The Mountain Goat Software Blog
Blog articles

Are 64% of Features Really Rarely or Never Used?
Understand the often-cited “rarely used features” statistic and what product owners should take from it.

Estimates on Split Stories Do Not Need to Equal the Original
Understand why split story estimates do not need to add up to the original.

Not Everything Needs to Be a User Story: Using FDD Features
Know when FDD-style features may work better than forcing every item into a user story.

Can a Product Owner Dictate the Architecture?
Clarify when a product owner should influence technical decisions and when to leave the how to the team.

It’s Not What You Do. It’s What You Do Next.
Recover from mistakes by focusing on the next useful action.

Product Backlog Refinement
Learn about product backlog refinement: how, when, and why the agile team and product owner refine the product backlog in Scrum.

Should You Share Details from the Retrospective?
During a sprint retrospective, team members gather and discuss ways in which they can improve. This should include the ScrumMaster...

How Full to Fill a Sprint
Leave room for the real work hidden inside every sprint.

The Difference Between a Story and a Task
Clarify the difference between user stories and tasks.

Multiple Levels of Done
Define done at more than one level so expectations stay clear from story to release.

Don't Blindly Follow
Don't blindly adopt anything. Scrum is comprised of a self-organizing team that is given...

5 Reasons Product Owners Should Let Teams Work Out of Order
See when letting teams work out of strict backlog order can improve flow and outcomes.