Since 2005 I have discouraged all teams I work with from measuring and tracking in hours. Using the “one-day task” rule will very quickly uncover impediments and dysfunction. It will also free up your developers to actually focus on the work, and off the numbers. The ultimate goal is to take focus off the tasks altogether, and focus on the actual

These three roles constitute the scrum team; their tendency to pull in three different directions—profit, mastery and the greater good—is what generates the healthy conflict and tension required to reach previously unimagined levels of innovation and creativity, and allows scrum teams to deliver true value.

The workflow board, when truly understood, becomes the spiritual home of the team, its church if you like. Team members gather around the board to argue, discuss and innovate, to align themselves with each other, to course-correct, to learn, to celebrate.

Distributed teams require coordination and management and thus can never be truly self-organizing.

Change is so vital to the technology industry that it cannot possibly be represented by process alone.

Scrum is about whole people, not about skills. Scrum is not I, but We. It is about sharing, learning, continuous improvement, vibrant interaction, passionate collaboration, and personal growth.

what value are we seeking… what story are we telling?

The problem isn’t using velocity as a measure (that can be useful if applied appropriately), nor is it having the business make the priority decisions (they ought to!) The problem—as always—is the absence of true collaborative dialog, without which people are likely to be uninformed, to make assumptions and to have unrealistic expectations.

People on the business end of the creative process need to define desired outcomes that describe audience and value. And as they are likely not developing solutions themselves, they need to be completely feet-off the solution pathway, unless specifically invited to step in.