Articles

2026

Agentic product development: recomposing the team

Agentic product development: recomposing the team

The Upstream Trap

The Upstream Trap

The Bottleneck Has Moved

The Bottleneck Has Moved

David in Alberta’s Echo Pioneer

David in Alberta’s Echo Pioneer

Watch a Cumulative Flow Diagram Build Itself, Day by Day

Watch a Cumulative Flow Diagram Build Itself, Day by Day

‘Batches’ in Scrum

‘Batches’ in Scrum

Which Class Should You Arrange Next?

Which Class Should You Arrange Next?

Flying In The Dark: A Product Management Metaphor

Flying In The Dark: A Product Management Metaphor

Bureaucracy Is Not A Scaffold, It Is A Cage

Bureaucracy Is Not A Scaffold, It Is A Cage

AI Is Rewiring Scrum Teams, But Not Scrum

AI Is Rewiring Scrum Teams, But Not Scrum

The David Sabine Test™

The David Sabine Test™

2025

Agile Engineering Practices: A Revival

Agile Engineering Practices: A Revival

Does Your Kanban Board Include Sprint Backlog Tasks? You Might Be Doing It Wrong

Does Your Kanban Board Include Sprint Backlog Tasks? You Might Be Doing It Wrong

Nobody Understands Leading & Lagging Indicators

Nobody Understands Leading & Lagging Indicators

Agile Practices and Developer Autonomy

Agile Practices and Developer Autonomy

Thank you, Scrum

Thank you, Scrum

When To Use Scrum?

When To Use Scrum?

PMI Masticates Agile Alliance

PMI Masticates Agile Alliance

2024

Guest: Author David Sabine on the Phoenix Payroll System Scandal

Guest: Author David Sabine on the Phoenix Payroll System Scandal

Dislocated Team: “My teammates are in 3 different time zones! Help!?”

Dislocated Team: “My teammates are in 3 different time zones! Help!?”

Fixing the Broken Pieces: Realizing Software Liability & Attestation Panel

Fixing the Broken Pieces: Realizing Software Liability & Attestation Panel

How to Help Scrum "Masters" Who Don't Know The Basics

How to Help Scrum "Masters" Who Don't Know The Basics

Should ‘Bugs’ Have ‘Points’?

Should ‘Bugs’ Have ‘Points’?

Do you think it’s necessary to start every sprint with each story fully specified?

Do you think it’s necessary to start every sprint with each story fully specified?

Scrum is NOT Dead

Scrum is NOT Dead

Can the tasks of the Sprint Backlog be removed?

Can the tasks of the Sprint Backlog be removed?

What do you think about story points?

What do you think about story points?

Historical Perspective of the Role of the Scrum Master

Historical Perspective of the Role of the Scrum Master

Kanban or Scrum: Where to begin your learning journey?

Kanban or Scrum: Where to begin your learning journey?

Team-managed vs. Company-managed projects in Jira.

Team-managed vs. Company-managed projects in Jira.

The User Story: Demystified

The User Story: Demystified

Pssst…You’re Allowed to Stop Using Jargon

Pssst…You’re Allowed to Stop Using Jargon

TDD question: Is this test needed?

TDD question: Is this test needed?

2023

What To Do In the First 90 Days as a Scrum Master

What To Do In the First 90 Days as a Scrum Master

Episode 56: Agile Review with Ennis Lynch, Special Guest David Sabine

Episode 56: Agile Review with Ennis Lynch, Special Guest David Sabine

Why I’m NOT a SAFe Trainer

Why I’m NOT a SAFe Trainer

Common Complaint: “Scrum Doesn’t Work Here!”

Common Complaint: “Scrum Doesn’t Work Here!”

From the Trenches: Small Batches for the Win

From the Trenches: Small Batches for the Win

The Worst of the Worst #DevLife Jokes

The Worst of the Worst #DevLife Jokes

Professional Scrum Trainer Spotlight — David Sabine

Professional Scrum Trainer Spotlight — David Sabine

Ask a Professional Scrum.org Trainer with PST David Sabine

Ask a Professional Scrum.org Trainer with PST David Sabine

How To Prevent Another Phoenix Pay System Inferno

How To Prevent Another Phoenix Pay System Inferno

Design Agencies Are Fun, Development Teams Are Stressful

Design Agencies Are Fun, Development Teams Are Stressful

Complexity, Empiricism, and the Agile Origin Story

Complexity, Empiricism, and the Agile Origin Story

Throwback Thursday: AgileQuestions 2011

Throwback Thursday: AgileQuestions 2011

2022

What Is Kanban?

What Is Kanban?

What Is Scrum?

What Is Scrum?

Someone Made Up ‘SDLC’ And Everyone Went Along With It

Someone Made Up ‘SDLC’ And Everyone Went Along With It

2021

Sometimes ‘Transparency’ Just Means Not Lying

Sometimes ‘Transparency’ Just Means Not Lying

I am a Professional Kanban Trainer with ProKanban.org

I am a Professional Kanban Trainer with ProKanban.org

A Story of Release Gates: An Antipattern

A Story of Release Gates: An Antipattern

Continuous Deployment Is Now Table Stakes

Continuous Deployment Is Now Table Stakes

Post-Covid Office Environments & Team Structures

Post-Covid Office Environments & Team Structures

Farewell, Taylorism.

Farewell, Taylorism.

No Longer Tolerate ‘Blocked’ or ‘Waiting’ States

No Longer Tolerate ‘Blocked’ or ‘Waiting’ States

2020

Empowerment Retro

Empowerment Retro

Feedback Loops: The Agile Community Evolves

Feedback Loops: The Agile Community Evolves

3 Ways to Increase the Agile IQ of an Organization

3 Ways to Increase the Agile IQ of an Organization

Team Retrospective — “Feeding the Machine for Corporate Review Season”

Team Retrospective — “Feeding the Machine for Corporate Review Season”

Team Structures: Patterns that Work

Team Structures: Patterns that Work

An Agile Not-for-Profit Organization

An Agile Not-for-Profit Organization

2019

Le Sprinkler: L’agilité en podcast

Le Sprinkler: L’agilité en podcast

Stop Using Projects to Make Products

Stop Using Projects to Make Products

The Messy Business of Agile at Scale

The Messy Business of Agile at Scale

Phoenix Payroll Catastrophe — Why Canada is Destined to Repeat It

Phoenix Payroll Catastrophe — Why Canada is Destined to Repeat It

“Can we use Scrum with ‘remote’ staff?”

“Can we use Scrum with ‘remote’ staff?”

Scrum.org Webcast: Teams are Self-Organizing — Get Over It

Scrum.org Webcast: Teams are Self-Organizing — Get Over It

Does Your Team Produce ‘Bugs’?

Does Your Team Produce ‘Bugs’?

Agile Reports for the Project Manager’s Brain

Agile Reports for the Project Manager’s Brain

Defining Distributed, Remote, Co-located, and Dislocated Teams

Defining Distributed, Remote, Co-located, and Dislocated Teams

Velocity: Escape this Pitfall!

Velocity: Escape this Pitfall!

Scrum in 10 minutes

Scrum in 10 minutes

2018

I am a Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org

I am a Professional Scrum Trainer with Scrum.org

The Art of Agile Product Documentation

The Art of Agile Product Documentation

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast

BeTheTalk With Nathan Eckel

BeTheTalk With Nathan Eckel

Looking for Work as a Scrum Master? Choose Wisely.

Looking for Work as a Scrum Master? Choose Wisely.

Canada’s Phoenix Payroll Catastrophe

Canada’s Phoenix Payroll Catastrophe

2017

A Scrum Team Increases Their Velocity by Doing Less Work

A Scrum Team Increases Their Velocity by Doing Less Work

Leadership of Agile Organizations

Leadership of Agile Organizations

A Week in the Life of a Scrum Team

A Week in the Life of a Scrum Team

2016

A Book Review: “The Great ScrumMaster”, by Zuzana Šochová

A Book Review: “The Great ScrumMaster”, by Zuzana Šochová

Etymology of ‘Management’

Etymology of ‘Management’

2015

A Lean Startup is Going to Eat Your Lunch

A Lean Startup is Going to Eat Your Lunch

2014

Agile Startups

Agile Startups

2012

Rethinking Education

Rethinking Education