Today, we often work with organizations that do other kinds of complex work: marketing, research, bio-tech, even architecture. What would the Agile Manifesto look like if it was generalized to describe doing any kind of complex work in an agile way? With the help of participants in my regular online open office hours, I’ve generalized the values and principles from The Manifesto For Agile Software Development, so that they might better apply to any type of complex work.

Agile Manifesto For Complex Work

We are uncovering better ways of creating value for stakeholders by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
• Value delivered to stakeholders over comprehensive documentation
• Continuous collaboration over up-front negotiation
• Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

• Our highest priority is to satisfy the stakeholders through early and continuous delivery of value to them.
• Agile processes welcome and harness change, even late in the process, in order to deliver more value.
• Frequently delivering to stakeholders gives them greater ability to guide the work toward the most valuable outcomes.
• Stakeholders and the people creating the value should collaborate frequently to ensure the work is creating the desired outcomes.
• Build teams of motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.
• The most efficient and effective method of collaborative communication is real-time, face-to-face conversation.
• Deliverables provided to stakeholders along with their feedback about the value created, is the primary measure of progress.
• Agile processes promote healthy, sustainable work environments. Everyone involved should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
• Continuous attention to quality and design enhance agility.
• Simplicity－the art of maximizing the amount of work not done－is essential.
• The best results emerge from empowered, self-managing teams which are closely connected to their stakeholders.
• At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

It’s a little scary to reinterpret a document as important as the Manifesto For Agile Software Development. How did we do? What would you do differently? Leave a comment and let us know.

Cheers,

Chris Sims

Our scrum team doesn’t always finish all of the user stories we’ve brought into the sprint. At sprint review, we let our stakeholders know which user stories are not completed, and then we roll them into the next sprint. Is this the best way to handle user story spill-over from one sprint to another?

Answer:

I recommend that anything not completed at the end of a sprint be returned to the product backlog. This allows the product owner to take a fresh look at those items and decide how important they are now. Just because something seemed important last sprint, doesn’t mean that it is still a top priority. The PO should carefully consider if those items are still worthy of being on the top of the backlog. If they are high priority, then the PO can introduce them again in sprint planning, where the developers get to decide if they have capacity and confidence to commit to completing the item(s) in the coming sprint. Again, just because something seemed doable last sprint doesn’t mean that it still seems doable now. Sometimes the team will commit to an item because it looks easy, only to discover that it is much more work than anticipated. It may be that they now believe it will take much longer to complete the item, and that it should be broken down into smaller items that can be considered sprint ready.

You might also be interested in this article on what to do with story point estimates and how to calculate velocity when a user story isn’t fully completed in a sprint. Feel free to drop in on our free online open office hours to dive deeper into this topic with our amazing scrum community.

Best of luck,

Chris

Photo by Duy Pham

What Are Working Agreements?

Working agreements are a set of shared norms that a team creates together and agrees to follow. These aren’t about the technical aspects of work—they’re about how we, as human beings, interact with each other to foster a productive, respectful, and collaborative environment.

A few examples from teams I’ve worked with include:

• Practice empathy.
• Listen actively and don’t interrupt.
• Arrive on time to meetings.
• Use Slack for primary communication.
• Make time for fun and connection.

Each of these agreements may seem simple, but their impact on team cohesion is profound.

Why Do Working Agreements Matter?

Think about the best team you’ve ever been a part of. Chances are, there were some unspoken rules that everyone naturally followed, which made things run smoothly. Now, think about a team that struggled. What was missing? Often, it’s a lack of clarity around expectations for behavior, leading to misunderstandings and inefficiency.

Working agreements bring these unspoken rules to the surface, making them explicit and agreed upon by everyone. By clearly defining how team members will collaborate and communicate, you create a shared vision of what a high-functioning team looks like. This is more than just an exercise—it’s the foundation of trust, respect, and effective teamwork.

When facilitated well, working agreement sessions can be lively and energizing, with team members sharing their insights, airing differing perspectives, and resolving potential conflicts before they turn into bigger issues. It’s a proactive way to ensure that everyone is on the same page from the start, leading to smoother collaboration and a more positive team culture.

How Agile Learning Labs Can Help

At Agile Learning Labs, we’ve perfected the art of facilitating engaging and impactful working agreement sessions. Our approach is designed to include input from every team member, ensuring everyone has a voice and that the final agreements truly reflect the team’s collective vision. As an unbiased, outside facilitator, we can help navigate the natural tensions that arise and guide the group toward a set of agreements that are practical, meaningful, and actionable.

More than just setting expectations, we help teams build the foundation for long-term success by defining clear next steps for upholding and evolving their agreements as the team grows and changes.

Want to take the first step toward transforming your team dynamics? Let’s talk.
Contact us today to learn how Agile Learning Labs can help your team thrive through the power of working agreements.

Resources

• YouTube Short: Your Team Needs Working Agreements
• YouTube Short: 2 Working Agreements Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Team
• Nominal Group Technique For Working Agreements

Photo by Joshua Chehov

While the effectiveness of scrum is made up of much more than what a scorecard can show, having some criteria to start conversations about how well scrum is working on your team can be helpful. For this reason, we’ve created the Scrum Scorecard. Use this Scorecard to assess your team’s implementation of scrum and identify areas of improvement.

The Scrum Scorecard is a Google Sheet. To use it, you will need to make your own copy by clicking File > Make a copy, or you can download it by clicking File > Download. Once you have your own copy, answer the questions to see what grade your scrum team gets.

We recommend taking the assessment as a team or sending the assessment to each team member to complete, then averaging the scores. By doing this, the whole team’s perspective is considered rather than just one person’s for a more accurate representation of how scrum is working on the team.

Send us an email with any questions or feedback. Want some help with improving your scrum team’s health? Come to our twice-monthly Scrum Professionals Office Hours to receive advice and support from our community of agile practitioners.

Further Reading

• Article: Team Health Assessment
• Article: How Effective Are Your Sprint Reviews?

Photo by Oluwaseyi Johnson

Healthy teams are effective teams that meet goals, produce high-quality work, and delight customers.

When we measure team health, we step away from these outcomes of the team – however valuable they may be – and instead look at the team itself. What environment are they working in? How do the team members feel about the work they’re doing? How do they feel about each other?

Psychological safety was most recently popularized by Amy Edmonson and supported by Google’s Project Aristotle research into what makes teams successful. Beyond psychological safety, factors like Dan Pink’s autonomy, mastery, and purpose, plus other aspects like diversity, trust, authenticity, and belonging are all of what make a team healthy.

Our Team Health Assessment is a starting point for teams to identify overall team health and to identify areas of opportunity.

The assessment tool is a Google Sheet. To use it, you will need to make your own copy by clicking File > Make a copy, or you can download it by clicking File > Download. Once you have your own copy, have each team member take the assessment and then average the results. Alternatively, take the assessment together as a team to discuss the questions in real time.

Don’t worry too much about the score. Use the tool to help the team identify an area for improvement. Make a plan to improve in that area, and then check back and see if the plan worked. We recommend doing the assessment every 3 months or so, to monitor your progress towards becoming a happier, healthier team.

Want some help with improving your teams’ health? Come to our twice-monthly Scrum Professionals Office Hours to receive free advice and support from our community of agile practitioners. Send us an email if you would like more hands-on support.

Here’s to healthier teams!

Further Reading

• Video: Ingredients for High-Performing Teams
• Article: How Effective Are Your Sprint Reviews?

It can be tricky for a facilitator to acknowledge thoughts of participants and help them feel heard without agreeing with what the participant is saying. Validation takes practice and can help earn the trust of your team when done well.

When To Use Validation

Use validation in situations where it is important to remain neutral, especially when you may not agree with what participants are saying. It is also helpful during times of conflict where the facilitator must not appear to take sides.

The goal of validation is for participants to feel understood and for the facilitator to remain impartial.

Example

In this scenario, a scrum master is facilitating a sprint retrospective. A product owner shares their opinion that retrospectives are a waste of time.

Product Owner: Retros are completely unnecessary. We have real work to do.

Scrum Master: I hear what you’re saying. It’s important to you that we focus on our product. It can be hard to take time away from that to do a retro.

Product Owner: Do you understand the pressure we’re under? These retros are wasting time.

Scrum Master: I do understand the pressure our team’s under. Especially you as the product owner. You’re on the front lines feeling all of that. I know there were some misunderstanding this sprint. Do you have any ideas for how we can improve next sprint?

The Agile Learning Labs Players Demonstrate Validation

Practice

Form groups of two to three people. One person will take the role of facilitator, one will be the participant, and others can observe and provide feedback.

1. The participant starts by voicing an opinion that they feel strongly about and sharing a bit about why they hold that opinion.
2. Next, the facilitator validates the person’s opinion while neither agreeing or disagreeing with it.
3. Continue practicing validation for one minute.
4. At the end of one minute, the participant and observers provide feedback to the facilitator.

Rotate roles to allow everyone to practice as facilitator, participant, and observer.

Resources

• Facilitation Technique: Mirroring
• Facilitation Technique: Paraphrasing
• Facilitation Technique: Questions for Elaboration
• Facilitation Technique: Stacking
• Facilitation Technique: Writing First
• Active Listening Techniques
• A Scrum Master Is A Teacher, Mentor, Coach, And Facilitator

Make Your Resume Stand Out

If you already hold the Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) credential from the Scrum Alliance, you are off to a good start. The Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner (A-CSPO) is the next step up the certification ladder. Earning your A-CSPO will set you apart from the crowd and your resume will float to the top of the pile.

Gain Valuable Skills

A recent study found that 80% of software features are rarely or never used. In this workshop, you will learn how to identify the high-value features early so your team can deliver more value more quickly. You’ll make the shift from order-taker to product visionary. You will learn backlog refinement techniques that lead to better predictability and happier stakeholders. You will understand how to be more effective in a scaled-up scrum environment.

Interactive Live Online Session

Our new A-CSPO includes a four-hour live online workshop where you will meet your instructor, teaching assistant, and classmates. You’ll practice creating and optimizing product release plans. You’ll also learn skills and techniques to improve your interactions with stakeholders and team members.

Self-Paced Skill Building

Besides the live session, the pace of the course is entirely up to you. Start as soon as you register, or wait until after the live session. Take as much or little time as you need to complete the in-depth coursework in our online learning lab. You’ll receive ongoing feedback from Chris Sims and Season Hughes throughout your learning journey.

Connect With Your Instructor And Build Your Network

Agile Learning Labs has an amazing community that you will get to participate in. Several times a month, you’ll have the opportunity to meet with your instructor and classmates at office hours. The rich interactions at office hours range from in-depth exploration of course material to problem-solving issues raised by participants from their workplaces and job searches. Additionally, we host monthly live online workshops and lecture sessions where you can deepen your learning. These sessions are a great way to build your professional network, a key to finding that next awesome job. Attend as many or few of these sessions as you like.

If you are ready to take your product owner skills to the next level, checkout our upcoming A-CSPO workshops.

Cheers,

Chris

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters

If your team’s sprint reviews were graded, would they earn an A or D? We’ve created a Sprint Review Assessment tool to answer this question. More importantly, it will help you see how to make your sprint reviews more valuable.

The Sprint Review Assessment is a Google Sheet. To use it, you will need to make your own copy by clicking File > Make a copy, or you can download it by clicking File > Download. Once you have your own copy, just answer the ten questions to see what grade your sprint review gets.

Please E-mail us with any questions or feedback. Or bring your sprint review challenges to our free twice-monthly Scrum Professionals Office Hours.

Further Reading

• Video: How To Improve Your Sprint Goal
• Article: Sprint Review – Key to Higher ROI

Photo by National Cancer Institute

The example product we’ve used in the first and second articles in this series is a tropical destination resort. The product owner of the resort believes that they should add a business center to the resort. They have created this user story.

As a businessperson,
I want a business center with printing, copying, and faxing available,
so that I can get a little work done without leaving the resort.

Let’s examine a way that the product owner could test the value of the proposed business center without implementing any business center functionality at all. The product owner will create a hypothesis statement that describes what they think should be built and how they will test the value before building.

As a businessperson,
I want a business center with printing, copying, and faxing available,
so that I can get a little work done without leaving the resort.
The value of this will be confirmed when at least 10% of survey respondents indicate that they did printing, copying, or faxing on their last vacation.

In this case, the product owner will use a survey to test their belief that a business center would be a valuable feature to add to the resort. Here are several other product discovery techniques that can be used to run such an experiment.

Customer Interviews

Conducting customer interviews is a great way to test your product hypotheses. Interviewing potential customers is almost always a cheaper and faster way to learn what your customers’ needs are, compared to building the product or feature and then seeing if your users like it.

Learn More About Customer Interviews

• Customer Interview For Product Discovery
• Customer Interviews: How to Recruit, What to Ask, and How to Synthesize What You Learn
• How to find the best features to build using the right customer interview questions

Surveys

Surveys allow you to gain quantitative and qualitative information that can be used to test your product hypotheses.

Learn More About Surveys

• Product Experiment: Close-Ended Surveys
• Product-Market Fit Survey
• User Experience (UX) Surveys: The Ultimate Guide
• Wikipedia article on survey methodology

Focus Groups

A focus group is a group interview of demographically similar people, used to understand people’s needs and pain points, as well as their reactions to proposed products or features to meet those needs. The discussions can be guided or open.

Learn More About Focus Groups

• How To Conduct Focus Groups
• How To Conduct Effective Product Focus Groups
• Targeted Focus Groups In Product Development
• Wikipedia article on focus groups

Card Sorting

Card sorting is a technique to learn how users of a product think about and naturally categorize the various aspects of the product including the underlying data that the product makes available to users. Use of card sorting can lead to more intuitive user interfaces.

Learn More About Card Sorting

• Wikipedia article on card sorting
• Card Sorting — a how-to guide
• Video: What’s Card Sorting in User Experience Research?

Software Prototyping

Building a working mock-up of new features allows rapid testing with users and promotes rapid iteration on the design.

Learn More About Software Prototyping

• Wikipedia article on software prototyping
• Prototyping Model – Software Engineering

Paper Prototyping

Photo by Amélie Mourichon

• Wikipedia article on paper prototyping
• Paper Prototyping from Interaction Design Foundation
• Video: Example Paper Prototyping Session

A minimal viable product (MVP) allows us to implement less than the full feature, and still gather data about how valuable users find it. While an MVP is often used to test an entire product idea, the approach can also be used to test new feature areas of an existing product. An MVP is a simple implementation that allows us to gather real data from our users.

In the previous article, the team implemented a business center and then measured how much customers used it. You may recall that the user story:

As a businessperson,
I want a self-serve business center with printing, copying, and faxing capabilities,
so that I can get a little work done without leaving the resort.
The value of this will be confirmed when at least ten guests do printing, copying, or faxing each week during the first month that the self-serve business center is open.

Instead of implementing the full business center with computers, furniture, and its own room, we could implement an MVP. In this case, an MVP might be accomplished by purchasing a print/copy/fax machine and putting it at the resort’s front desk. We could put flyers in guests’ rooms notifying them that this free service is available. Now we can test our product hypothesis as follows:

As a businessperson,
I want a business center with printing, copying, and faxing available,
so that I can get a little work done without leaving the resort.
The value of this will be confirmed when at least ten guests do printing, copying, or faxing each week during the first month that the free service is available at the front desk.

Photo by Scott Webb

With an MVP approach, we can test minimal builds of our features and iterate based on what we learn. This can go a long way toward avoiding overinvesting in feature areas that won’t be valued by our users.

Types Of MVPs

Wizard Of Oz MVP

The Wizard Of Oz approach involves implementing the back-end of the feature manually at first. The users think they are interacting with a fully implemented product, but in reality parts of the functionality are being done via low-tech means behind the scenes.

More About Wizard Of Oz MVP

• Michael Flowers on MVPs
• Product Experiment: Wizard Of Oz
• Video: The Wizard Of Oz Minimum Viable Product

Concierge MVP

A Concierge MVP is similar to a Wizard Of Oz except that there is no pretense of having a fully automated system. The concierge approach involves giving people the value that our product will deliver in a completely manual, high-touch way. Rent The Runway tested their online dress rental concept with pop-up shops where people could view and rent designer dresses.

Learn More About Concierge MVP

• Concierge MVP By Michael R. Flowers
• Product Experiment: Concierge
• Video: What Is A Concierge MVP?

Piecemeal / Mashup MVP

A piecemeal or mashup MVP involves building the first version of a product or feature by cobbling together existing services. The initial system likely won’t scale or be able to support the full feature set that is ultimately envisioned, but it can be built quickly. This allows us to test our product hypotheses without investing in expensive custom development.

Learn More About Piecemeal / Mashup MVP

• Piecemeal MVP By Michael R. Flowers
• Product Experiment: Mashup

Single-feature MVP

Before adding a new feature set or wide-ranging capability to your product, you might want to pick one small part of the feature set to implement as a way to test your belief that the larger feature set is valuable.

Learn More About Single-Feature MVP

• Single Feature MVP By Michael R. Flowers
• What Can You Learn From A Single Feature MVP?
• Product Experiment: Single Feature

Landing Page MVP

Landing pages are simple websites that can be used to judge the interest in a product idea. Advertisement and organic search results direct interested people to the landing page. Based on the number of people who land on the page, and perhaps interact with it, we can judge the level of interest in the new product idea.

Learn More About Landing Page MVP

• Product Experiment: Spoof Landing Page
• How to successfully validate your idea with a Landing Page MVP
• Landing Page MVP: How to Get Insightful User Feedback on the Product You Haven’t Built Yet

Feature Stub / Fake Door MVP

With a feature stub, or fake door MVP we provide a way for users to access a feature that doesn’t yet exist. For example, if we think people will want an AI grammar check feature, we could test that belief by adding a button that says “Click here if you’d like to run an AI grammar check.” When users click on the button, they get a message that explains that the feature isn’t currently available. By tracking how many users click on the button, we can judge the interest in the feature before we build it.

Learn More About Feature Stub / Fake Door MVP

• Product Experiment: Feature Stub
• Product Experiment: Fake Door
• Fake Door Testing: What Is It and How to Make An Effective Fake Door Test
• The Three Hurdles I Faced In Creating A Feature Stub Experiment