Drunk Agile

Should you use a Cycle Time Scatterplot of Epics or a Monte Carlo simulation of stories to figure out when an Epic would be done? Daniel Vacanti and Prateek Singh discuss this in the latest episode of #DrunkAgile.

Ever planned a sprint using sub-tasks? Dan and Prateek discuss how this is an anti-pattern that seems to show up often on Scrum teams. The latest episode of Drunk Agile also discusses this problem at Scale.

Probability is not what you think it is...

All backlogs are equal, but some backlogs are more equal than others.

Dan and Prateek have a couple of questions for you. What was your favourite episode in 2024? What content would you like to see in 2025? Please respond on Youtube.

Episode 96 - Validation Is Not What You Think It Is by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 98 -You Must Not Fool Yourself by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

Episode 97 -Agile Through A Flow Lens by Dan Vacanti & Prateek Singh

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss what the 'Done' column on your board means and how it is not what most people think it is.

Enjoy the latest release of DrunkAgile where Dan and Prateek cover an example of the Process Behaviour Chart. This episode was a request from multiple viewers. Please keep sending these our way. They give us material to record and excuses to drink whisky!

Our contract negotiations with Nisha were successful. She is back and has some opinions about sprints and other fixed-length timeboxes. Daniel Vacanti and I might have a couple of things to say about this as well.

Jira has a chart it calls a "Control Chart" Is it a control chart? Why does it matter?

We are in the midst of contract negotiations with #Nisha. #Spartacus subs in as Dan and Prateek talk Control Charts in the latest episode of #DrunkAgile.

Nisha believes that the type of prioritization most Agile frameworks tell people to spend time on is the least important. It is also the most wasteful. Dan and Prateek wholeheartedly agree.

How do Nisha, Dan, and Prateek decide the content for the next episode of hashtag#DrunkAgile? Come find out the answer to the question in the next episode of our Prioritization series. We are on to Level II of prioritization.

We finally prioritized(or did we) doing the episodes. Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk about the three levels of prioritization, starting with Level I - Prioritization of Active Work.

Does your board have an 'In Progress' column? #Nisha thinks that is not a great idea. Find out why on the latest episode of DrunkAgile.

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek are back talking about product and flow. How the most common Agile frameworks have misguided people in product roles and had them focus on the wrong things. Find out more in the latest episode of DrunkAgile.

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss the best strategy for managing a product backlog.

"Why do you hate Agile?" Nisha loves Agile, but do Dan and Prateek? Find out in the latest episode of #DrunkAgile.

Colleen Johnson visits Nisha, Dan, and Prateek to discuss what is coming up for ProKanban.org. They talk about the various roles like Scrum Mastesr, managers, and team leads who can be better equipped to help teams succeed. As Agile roles keep getting put on the chopping block, how can learning more about kanban and flow help you stand out?

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek wrap up 2023 by looking back at our most-watched episodes of 2023 (released and watched in 2023). Which ones were your favourites? Were there topics you were expecting to see that we did not cover?

What happens when you have reduced cycle time to the point that it matches your customer's needs? Should you try to reduce cycle time further? #Nisha, Daniel Vacanti, and Prateek Singh discuss this in the latest episode of #DrunkAgile.

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek explain the ideas of the Voice of the Process and the Voice of the Customer. Is your Sprint length VoP or VoC?

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk about all the problems with dependency management. How focusing on dependency elimination instead, can produce better results. All that, with a good dose of rambling thrown in.

Which prioritization technique do you use? Does it even matter? Is ordering your backlog waste (Yes, it is)? What if you could save all the time you spend prioritizing and still get better results? #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss how Just in Time decisions and limiting WIP are far superior to having a prioritized backlog, in the latest #DrunkAgile episode.

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek cover their preference for creating stable systems over spending time in planning sessions. What does planning have to do with Dante's circles of hell? If Agile is about continuously learning, can you really plan in advance what you will get done?

Chris McDermott stops by to talk to Nisha, Dan, and Prateek about Change Mapping. How do you look at your practices in context to figure out what to keep, improve, or discard? Come find out in this episode of #DrunkAgile. Also: Happy Birthday Nisha!

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss the dogma that agile teams have to be small. They discuss their own experiences of working on large teams that were very effective, efficient, and predictable.

Dan and Prateek stick to the same whiskey and the same topic from the previous episode - Timeboxes. This time though we go deeper into the risk and complexity associated with them. Particularly in #Agile environments. #Nisha is as active as ever, on this latest episode of #DrunkAgile.

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek are back after a bit of a break. The latest episode of #DrunkAgile is brought to you by the word 'Arbitrary'. From the OED: 'arbitrary, adj. & n. - Derived from mere opinion or preference; not based on the nature of things'

Does variability directly imply that your data is distributed in some manner? How important is it to figure out which distribution your data follows? Are you even analyzing your data if you are not using a cubic spline? Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss.

Does your team get done with work early? Or does your team get done with work a few days late? Are these problems to be addressed? Is it really a problem that your #scrum team got done with the #Sprint goal on day 10 of a 14-day sprint? What if they look like they will get done on day 16? Do you know what are the 'Two Mistakes' according to Shewhart? #Nisha, Daniel Vacanti and I talk about these in this week's episode of #DrunkAgile.

Episode 70 of #DrunkAgile is a start of a 3-part(at least) series on Variability. #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek start off with a high-level introduction to what the word variability means in our context.

In episode 69 of #DrunkAgile, #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk through a replacement for INVEST as work-item splitting criteria. Re-emphasizing our preference for right-sizing and feedback over value and estimation.

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek answer an audience question about how to deal with blockers that are outside the team's control. They take a little detour into Little's Law as well.

What do WIP Limits have to do with a team's capacity... turns out, everything. #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek dive deeper into this question in the latest #DrunkAgile episode. Enjoy!

You asked for Blocker policies and #Nisha delivered. In this week's #DrunkAgile episode, Dan, and Prateek discuss how to set some policies around dealing with blocked work.

Should you collect Blocker data? If yes, how do you use it? If not, what is an alternative? #Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss this in the third episode recorded on the same night. #DrunkAgile tending towards #PlasteredAgile.

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek answer an audience question about #MonteCarlo and the predicted date ending on a weekend. What does this mean in terms of #risk? Does the risk change based on how far out the forecast is?

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk through the effect weekends have on cycle time. Why they are included and what would be the effect if we did exclude them? Note : This episode includes the use of visuals and might be better experienced on Youtube.

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk through the applicability of Flow Metrics in Scrum. Also, they are 'Flow Metrics', not 'Kanban Metrics'. ProKanabn.Org's new AFMS course covers this as well.

In this episode, Dan and Prateek inspect the results of Monte-Carlo forecasts for when in the season would LeBron James break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record. Nisha does her best airbud impression.

The last episode in the Flaw of Averages series. Nisha, Dan, and Prateek answer a distillation of multiple audience questions - What is the problem with single-point answers?

The Flaw of Averages Part II. In this sequel, Dan and Prateek take on data distributions and shapes. #Nisha calls out the bull in Weibull. It is normal for your data to not be normal.

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek discuss Dr. Sam Savage's Flaw of Averages in this episode of #DrunkAgile. Have you been thinking of the world in terms of averages? If yes, hopefully, this episode will cure that ailment.

ProKanban.org hosts Nisha, Dan, and Prateek for a live edition of Drunk Agile. In this Holiday Special, the Drunk Agile crew takes on a variety of questions from the audience.

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek cover an audience question - I have a new feature, not yet started, when will that feature be completed? Come find out the answer.

Everything you have been told about Scaling is wrong! Nisha, Dan, and Prateek cover what is so different about Applying Scaled Portfolio Kanban.

#Nisha, Dan, and Prateek talk about being Agile when implementing Agile. They discuss the pitfalls of Maturity Models and more...

Nisha, Dan, and Prateek are back with some whisky and revisiting thoughts around Ex-Ante vs Ex-Post in order to answer an audience question looking for "guidance on finding the sweet spot to achieve meaningful metrics without too much waste in the form of ex-Ante Analysis."