Refinement: The Mise en Place of Great Scrum Teams

Does refinement in your team feel like a slog? Do developers go there with lead in their shoes? Many Scrum Teams struggle with refinement, and understandably so. Yet, in many ways, this is where some of the most important work happens. And some of the hardest work.
 
In this episode, we offer a reflection on the purpose of refinement. And we offer recommendations to make the process more enjoyable and effective — many of which originate from a discussion we had with experienced Scrum Masters on the Discord server that is accessible to our patrons.

Check out the transcript here:
https://medium.com/the-liberators/refinement-the-mise-en-place-of-great-scrum-teams-78d7556a7952

The paper we wrote with Daniel Russo is available here:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.12439

Download the free cheatsheet with 10 breakdown strategies here:
https://shop.theliberators.com/products/canvas-10-powerful-strategies-to-break-down-product-backlog-items

Or try this fully prepared do-it-yourself workshop for refinement:
https://shop.theliberators.com/products/workshop-refine-tough-or-unclear-product-backlog-items-with-stakeholders

Support the show

We're building Columinity to help teams improve continuously based on scientific insights:
https://columinity.com

Check out our webshop for tons of powerful exercises and workshops to run with your team(s):
https://shop.theliberators.com

The music for episodes 91 and onward was written and produced for us by Basanite. The music for episodes 1-90 was acquired through Yummy Sounds. Post-production by Jasper Huiskamp.