Why Be Agile: Main Metrics, Most Used Tools, Agile Planning

It’s quite difficult to imagine a modern IT company without a project manager. It is rather an important role, which includes the application of methods, skills, processes, and experience to achieve the project goals and meet the client’s needs and requirements. As Martin Barnes, the former president of the Association for Project Management said, “At its most fundamental, project management is about people getting things done”.

Why Should Businesses/Startups Care About PM?

Both big companies and startups need efficient project management. In fact, the main value of project management lies in the fact that it ensures the appropriate allocation of resources so that a project is completed effectively. Besides, project management is what gives cohesiveness to the process of software development. Meanwhile, the role of a project manager also includes making sure that the project falls within the established budget and will be completed within the deadlines.

Scrum Masters Are People Too – Give ‘Em a Break and a Hand

There are great Scrum Masters and lousy Scrum Masters. There are also great and lousy managers, developers, testers, salespeople, and neighbors. People are people – no matter what their profession or role in life. Scrum Masters are people too. Like every profession, most people grow and improve with time and experience. Some grow more quickly than others.

Do you have obstacles (impediments) that continue to plague your team because the Scrum Master has not removed them? Or, is communication inside the team or external to the team poor and hampering your ability to get things done? Perhaps you feel like your team is stuck in a rut and your Scrum Master doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it. What do you do if your Scrum Master isn’t all you hoped they would be?  

The Benefits of Revisiting the Basics of Agile

As someone who has been trying to master the guitar for quite a few years, I always try to challenge myself with learning more complex songs. Sometimes, I'll get hooked on something extra complicated, and will find myself practicing it over and over until it seems like all the notes blend together. That's when I know it's time to take a step back and take a moment for a pause to clear my head.

A teacher of mine let me in on a trick to help with this: set aside the difficult piece, and spend a few minutes playing a simple song that uses just a few basic chords, something really hard to get wrong. What I found is that this accomplishes a couple of things: