SCRUM – Derk-Jan de Grood

Waves of Agile: Insights from an Agile Tester

One of the great things about writing a book is that you never really do it alone. When it is finished, there are so many people you want to thank—and so many who are eager to get their hands on a copy.

Today I met with Wendy Bruin on a sunny terrace in Lijnden, where she browsed through the revised second edition of Waves of Agile for the first time. She seemed very pleased.

Wendy is an Agile tester with a real passion for Agile. With her background as a Scrum Master, she read the previous edition in one go, through the eyes of a tester. We enjoyed a good lunch and took some time to catch up.

It also reminded me that four years ago we made a great video based on the first edition of the book. Of all the reader’s view videos we created, this one is my favorite—especially the moment where we play with the surprise of me suddenly ringing her doorbell.

In the video, Wendy enthusiastically explains why she has kept the book on her desk as a reference : The video is in Dutch, but I added subtitles.

Agile Consortium Event

I am excited to invite you to an exclusive event on Monday, 10 March!

At InnSpire, we’re proud to host an event focused on the changing world of Agile. Join us for three interactive sessions on the key topics shaping agile in 2025.

What to Expect:

The Evolving Role of the Agile Coach: Derk Jan de Grood and Nienke Alma will explore how the role is changing and what truly adds value in today’s transformations.
Facilitating Business Agility: Jeroen Venneman, President of Agile Consortium, will discuss how to integrate business and IT for true business agility.
After dinner, we’ll dive into an interactive discussion on what business agility really requires from us.

We’re really proud of this event, and you won’t want to miss it! Let’s shape the future of Agile together. The event is free for members, registration can be done on the agile consortium website.

#Agile #BusinessAgility #Transformation #InnSpire #AgileCoaching

The Backstage pass – Podcast article in English

I received a lot of responses regarding my M2Q podcast—thank you for your interest! Some listeners enjoyed it but were surprised to find that the recording is in Dutch. A few asked, “Hey, this looks really interesting! Can you add English subtitles or something?”

I took another look and discovered that the organization not only recorded the insightful interview but also wrote an in-depth article about the podcast. While it’s not a full transcript and doesn’t include everything I said, it does feature additional information from our preparation sessions. In that sense, the article serves as a kind of backstage pass.

I asked AI to translate it into English, and it’s now available on my blog! So, for everyone who wants to tune in but prefers English, feel free to check it out!

The backstage pass- Translated article

Speaking @ Italy Agile Days Florence

In early November, the 21st edition of the Italian Agile Days (IAD) will take place, making it the premier conference for those interested in agile culture and practices in Italy. This journey began in 2004, and IAD has grown to become one of the longest-running and most active agile conferences in the world.

The Italian Agile Days 2024 will be held in Florence, Italy, on Saturday, November 8. The program was recently published, and you can find all the details about the speakers and sessions on the IAD2024 Conference website: IAD2024 Conference.

I’m excited to share that I’ll be speaking on how the Value Frame can help you effectively sort your backlog. My session is titled :

“Impactful Backlog Ordering with the Value Frame.”
Organizations looking to enhance their value delivery need to focus on better planning and predictability. Equally important is ensuring that work is directed toward the right items, as any effort spent on the wrong tasks is simply waste. The Value Frame offers a straightforward approach to evaluate backlog items based on their value, improving alignment with organizational strategy and goals while making priority decisions more transparent.

I’m truly honored to have the opportunity to speak at this amazing conference, especially knowing that the number of submissions far exceeded the available slots.

Dealing with Dependencies

When developing solutions it’s the dependencies that make things complicated and slow down the delivery. They can result in delays, more expensive solutions or sometimes cause the product not to see operational daylight at all.

In my latest blog for Bits & Chips I explain different types of dependencies and explain what you can do to identify them during refinement. I wonder do you recognize these 5 types and what do you to identify them?

The article can be found on the bits&chips website: Dealing with dependencies

15th State Of Agile is out now

I love benchmark reports. They provide a nice overview of the developments and trends in the domain. The State of Agile report shows how Agile is perceived in the worlds and this years edition tells for instance that 66% of the organisations use Scrum, 27% are doing Agile for less than 3 years. Organisation that scale, tend to use SAFe as scaling agile framework and enhancing software quality is on the 5th place as it comes to reasons to adopt agile.

This and more nice facts can be found in the 15 State of Agile report. Based on 4,182 survey responses Regina Corso Consulting, an independent survey consultancy, made the report. The survey was conducted between February and April 2021.

Read the 15th state of agile report

Speaking on Agile at the corporation expo (CorporatiePlein 2020)

On 24 september the CorporatiePlein was held. With more than 500 registrations from employees of housing corporations, its the largest and most visited online event for housing corporations in the Netherlands.

I gave a presentation about agile. In my talk I explain why agile is beneficial for housing corporations and give an introduction on what to consider with an Agile/Scrum transformation. The event and my talk is in Dutch (sorry, for the non-dutch followers) and can be viewed below.

Speaking on Agile at the housing corporation expo (CorporatiePlein 2020)

Today the CorporatiePlein will be held. It’s the trade fair for professionals in the housing corporation business. With more than 500 registrations from employees of housing corporations, the tenth edition of CorporatiePlein will immediately become the largest and most visited online event for housing corporations in the Netherlands.

The event offers an online exhibition floor with dozens of suppliers and advisors with a focus on the housing association sector. Additionally the CorporatiePlein Online offers knowledge and content in the form of interesting presentations in the fields of Finance, Real Estate, Maintenance, Housing, Communication and Operations, Innovation & ICT.

I am proud to share Squerist will be present with 4 presentations on Robotica, Agile Testing, Agile transformation and the TROMP maturity scan.

My talk, about what Agile can bring for housing corporations will be presented at 11:30.

More info at the conference website

Impression of the online STAREast Tutorial on Test Management in Agile

Monday 4th of May I gave a full day tutorial on Test Management in Agile. This year STAREast went virtual, so I had to rebuild the tutorial to make it suitable for online participation. I think we (the 30+ participants and I) managed in keeping it an interesting day full of knowledge exchange, discussions and collaboration. I made a small video impression of the tutorial to give you an impression. Note, that I didn’t add the attendees participation to the video to comply with GDPR. Luckily Jan Jaap Cannegieter made a cameo as CEO in one of the cases. More info on the tutorial can be found at the STAREast Conference website.

Cake to celebrate the impact of Agile Adoption DPD

DPD has embraced agile as development method in order to respond better and faster to the demand of the (internal) customers. Together with colleague agile coach and a Scrum master from Valori we have assisted the organisation in starting-up and executing the first sprints. Today we have finished the first phase of the transition in a festive way and we see that the change has worked out well. Agile lives in the organisation and the development teams output is predictable. It is transparent in what it is working on and delivers at the end of the sprint. “Perhaps the best thing is that nowadays people dare to say NO”, said the client during his speech, “that may sound crazy, but it means that we have more focus and the development team will not let themselves be bothered by small distractions.” Of course there is always room for improvement, yet we are very enthusiastic about what has been achieved within a short time. Time for cake!

Scaling Agile Interactive Session

I am proud to announce that we will host an interactive session at Valori. On Monday 9 April we’ll compare three scaling agile frameworks. Together we’ll discuss the challenges that we encounter when we scale up our agile. What problems are introduced when we start collaborating over multiple development teams, when we extend our agile way of working towards portfolio level? How do frameworks like SAFe, Less and Nexus help us to have a grip on development and maintain adaptivity? Using a case we’ll challenge you to select the best framework and gain insight in the different focus they have. Consider joining this event when your organisation is thinking about scaling or just started with the implementation of a scaling agile framework. Using the insights of this evening you’d better prepared to join in on the discussions and contribute.

I made a small impression of the event, so you’ll know what to expect:

You are welcome to Valori at the office (Orteliuslaan 1000 in Utrecht) on April 9th for the interactive knowledge session ‘Scaling Agile’, but registration is required and the number of seats are limited:

My new book is out! Agile in the Real World

This week the first copies of my new book were delivered at the Valori office. I was really proud when I browsed though the 120+ full color pages. the book looks inviting and the illustrations are a nice addition to the text.

Agile in the real world – Starting with Scrum has become a really practical book that deals with the adoption of Agile in organisations. It’s contains many practical tips and examples of the dilemmas we encounter on a daily basis when we start working with Scrum. This makes it a guidebook for all that want to start with Scrum or that want to improve their agile way of working.

The book is published by Techwatch, Nieke Roos did a excellent job on the editing and the book is available in Dutch at Bol.com and ManagementBoek.nl

New Book on Scrum: Manuscript is sent to the Editor

Last year Valori published the e-book “Agile in the real world, starting with Scrum“. Together with the Bits & Chips magazine I produced a practical guide for organizations that want to make the most of their Scrum implementation!

This e-book was a great success considering the responses we have received in recent months and the number of downloads. It confirms our analysis that many professionals are adopting Scrum or are seeking ways to get more out of their agile development process. Especially for them I decided to rework the eBook into a more substantial physical edition.

Artist impression of the physical book. The cover artwork is not yet finished but will look distinctive from the eBook cover.

For the physical book the original chapters have been revised and supplemented with more examples from the real world. The original text has been expanded with new chapters on the Scrum implementation model (the three stages that continue to be a Scrum transition), the refinement process, the preparation of the Definition of Done and using the definition of Ready. Finally I added tips for setting up the sprint review and the final chapter explains the relationship between the initial phases of the Scrum transition with the ultimate goal: Business Agility. This were I briefly put Scaling Agile, the operating model, product thinking and Governance into context.

I am pleased to announce that the manuscript is sent to the editor and I am awaiting the print-proof soon. The physical book is published in Dutch be available later this year. The before mentioned e-book is no longer available for download. But fill in your details on the form and you will receive notice as soon as the physical book is available.

The Agile Organization Epic @ Valori Office

Today I sat down with Marja van Solkema to prepare the Agile Holland meet-up of 5 september.

Marja and her colleagues of the scrum coach school will challenge us to discover the characteristics of the ideal agile organisation. We will sit down in groups and exchange our ideas and experiences. The session will be held at our Valori Office in Nieuwegein.

Today I learned the limit of 30 participants has been reached, and there is even a waiting list. So if you did not subscribe yet for the meet-up, you’ll have to wait for the report of this session. Don’t want to wait: Find Marja’s first thoughts on The Agile Organization Epic here (in Dutch): https://www.scrumcoachschool.com/blogs/

The Refinement process; Thinking ahead increases adaptively and the quality of the solution

Refinement is an important element of Scrum. It’s the process where the product backlog items for future sprints are prepared. Experience learns that when development teams get up to steam, the refinement process becomes a new bottleneck. The development team will have an insufficient number of items that comply with the (DoR) and crucial information that is needed to order the backlog is missing. How do you avoid this from happening?

Together with Marcel Schaar I wrote an article for Bits&Chips magazine in which we explain how thinking ahead during refinement increases adaptively and the quality of the solution. You can read the article (sorry in Dutch only) in de article section on this blog

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