The Mountain Goat Software Blog
Blog articles

Improving On Traditional Release Burndown Charts
Use release burndown charts to see progress and scope together.

The Chivalrous Team Member
Recognize helpful behavior that strengthens collaboration and trust.

When Should We Estimate the Product Backlog
Estimate backlog items at the right time and level of detail.

Writing User Stories for Back-end Systems
Write user stories for backend systems where users are less obvious.

Writing the Product Backlog Just in Time and Just Enough
Keep backlog detail just enough and just in time.

Should Companies Measure Productivity in Story Points / Ideal Days?
One measure we may want to include in our suite of metrics could be the responsiveness of the development organization.

Why I Don't Use Story Points for Sprint Planning
I don't use story points for sprint planning because story points are a useful long-term measure. They are not useful in the short-term.

Don't Average During Planning Poker
While I want teams to come to agreement, I don't care how heartfelt the agreement is.

To Re-estimate or not; that is the question
When we estimate it is important that we not mix knowledge-before-the-fact with knowledge-after-the-fact.

Differences Between Scrum and Extreme Programming
Compare Scrum and Extreme Programming so teams understand where each approach helps.

The Critical Path on Agile Projects
I eventually came to the realization that the team would always be smarter than me.

ScrumMaster: Appointed or Team-Selected?
Consider when Scrum Masters should be appointed versus selected by the team.