John Ragozzine

Alley Insight

Velocity in Scrum is a Means, Not an End

Being a scrum master, I often worry if velocity looms too large for me. From project forecasting to sprint planning to team retrospectives, velocity metrics are up in my grill more than bratwurst at a Green Bay Packers tailgate. Even from a “book learnin’” standpoint, velocity is front and center: “The Scrum Master is accountable for the Velocity … of the Team.” That big V Velocity is really intimidating! But does velocity warrant such verbal (and mental) emphasis?

Woman working in a home office, using an iMac

Alley Insight

Team Norms for Distributed Scrum Teams

If you’ve suddenly found yourself working remotely due to COVID-19 precautions, how do you handle all the normal day-to-day things like meetings, tracking tasks, and basic communication? Team norms don’t need to be complicated just because everyone’s remote. Being a fully distributed company ourselves, we have learned a lot over the years that helps us keep our teams running smoothly.

Alley Insight

Rule of Scrum

As a scrum master and coach, I see the phrase “doing scrum wrong” thrown around a lot. But Scrum rules are made to be broken.

Alley Insight

How to Succeed When Working Remotely – Lessons Learned from a Chinese Buffet

Working from home can be an amazingly fulfilling career experience. Likewise, a trip to your local Chinese food buffet can be a culinary delight. But both can also be abjectly horrible. Here are my recommendations for successful remote work without the debilitating pains of post-dumpling bloat.

Alley Insight

Reference Stories: A Fair Way to Get Up to Par

Just like how hours work globally because we all take our cues from the World Clock, teams need to base their decisions using the same benchmarks to unlock the true value of story points and team velocity. This can be accomplished by using reference stories.