexible, beware the trap of rushing requirements just because you know they are going to change. It's still essential to be as accurate as you can.

Payson Hall's picture
Payson Hall
Framework A Framework for Scaling Continuous Testing across an Enterprise

Scaling agile and DevOps across a large enterprise is much more difficult than practicing it in smaller groups. Frameworks can help, but focus tends to be placed on development, so testing teams struggle to figure out how to best support faster development cycles. The ACT Framework puts the focus on continuous testing.

Mark Trinh's picture
Mark Trinh
Person holding a sparkler with New Year's fireworks in the background Top 10 TechWell Insights Stories of 2019

Career development was on many software practitioners' minds in 2019, as some of our top stories were about having a technical lead on a Scrum team and making the switch from quality assurance to quality engineering. Stories about new ideas such as DevOps and continuous testing also ranked high. Check out the roundup.

Beth Romanik's picture
Beth Romanik
Agile team member expressing intention Don’t Ask for Permission or Forgiveness—Use an Agile Alternative

Some teams get around bottlenecks by taking a “better to ask forgiveness than permission” approach. This may be expedient, but it doesn’t provide a path to changing the organizational dynamic, and it can lead to wrong decisions when wider input is advisable. A more agile way is to take an “I intend to” approach.

Steve Berczuk's picture
Steve Berczuk
Santa Claus talking to a child If Santa Can Be Agile, So Can You

To improve his toy development lifecycle, Santa Claus had the North Pole move to an agile and DevOps approach. Santa knows it's important to accept requirements late in the process, work incrementally, deploy on time, and—above all—focus on the customer. Here’s what he found to be more effective with agile and DevOps.

Jeffery Payne's picture
Jeffery Payne