How To

Breaking Free from the Traditional Approach: Agile Estimation Techniques for Better Project Management

How to break free from the traditional way of estimation in projects with the help of Agile estimation techniques and principles? Estimation is a widespread practice that businesses impose a significant emphasis on. Businesses include the estimation in their processes as a must-have part. Typical reasons for the estimation include the following: To understand the [...]

Frequently Asked: Story points in team of experts

Should you use story points for a team of developers developing multiple systems? The situation This question was asked by scrum masters who's teams are not ideal agile teams as the company introduces agile in multiple steps. Their team typically consists of experts focused on web, ledger, back- ends PHP / Java. They are [...]

Every product needs an elevator statement

Previously, we’ve shown you how to write a great elevator statement and some real-life examples. In this post, we’ll show you why you should start writing an elevator statement right now and how it can help you not just create a valuable product for the customer, but also make the development easier. An elevator [...]

February 10th, 2020|Categories: Agile Knowledge Hub, All|Tags: , , |

Elevator statement: Real-life examples and similar tools

Start writing... We focused the second part of our elevator statement series on working with real-life examples and showing you similar tools. Learn how to make an elevator statement better by using our tips and asking the question we talked about in the first post. The first elevator statement Let’s take a look at [...]

February 6th, 2020|Categories: Agile Knowledge Hub, All|Tags: , , |

How to split user stories? Part 2: By Operations

User stories splitting, working with epic, epic splitting into user stories. One great art. In the first part, we have shown you examples for splitting requirements into smaller ones by the process. Although this is the last division step for many Product Owners, this is not enough for a reasoned app. In this part, [...]

August 30th, 2019|Categories: Agile Knowledge Hub, All|Tags: , , , |

How to split user stories? Part 1: By Workflow

The examples were created in the form of a user story map using the ScrumDesk app, where you can easily create a backlog from epics to embedded features to user stories. So far, in our consultation with the agile teams, we have always encountered unfamiliarity in each team about how to split the requirements [...]

August 30th, 2019|Categories: Agile Knowledge Hub, All|Tags: , , , |

Epical epic. Agile epic examples

What is an agile epic, what to use it for, and foremost how? Requirements. Small, large, technical, business, operational, and researchable. And above all, plenty of them. During four years of ScrumDesk development, we have more than 800 requirements in our backlog. And these are the only requirements that we have decided to implement [...]

De-bugize! Plan bug fixing in Scrum

Are you distressed by the huge amount of defects in the product? In this article, you will learn about what practical possibilities you have in agile teams and managing error correction. One of the first questions that pop up whilst introducing agile is how to deal with errors. Too often I hear an immediate answer: [...]

Daily stand-up checklist, part III.: Agreements, Definitions of Done & Ready

This article is the continuation of The Daily Stand-up Checklist for ScrumMasters, part II. The aim of this series of articles is to help Scrum Masters to prepare better for daily stand-up so it is efficient, productive and engaging. These tips are based on our observation of 100+ agile teams in their agile transformations. Agreements To get things working [...]

The checklist for your daily standups, part I.

The daily standup meeting is a fundamental ceremony in Scrum. Even if you do not follow Scrum, it has a huge impact due to the transparency it brings. Most of the Agile teams and ScrumMasters think the daily standup ceremony is the easiest part of Scrum. Well, should it brings you the value, you want to do [...]

10 ScrumMaster’s Failures

We see ScrumMasters fail very often while supporting agile teams in their agile transformations. Based on stories of more than one hundred of ScrumMasters we think that the following 10 ScrumMaster's failures are the top most important for agile teams. 1. Because of Agile People do not care about Agile or Scrum. They want [...]

ScrumDesk 3.8: Print the Product Backlog. Filters and Mentions.

Print the Product Backlog Printing has appeared in ScrumDesk. As we have great planning experience with physical cards, we decided on a card layout that we suggest to clients of our consultancy team. Printed card layout provides fundamental information necessary for proper release or sprint planning. Print is available in Backlog and Plan view. [...]

Daily Stand-up done well II.

We approached the reasons for the regular meetings of the team in the first post. Another issue ScumMaster should consider is where the daily stand-up would be held. This topic is obviously more important for the non-distributed teams. The stand-up that has taken place without any changes in a team room is the common mistake [...]

How to link files from Dropbox to ScrumDesk

The latest version brings the possibility to link files stored in Dropbox cloud service. ScrumDesk uses Dropbox application model which means that only files stored in Dropbox in Apps/ScrumDesk folder are available. The files might be linked to project, releases, sprints, stories, and tasks as well. How to link a file from Dropbox Click drop [...]

ScrumDesk for Windows: API Attachments Limits

REST API is in Microsoft Information Server configured by default to transfer binary data of maximum size of 65KB. The size is configurable by parameter maxReceivedMessageSize in web.config file located in API directory. <standardEndpoints> <!--Defines a standard endpoint with a fixed <webHttpBinding> binding that automatically adds the <webHttp> behavior. Use this endpoint when writing a [...]

What does your BurnDown chart say?

ScrumDesk analyzes agile practices applied by teams and helps ScrumMasters to identify gaps quickly. These tips and findings of BurnDown charts are based on our 14+ years of agile coaching. Check additional metrics that ScrumDesk helps to track. Burn Down Chart is a primary scrum metric used to track the implementation progress of the [...]

ScrumDesk for Windows: User Story Card

Scrum as project management is using the concept of index cards introduced in Extreme Programming (XP). Cards are supposed to establish conversation and clarification of requirements.  The card in ScrumDesk displays more details than paper index card while still provides visibility. ScrumDesk index card's advantages compared to other project management tools: resizable many colors [...]

Synchronize ScrumDesk and Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010

Update January 2017: ScrumDesk Windows is not supported anymore! TFS 2010 is a big improvement compared to TFS 2008. Moreover, Microsoft company decided to support agile/scrum project management as well via the Microsoft Visual Scrum process template. Even this, our customers are asking for possibilities to connect to TFS and add ScrumDesk as part [...]

Kano Model helps Product Backlog Prioritization

Product management is about searching for the most important requirement that needs to be delivered as the next. There are different prioritization practices. One such dimension that product owner should be aware of is expected customer satisfaction. Satisfaction with developed feature or story. Mr. Noriaki Kano developed Kano model as valuable technique helping to recognize that. Applying this [...]