The Mountain Goat Software Blog
Blog articles
7 Questions to Determine if Being a Scrum Master Is Right for You
Thinking of a career as a Scrum Master? 7 questions to help you decide if it's the right job for you.
How Detailed Should a User Story Be?
Capturing too much or too little detail in a user story causes problems. Here's how to get it right, iteratively.
Should a Team Assign Work During Sprint Planning?
Some teams assign all tasks upfront. Others don’t. Here’s what works best.
Top 5 changes in the 2020 version of the Scrum Guide
Recently the 2020 version of the Scrum Guide was released. What changes were made that you need to be aware of in order to keep up to date with Scrum?
Three Strategies for Fitting Refactoring into Your Sprints
It can be challenging to find time for refactoring. These approaches will help.
Should Your Team Adopt No-Meeting Weeks?
It can be very tempting to schedule a week without any meetings. But there are better ideas.
Are Estimates Ever Helpful to Developers?
Team members often think estimates are only useful for stakeholders and managers. Here’s how they can help the team itself.
Use a Pre-Mortem to Identify Project Risks Before They Occur
Talking about problems after they occur is too late. A pre-mortem can help a team avoid problems.
Can There Be Too Much Transparency?
An agile team should provide visibility into its work. But not all work should be equally transparent.
Is the Distinction Between Outcomes and Output Overdone?
Agile teams stress the importance of focusing on achieving outcomes rather than producing outputs. That’s fine, but not all the time.
Can a Team Vote Someone Off the Team?
We say agile teams are self-organizing. Does that mean they have the right to vote someone off?
Time Pressure Improves Productivity & Quality…Up to a Point
Use time pressure carefully so it improves focus without hurting quality.