Mountain Goat Software

Names Should Not Be Needed for User Stories

I've never been a fan of naming user stories. Stories should generally be short enough that naming them should be necessary. Yes, novels and movies get names. But we don't name the sentences…

Sprint Burndown Sums All Work Remaining

A sprint burndown chart shows only one thing: How much work remains.

Three Tips for New ScrumMasters

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure—this adage definitely applies to new ScrumMasters and teams.

Hard to Read Handwriting Is Best for User Stories

I've always been envious of those with nice handwriting or even distinctive printing. I've always been in too much of a rush to do be better than barely legible at either. My handwriting…

Breaking the Daily Scrum Time Box

One of my favorite things to hear about during this part of a daily scrum is how team members in a different country will be celebrating a holiday.

Avoid Taking Notes During the Daily Scrum

If you do want to take notes, I recommend writing the note on a whiteboard or some place where everyone participating in the meeting can see what you write.

Estimating with Tee Shirt Sizes

I occasionally encounter the use of t-shirt sizes (Small, Medium, Large, or so on) in use as estimating units by teams. T-shirt sizes are an OK approach to getting started with relative estimating,…

Be Quick but Don’t Hurry

It’s one of my favorite times of the year: March Madness. (For non-Americans: That means college basketball playoffs.) I grew up in Los Angeles during a time when UCLA (University of California…

Using Scrum on an Analysis Project

Just the right amount of urgency can generate greater creativity.

Sprint Zero: A Good Idea or Not?

One of the biggest problems with having a sprint zero is that it establishes a precedent that there are certain sprints or sprint types that have unique rules.

Number, Name, Date-Stamp or Sing Your Sprints

One of the most creative things I've seen teams do is pick a theme song for the sprint.

The Product Owner in a Sprint Retrospective

Is your agile team excluding the Scrum product owner from your sprint retrospectives? Check out this blog from agile expert Mike Cohn to discover why this is a really bad idea.

Private Training

AI Practice Prompts

Community

Tools & Tips

Resources

Weekly Tips

About MGS

Our Team

Contact Us