Predicting Your Future – Estimate with Confidence
In a previous article, I explored the dangers of unmanaged expectations in software businesses, along with suggestions and tips. One way software teams manage expectations is by providing estimates of engineering effort. Here I’ll examine a specific technique that help teams estimate with confidence. This technique can be particularly helpful for teams that are new…
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1 Simple Thing That Will Make Your Team Crush It
Is your team slow or do you think they could be faster? You can save them many wasted hours per week with a single short meeting called the Definition of Ready. Learning what exactly is meant by a user story or ticket is a great hidden inefficiency in agile teams. Think about this scenario: A…
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Searching for what you need in Jira using JQL
An organization’s Jira instance can quickly become a sea of issues. Seemingly overnight, an instance can accumulate thousands of epics, stories, and bugs. At first, it’s easy to remember and keep track of specific issues. But in a short amount of time, this feat of mental agility becomes impossible. A user can begin to feel…
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9 Design System Traps to Avoid
Design systems are a trending topic these days. A quick glance at Alex Pate’s awesome design systems repo shows that both big name companies and small start ups are wading into the design system waters. At Modus, we’ve helped several clients build out their design systems. Design systems are still relatively new, so we have…
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Using Jira Sub-Tasks for QA Workflows
If you don’t have an official test management tool, Jira offers enough configurations for both manual and automated testing workflows. Check out our guide to using Jira Sub-Tasks for QA workflows.
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Ship It: Release Management in Jira and Confluence
Ship it! Planning, managing and communicating releases is often done as an afterthought. You release the functionality that is done at the end of the sprint, or you release whatever is ready when you hit your milestone. As for planning, well that is the result of numerous meetings, scrum board watching, and hand wrenching. Having…
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Jira: Using Epics vs Components vs Labels
We’re going to compare Epics, Components, and Labels as they are used in Atlassian’s tool, Jira. To properly use these features in Jira, you must first establish their definition of use and share these with your entire team and/or company. So let’s jump right in. What are these things? Epics are simply containers that are…
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Disruptive Technology Management
Headlines scream disruptive technology! Cloud Computing, Smartphones, Blockchain, AI, Internet of Things, the list goes on and on. We are surrounded by a sea of disruptive technologies. There is no escaping it. Sooner or later your customer needs are going to drive your business to move to one or more of these technologies. Disruptive Technology…
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The Danger of Unrealistic Expectations in Software
When delivering great software, product and project managers connect many elements. Sometimes the process is like finishing a puzzle; other times it is like fixing broken glass. The pieces may still fit together, but handling them can be dangerous. This is particularly true when handling expectations for software. Years ago, I joined a fast-growing SaaS…
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Mastering Swarm Facilitation
Successful swarm facilitation is about building relations and trust with team members. Similar to an agile scrum team, a swarm is a lean kanban team focused on delivering software. Being a good swarm facilitator is more about enabling a team to realize its greatest potential and less about your personal status or title. Facilitators need…
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