The Mountain Goat Software Blog

Your project is late. Again. The reason why might surprise you. It's likely not because your team is bad at estimating with story points. And it's almost certainly not because your team is lazy. In my experience, the number one reason projects are late...

I take questions at the end of every Better User Stories webinar. I've done enough of these sessions that I can almost predict which user story questions are going to pop up in the chat!
I thought it might be helpful to answer three of the most commonly asked questions about user stories all in one place. Feel free to share it with your teams and stakeholders, to help get everyone on the same page about user stories....

While it's true that agile teams value "responding to change over following a plan," high-performing agile teams do make plans. In fact, agile planning is built into the Scrum framework, from daily scrums to sprint planning. The reason? Because good...

I’m the first to say that established agile teams sometimes find approaches that work for them outside the rules of Scrum. But I also believe there is value to be found in teams thinking and working inside the Scrum "box".
Why? Because frameworks (e.g., Scrum) enhance creativity. Want proof? The video below uses William Shakespeare, the TV show Friends, and the Wile E. Coyote cartoons as examples of how frameworks boost creativity. I’ve included the text as well if you...