The Mountain Goat Software Blog

Want to encourage innovation? Get back inside the box. Next to this quote, an arm pokes up out of the top of an acme box somewhere in the American Southwest. The hand is holding a sign that says "Innovating" with an arrow pointing down the box.

Boost Creativity by Embracing Scrum Framework Constraints

Before you break the rules of Scrum, consider how Scrum’s constraints enhance creativity and boost innovation.

Article artwork for 7 Ways to Get the Best Estimates of Story Size.

7 Ways to Get the Best Estimates of Story Size

Agile teams often struggle to estimate product backlog items. Here are 7 ways to make solid improvements.

Fear of the unknown keeps us from trying new things, including agile and Scrum. Mike Cohn is sky diving and looks to the side at a Mountain Goat floating down on a parachute nearby. Both are able to embrace change because they've been well trained.

How to Overcome Resistance to Change

Help people embrace agile change instead of resisting it.

An accurate sprint velocity depends on the team only taking credit for backlog items they finished. The only credit for being close is if you are playing horseshoes.

Do Agile Teams Include Semi-Finished Work in Velocity?

Should teams receive partial credit on nearly finished stories when calculating their sprint velocity? Find out in this video blog from Mike Cohn.

Goldilocks smiles as she holds a picture with 4 bears. On the wall is a picture of 2 bears, labeled "too small," and one with a crowd of bears labeled "too big." Whether it's porridge or team size, Goldilocks knows how important it is to get it just right

The Just Right Size for Agile Teams

Find the team size that balances collaboration with overhead.

Article artwork for How Much Can You Really Tinker with Scrum?

How Much Can You Really Tinker with Scrum?

Does Scrum work if you don’t have a Scrum Master? What about sprints? Estimates? And so on? Discover what you can, and cannot, live without in Scrum.

Harried product owners can be as elusive as Bigfoot. An illustration of a work desk shows a copy of Scrum News with the heading" Busy Product Owner Spotted" next to a picture of Bigfoot with a tie on, holding a briefcase, while papers fly around.

How to Engage & Help Busy Product Owners

With many competing pulls on their time, product owners can be hard to catch during a sprint. Learn how to help harried product owners seize opportunities to inspect and adapt outside the sprint review.

Article artwork for Sprint Review Agenda.

Sprint Review Agenda

Use a simple agenda to make sprint reviews more focused and useful.

Sprint reviews are a two-way conversation not a one-way demonstration.

Sprint Review: More Than Just A Demo

There’s much more to a sprint review than just a demo. Discover the purpose of a sprint review and why calling it a demo is a bad idea.

Article artwork for Troubleshooting Nightmarish Daily Scrums.

Troubleshooting Nightmarish Daily Scrums

Fix daily scrums that feel stale, long, or low-value.

Article artwork for Daily Scrums Not Working? Try This Instead.

Daily Scrums Not Working? Try This Instead.

Refocus daily scrums on coordination and progress instead of empty status updates.

Each team member brings a piece of the sprint puzzle to each daily scrum. By syncing the pieces, the team sees a full picture of how the sprint is going. The daily scrum exists for team members to sync, not to report status to the Scrum Master.

Daily Scrums: Synchronization Meetings, Not Status Meetings

Turn daily scrums into team synchronization rather than reporting to one person.