These tales relate successful attempts at making improvements. They are described mostly in the order in which they occurred, from my time working in an Agile culture. The tales are about: Creating the Motivation to Pair Program, Staying Focused at Stand-up, Keeping Progress High and Questions Low, Reassigning Points to Validate Estimation, Admitting to the Real Date, Dealing With an Overwhelming Amount of Work, Gauging the Rate of Progress, Figuring Out How to Construct Teams, Finding Predictability in the Velocity, Allowing for Cross-Functional Teams

1. Ten Tales of Positive Change

2. Creating the Motivation
to Pair Program
the first tale

3. worked solo and
practiced code review
the situation

4. TDD had little effect
the problem

5. bought a big monitor
the action

6. to create a pair room
the cause

7. became a team
the effect

8. Staying Focused at Stand-up
the second tale

9. stand-ups took too long
the situation

10. extended stand-up discussions
the problem

11. note who spoke about what
the action

12. to show impediments
the cause

13. worked together
as an organization
the effect

14. Keeping Progress High and
Questions Low
the third tale

15. established a cadence
the situation

16. questioned Sprint progress
the problem

17. spent time
designing retrospectives
the action

18. to work without distraction
the cause

19. routine practice and
continuous learning
the effect

20. Reassigning Points
to Validate Estimation
the fourth tale

21. tended to the Product Backlog
the situation

22. Product Owner
questioned estimates
the problem

23. Resized stories, refined some
the action

24. reassigning points is useless
the cause

25. had some tough discussions
the effect

26. Admitting to the Real Date
the fifth tale

27. trusted relationship
the situation

28. miss the contracted date
the problem

29. worked together
the action

30. launch when predicted
the cause

31. eventually acquired
the effect

32. Dealing With an
Overwhelming Amount of Work
the sixth tale

33. ScrumMaster switched jobs
the situation

34. no common thread
the problem

35. see everybody’s tasks
the action

36. to limit work-in-progress
the cause

37. increased flow
the effect

38. Gauging the Rate of Progress
the seventh tale

39. coaching many different teams
the situation

40. Product Backlogs
were not being estimated
the problem

41. played team estimation
the action

42. to keep the Product Backlog sized
the cause

43. backlog refinement
the effect

44. Figuring Out
How to Construct Teams
the eighth tale

45. Scrum mandated
the situation

46. created shared component teams
the problem

47. to create feature area teams
the action

48. to let the teams decide
the cause

49. continuously working software
the effect

50. Finding Predictability
in the Velocity
the ninth tale

51. defects on the Product Backlog
were not being estimated
the situation

52. couldn’t establish
a consistent velocity
the problem

53. relatively size defects
the action

54. relatively size for cost
the cause

55. decided how to invest
the effect

56. Allowing for
Cross-Functional Teams
the tenth tale

57. prepping for release planning
the situation

58. teams were not set up
to deliver features
the problem

59. put release planning on hold
the action

60. to use the matrix
the cause

61. increased productivity, quality
and engagement
the effect

62. What is in common?

63. started as an idea
that led to a small change

64. What ideas do you have?