Don‘t ignore the hidden preconditions for Scrum Did you know that many organizations are not a great fit for Scrum? Scrum makes a few assumptions that are often ignored and not fulfilled. And when we naively start to implement Scrum, we wonder why it doesn’t seem to work as promised. Let’s uncover these hidden assumptions today! Hello Reader, you’re reading a free article of the Agile Compass. If you find my articles valuable, you might want to become a…
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Boost Your Emotional IQ Every Day: Why Daily Check-Ins Are Great
This is where the magic of emotional check-ins comes into play. Rather than diving straight into the tasks at hand, you decide to take a moment—a simple, powerful moment—to ask everyone to
How to Improve Your Retrospectives in 7 Steps
Retrospectives can turn into mere problem discussions yielding little positive impact on the work of a Scrum team. Here is how you can ensure insanely effective Sprint Retrospectives with an easy to follow 7 steps template.
Why Your Sprint Retrospectives Fail and How to Make Them Inspire Real Change
Are your retros effective? Do only discuss problems or does the team actually improve continuously? Here is my proven template for effective retrospectives.
How To Demo The Backend In An Agile Way?
A common question I get: How do we demo virtual deliverables in the Sprint Review or System Demo? If we only have a backend or a library to show, how can we best do it? Let me give a few tips in this week’s article.
How Agile Teams Naturally Progress: Unveil the Power of Tuckman’s Stages
Tuckman’s stages of group development help us to coach agile teams at different stages of their development.
Unlocking Performance: The Overlooked Management Strategy That Works Wonders
The Agile Compass
by Matthias Orgler
Hello Reader,
in the last two weeks we looked at planning: assessing why we insist on finalizing the plan (and how to stop) and why you shouldn’t pick user stories in Sprint planning (and what to do instead).
This week we’ll talk about an overlooked management strategy that could unlock high performance for you.
Thank you for reading the free edition of The Agile Compass! Consider upgrading today. Paying subscribers improve their knowledge and skills…
Why You Shouldn’t Assign Team Members to User Stories During Sprint Planning
Avoid the pitfalls of assigning or picking user stories in sprint planning. Learn what to do instead to be more productive.
The Great Agile Paradox: Why We Can’t Seem to Let Go of “Finalizing the Plan”
The Agile Compass
by Matthias Orgler
Hello Reader,
last week we talked about why Product Owners shouldn’t spend so much time writing user stories. This week we’ll look at the paradox of well knowing how much waste big upfront planning is, yet still insisting on doing it.
Before we dive into why we can’t let go of planning to plan the plan, here are other articles you might have missed:
Overcoming Resistance to Change in Agile Transformations: A Guide for Agile Coaches and Leaders
Unlocking…
How to Boost Team Collaboration with User Stories – Not Just Writing!
Alright, do you measure the effectiveness of product owners by how much time they devote to writing great user stories? Many do – more or less explicitly. But there is a hard truth: The better the Product Owner, the less time they spend writing user stories ?!









