Software development, however, bears little resemblance to double-blind drug testing. It is a process fraught with unknowns, a journey of discovery.

like having their tasks, agreements, and progress charts in plain sight at all times.

Change control can only work in a context in which change is actually controllable.

product owner does this by directing the team toward the most valuable work, and away from less valuable work. That is, the product owner controls the priority order of items in the team’s backlog.

Test as you go, not at the end—a bug fixed now is cheaper than one that has had a chance to propagate through a system for months. Deliver product early and often, as only by demonstrating working software to your customer can you find out what they really want.

This vision encompasses who the product is being built for, why they need it, and how they will use it. It informs all of the many decisions that must be made in order to make the product a reality.

There was a time when Brad would have tried to pressure the team into committing to more work, but he has learned that the team’s velocity—the number of points it gets done each sprint—doesn’t lie.

You may well have a brilliant architect on your agile team, but on a scrum team, she is not “The Architect.” The team will value her expertise as an important resource and often look to her for guidance. The architecture will have her fingerprints all over it, but she won’t be “in charge of the architecture.” The team shares that responsibility equ

It is likely that some stakeholders will fall back on old habits, and go directly to team members in an attempt to get their stuff done quickly. Team members can learn to redirect these requests with artfully diplomatic ripostes like: “This sounds important, you should bring it to our product owner!”