Words from the studio

Kirsten explains why it’s so important to focus on goals and users as opposed to features and technology when approaching the initial discovery phase of a project.

Estimating in units of time is a waste of time and yet people keep trying to do the impossible over and over, expecting different results each time they do it. So why not just focus on doing the things we know we can do instead?

Rachael has ‘fancified’ our planning poker sessions with some wonderful new T-Shirt sizing cards. And you can download them here.

Burn-up charts are a useful tool for forward planning and working with the team and the client to keep a project on track. Here’s a simple example.

Kirsten discusses why he prefers to use a burn-up as opposed to burn-down chart as a tool for project planning.

A user story needs to go through a process of refinement until it’s ‘ready to be done’. Pull it onto the sprintboard too soon and prepare for painful blockages and frustration. Kirsten explains.

Kirsten talks through our approach to designing for user stories using the Havells Sylvania website as an example.

In the first of a two-part series ‘Stop doing upfront…’ Kirsten focusses on the waste of doing huge amounts of upfront design and how we seek to maximise our design effort within a user story and a sprint.