The strongest articles on engineering excellence and technical leadership — ranked by substance, not recency. How this is ranked
Engineering as a Leadership System: Moving Beyond Frameworks
Delivery outcomes are shaped less by frameworks and practices than by the operating model leaders have designed. How an organisation's …
Why Most Companies Operating Models Fail in Dynamic Markets
A concise comparison of Predictive and Adaptive Operating Models, explaining why traditional structures fail in dynamic markets and how …
Telling People What to Do Is Not Leadership. It’s a Failure of System Design
Explores why real leadership means designing systems that enable team autonomy, flow, and accountability, rather than relying on …
AI Agents Lie About Being Done
My agent reported every task complete when half the tests were missing. Call that a lie if you like. The engineering problem is that the …
Don’t Manage Dependencies, Remove Them
Explains why dependencies are a sign of poor system design and outlines steps to eliminate them by aligning teams, clarifying ownership, and …
The Estimation Trap: How Tracking Accuracy Undermines Trust, Flow, and Value in Software Delivery
Tracking estimation accuracy in software delivery leads to mistrust, fear, and distorted behaviours. Focus on customer value, flow, and …
Is Agile Really Just a Mindset?
Explores Agile as a disciplined system of delivery, emphasizing engineering excellence, CI/CD, observability, and system design over mindset …
Stop Building Silos. Start Building Systems
Explains how fragmented automation and tool silos harm software delivery, and advocates for unified engineering systems and platform …
How to Build for Business Resilience and Continuity
Learn key strategies for building business resilience and continuity, including observability, system decoupling, routine deployments, team …
889 resources, newest first
The Race for Market Responsiveness: A Fresh Perspective on Organisational Agility
Explores why true organisational agility means building custom processes to respond quickly to market changes, not just adopting popular …
Rethinking 'User Stories': A Call for Clarity in Product Backlog Management
Explores why replacing "User Stories" with "Product Backlog Items" improves clarity, flexibility, and transparency in product backlog …
Sculpting the Product Backlog: A Delicate Balance Between Lean Inventory and Future Readiness
Explores how to maintain a lean, transparent product backlog that balances current needs with future readiness, enabling teams to adapt and …
Rethinking Product Backlog: Navigating Through the Weeds of Complexity
Explores how rigid hierarchies in product backlogs can hinder agility, advocating for flatter, value-focused approaches to manage complexity …
Navigating the Future with a Fine-Tuned Product Backlog
Explains how a well-ordered, refined Product Backlog guides Agile teams, supports goal alignment, and ensures value-driven product …
From Unused Gym Memberships to Agile Implementation The Parallels of Misapplied Investments
Explores how superficial adoption of agile in software development mirrors unused gym memberships, highlighting the need for genuine …
Storms of Neglect The Perils of Not Delivering Usable Products in Agile Iterations
Failing to deliver a usable product each agile iteration leads to lost trust, technical debt, poor adaptability, misaligned expectations, …
How Usable Working Products Are Your Ultimate Weapon Against Risks
Delivering usable, working products frequently is key to reducing risk in Agile. Focus on feedback, automation, and lean practices over …
Risk Mitigation: Agile Usable Products vs Documentation in Traditional Project Management
Compares Agile’s risk mitigation through incremental, usable products with traditional project management’s reliance on documentation, …
A Titanic Misfit: The Alpha Organization's Wasteful Endeavor in Red Markets
Examines how rigid, hierarchical Alpha organisations struggle and waste resources in fast-paced red markets, highlighting the need for …
The Urgent Call for Agile Organisational Transformation
Explores why traditional hierarchical organisations struggle in fast-changing markets and argues for agile, decentralised structures to …
Embrace Uniqueness: Why Creating Your Own Scaling Practices Leads to Business Success
Explores why businesses should develop custom scaling practices tailored to their unique culture and needs, rather than adopting standard …
Announcing Professional Agile Leadership with Evidence-Based Management Training (PAL-EBM) from Scrum.org
Learn about Scrum.org’s new PAL-EBM training, which helps leaders use evidence-based management and custom metrics to align teams with …
Hiring a Professional Product Owner
Explains the key accountabilities, skills, and behaviours required for a Scrum Product Owner, including hiring trends, role requirements, …
Stop normalizing unprofessional behaviour in the name of agility
Highlights the importance of professionalism in agile teams, warning against excusing unprofessional behaviour as agility and stressing …
Hiring a Professional Scrum Master
Covers key responsibilities, skills, and requirements for hiring a Scrum Master, including leadership, coaching, facilitation, and fostering …
Scrum is made up of Influencers, Entrepreneurs, and Makers
Explains how Scrum teams rely on three key roles, Influencers, Entrepreneurs, and Makers, to balance leadership, value creation, and …
Become the leader that you were meant to to be
Explores the shift from traditional management to leadership focused on inspiration, effectiveness, and servant leadership, with insights …
All technical debt is a risk to the product and to your business
Technical debt increases risk to products and businesses, leading to hidden costs, reduced quality, and slower delivery. Ignoring it can …
Professional Kanban Trainer for Applying Professional Kanban
Learn about becoming a Professional Kanban Trainer, the Applying Professional Kanban course, certification process, and key Kanban …
What is Taylorism, and why Waterfall is just the tip of the iceberg!
Explores how Taylorism shaped modern management, leading to rigid hierarchies, bureaucracy, and dehumanising work practices that persist …
Sprint Goal is an Immediate Tactical Goal
Explains how the Sprint Goal serves as an immediate tactical objective in Scrum, guiding teams toward strategic Product Goals and maximising …
Story Points & Velocity are a sign of an unsuccessful team
Explains why relying on story points and velocity signals team immaturity in Scrum, and highlights better ways to build confidence and …
Evidence-based Management: Gathering the metrics
Explains how to gather key metrics for evidence-based management in software organisations, focusing on value delivery, time to market, and …
There is no place like production
Validating product value requires releasing features to real users in production, gathering feedback, and measuring usage, satisfaction, and …
Product Goal is an Intermediate Strategic Goal
Explains how product goals serve as intermediate strategic goals, guiding agile organisations through uncertainty using experimentation, …
If your backlog is not refined then you are doing it wrong
Explains why regular backlog refinement is essential in Scrum, how to make backlog items ready for Sprint Planning, and ways to measure …
Getting started with a Definition of Done (DoD)
Explains how to create, apply, and improve a Definition of Done (DoD) in Scrum to ensure software quality, transparency, and consistent …
A better way than staggered iterations for delivery
Explains why staggered iterations harm software delivery, increasing technical debt, and recommends cross-functional teams, test-first, and …
You are doing it wrong if you are not using test first
Explains how adopting test-first practices in software development improves quality, reduces bugs, and enables confident continuous delivery …
Professional Scrum teams build software that works
Professional Scrum Teams prioritise software quality, accountability, and continuous improvement, ensuring each release is reliable, …
The Sprint Goal is a commitment for the Sprint Backlog
Explains how the Sprint Goal guides Scrum teams by providing a clear, shared objective for each Sprint, ensuring focus, transparency, and …
Release planning and predictable delivery
Explores how agile teams can achieve predictable software delivery through quality focus, effective release planning, and continuous …
The Product Goal is a commitment for the Product Backlog
Defines the Product Goal as a clear, measurable objective in the Product Backlog that guides Scrum Teams, ensuring focus, transparency, and …
Update to the Scrum Guide on the 25th Anniversary of the Scrum Framework
Summarises key changes in the 2020 Scrum Guide, including simplified language, self-managing teams, and new commitments for goals, backlog, …
Online is the new co-located
Explores how advances in technology have redefined co-location, emphasising the importance of video presence for effective online …
What my father taught me about Evidence-based Management (34 years before it was invented!)
Explores how evidence-based management uses data-driven practices to improve organisational agility, value delivery, and decision-making in …
I do continuous deliver, why should I Sprint?
Explains why Sprints are valuable even with continuous delivery, highlighting benefits for planning, feedback, communication, and …
Getting started with a modern source control system and DevOps
Learn key practices for adopting modern source control and DevOps, including automation, release pipelines, and team collaboration to …
Evolution not Transformation: This is the Inevitability of change
Change in organisations is a continuous, evolutionary process driven by experimentation and adaptation, not a one-time transformation or …
The fallacy of the rejected backlog item
Explains why rejecting individual backlog items at Sprint Review is a misconception, highlighting Scrum’s focus on learning, collaboration, …
Luddites have no place in the modern organisation
Explores how resistance to change and outdated mindsets hinder organisational agility, stressing the need for adaptable, forward-thinking …
Many organisations are lured to SAFe by the song of the Sirens
Explores how organisations adopt SAFe for agility but risk rigid bureaucracy, highlighting the need for genuine business evolution over …
Configuring Microsoft Teams for Live Virtual Training
Step-by-step guide to setting up Microsoft Teams for live virtual training, covering Azure AD, Microsoft 365, guest access, external …
Delivering Live Virtual Classes in Microsoft Teams and Mural
Guidance on running live virtual Scrum classes using Microsoft Teams and Mural, focusing on tech setup, safe collaboration, self-organising …
Live Virtual Classroom's and the new normal
Explores how live virtual classrooms have become effective alternatives to in-person training, highlighting benefits, challenges, and the …
Live Site Culture & Site Reliability Engineering
Explores how agile teams use DevOps and Site Reliability Engineering to deliver high-quality software rapidly, with insights from …
The Tyranny of Taylorism and how to detect Agile BS
Explores the origins of Taylorism in modern management, its impact on workplace practices, and how to identify ineffective or superficial …
Slaying the Dragons and How to Successfully Descale at Scale
Explores why most organisations struggle to scale agile practices, highlighting key principles and strategies used by rare, successful …
Live Webcast: Q&A with Martin Hinshelwood on 27th March 2020
Martin Hinshelwood answers questions on integrating UX into Scrum teams, sharing practical advice from his experience teaching Professional …