A client wants a new mockup by the end of day; the development team identifies a bug that needs fixing; a competitor launches a cool new feature — and that’s all before lunch! The fast pace of business today makes Agile collaboration — the ability to coordinate among cross-functional teams — more important than ever. To stay competitive and innovative, Agile teams must be able to quickly adapt, take action when new opportunities arise, and practice relentless improvement.

Accurate estimation is crucial in Scrum as it helps in setting realistic expectations for the workload associated with completing user stories or tasks. By assigning relative size or time values to each task, the team can make informed decisions about their capacity and plan sprints more effectively. This process not only aids in better sprint planning but also enhances the predictability of project timelines.

Story points are an estimation technique used in Agile project management methodologies to help your team scope the effort required to complete a task. Story points account for factors like task complexity and uncertainty, which makes them more accurate than other estimation techniques such as time-based estimation. Estimating story points may sound complicated, but we’ve got you covered—we’ve broken down the process into six simple steps.

The rise of remote and hybrid work arrangements has transformed how modern software development teams operate. With distributed DevOps and Scrum practices now the norm, effectively leading these geographically dispersed and virtual teams has become a critical skill for tech leaders.

Diana Larsen is an international authority in Agile software development, leadership, and transformations. She’s also the co-author of Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great, Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams, and The Five Rules of Accelerated Learning. Her most recent book, Lead Without Blame, is particularly relevant now, as it addresses the crucial need for enterprises to build resilient teams in today’s increasingly competitive and challenging landscape.

It’s been 23 years since the Agile Manifesto transformed software development. Frameworks like Scrum and Kanban and other Agile practices have allowed teams to move away from rigid, linear processes to more flexible ones that focus on delivering value to customers faster. Since then, the world of Agile has expanded in scope.

Agile methodology is a word with deep resonance in the software development community that describes a set of software development principles where requirements and solutions are developed collaboratively by self-organizing and cross-functional teams. It promotes flexible reactions to change, early delivery, evolutionary development, adaptive planning, and continuous improvement.

Agile vs. Scrum vs. Kanban is the most spoken about in the inner circle of project managers. However, these three are not entirely the same, nor are they completely different. All three concepts are handy for project managers, but how are they different from each other exactly? Let’s take a closer look at Agile, Scrum, and Kanban—uncovering how these tools optimize group performance and enhance project results.