Getting to grips with Agile

Agile is a game changer. It has completely changed the way business challenges are solved.

Learn how we use Agile in organisations to manage effective project delivery.

What is the Minimum Viable Product?
Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a commonly misunderstood term. This video is adapted from Crisp’s blog by Henrik Kniberg explaining his, now famous, MVP drawing. His drawing shows up all over the place, in articles and presentations, even in a book (Jeff Patton’s “User Story Mapping”).

Many state that the drawing really captures the essence of iterative and incremental development, lean startup, and MVP (minimum viable product). However, some misinterpret it, which is quite natural when you take a picture out of its original context. Some criticize it for oversimplifying things, which is true. The picture is a metaphor. That’s why we’ve made this video to put the picture in its true context. Enjoy.

Overview of Scrum Roles
Product Owner

Ensuring the existence of a shared Product Vision

Managing and prioritising the Product Backlog

Helping the Team Members understand what to build and why

Accepting the delivered product increment after each sprint

Managing the release plan

Managing expectations and reporting progress to Stakeholders

Maximising the economic return of the product (ROI)

Scrum Master

Guide the team towards self-organisation and continuous improvement

Remove organisational impediments from the team

Guide the product owner in his role

Facilitate all scrum events

Socialising scrum to the greater organisation

“The Scrum Master is a facilitator, team coach, mentor and bulldozer!”

Delivery Team

Work closely with Product Owner, Stakeholders & Users

Refine upcoming Product Backlog items

Self-organising & entitled

Tracking its own progress daily towards the Sprint Goal

Ensure product quality

Sins of a Product Owner
Product Owner sins against the Scrum Team
  • They don’t manage Product Backlog prioritization
  • They abdicate their responsibility of navigation to the Business Analyst
  • They fail to educate themselves on the Product or projects industry domain
  • As Product owner, you don’t make the time to be prepared for Sprint Planning
  • You do not see yourself as part of the holistic Scrum Team
  • You fail to be engaged and available to the Development Team
  • Disrespect of the Development teams estimates
Organizational Sins against the Product Owner
  • Not empowering the Product Owner to make strategic yes or no decisions
  • Not removing distractions of the other jobs outside of Scrum from the Product Owner’s plate
  • Failure to provide the Product Owner with training and coaching
  • Not allowing the Product Owner to own and manage their budget

Source: Deadly Sins Of A Scrum Product Owner, Lizzy Morris