Backlogs 1
It's a simple enough assignment: visit various teams in this new company and figure out what they're doing wrong and right about their backlog. It's your first day there, and the boss seems a bit, well, odd. But what can be so tough about to-do lists? And why are there giant chickens running around the shop floor? This novel will introduce you to basic backlog concepts while you gain your bearings at your new job at "The Plant".
Backlogs 1 Videos
Move past the novel and start digging into setting up and using good backlogs for both personal and team projects. These how-to videos go over the history of backlogs, how to recognize and create well-formed backlogs, how to set up and use physical backlog systems, and more. The book provides the background and context, and the videos provide the details and practical advice. (Download)
Backlogs 2
Things are just getting more mysterious at The Plant. As you start to see how backlogs work at the team-of-team level -- and don't work -- you're starting to see things that don't make sense. Collier is on the warpath, and if you don't help bring order back, no-telling where this thing is going to go.
Backlogs 2 Videos
It's program-level backlogs time back at the training paddock, and you're
going to learn about portfolio creation, valuation, and balancing, tooling for
large, distributed, and remote teams, embedded mixed-mode development, and much
more.
Backlogs 3
Now trapped in the depths, you'll have to improvise and embrace some things that don't make sense if you're going to survive. Welcome to part 3 and the world of startups, where the shortest distance between two points is not always a straight line. Do you have what it takes to survive?
Backlogs 3 Videos
Lean Startup, Theory of Constraints, Business Model creation and validation -- here's where the final pieces come together.
Professional$249 Agile team room kit Backlogs 2 early-release free list Backlog training videos Backlogs 1 E-book Agile tune-up email series |
Basic$99 Agile team room kit Backlogs 2 early-release free list Backlog training videos Backlogs 1 E-book Agile tune-up email series |
Beginner$9.99 Agile team room kit Backlogs 2 early-release free list Backlog training videos Backlogs 1 E-book Agile tune-up email series |
Freefree Agile team room kit Backlogs 2 early-release free list Backlog training videos Backlogs 1 E-book Agile tune-up email series |
“First time I started your book, I read the chapter 1 and I wondered if I received the right one. I skimmed the content and thrown away the book. I got it was slow at first, ok. But I didn't get that telling a story was that first degree.
[After a while] I started again and you got me. I won't say it's perfect, but teaching through a story is far stronger than a classical technical book: it talked to me. I didn't finished yet your book but it's now on top of my pile of books.
I was really waiting for Backlogs. Because I am convinced that the backlog is the most important thing for the product, the process and the team. But I found no one to explain practically how to create and organize a good backlog. What I read so far in your book is an eye opener on what is wrong in my own team: we lost control on the backlog.”
Gilles d'Andréa
“[Coming in as somebody to whom English is a second language] Fun to read...great source of information on backlogs...the characters are strong...I had a great time...Have you considered translating this into other languages? :) "
Christophe Grosjean, consultant
“Only a quarter of the way through the book, and… I really like the “telling a story” approach, using the new “Backlogs Kid, Smith" as a foil for helping to express ideas and techniques for doing software development. Since I am in the middle of my own multi-project/product backlog maelstrom, it is a refreshing read as it hammers home ideas and concepts that I greatly admire, believe in, and try to follow. There are some new nuggets of wisdom and new techniques that I will be trying out. Today.”
Jon Kern. consultant, Agile Manifesto
Sample Content: Intro To Backlogs
In the introduction to the video series, we go over the topics ahead, the rules of the road, the history of backlogs, and why backlogs are so important.
"A delightful and painless adventure into the pitfalls and complexities of Backlogs. Nothing says confusion like a room full of chickens. Chickens, like software projects, tend to wander where they will and reproduce exponentially without a structure. Mr. Markham uses witty humor and a novelty chicken factory to present the concepts of Agile project management. His storytelling method keep the reader interested while presenting real world solutions to managing projects and containing exploding project documentation. There's even a bit of romance as the plot thickens."
H. Martin, Author
Chickens! They are everywhere... I would never have thought that a story taking place in such a strange setting as a "poulty plant" where all kind of chickens are built - for the gigantic war-robot chicken, to the rubber chicken (you know, for kids), and the automated breakfast chicken could sound so... familliar.
But they have the troubles of all software engineers: backlog management, stupid or overly detailed requirements, cultural bias between agile practionners and old-school project managers, and so on. It puts some spot light on what software devloppers are doing everyday. But as it is about poultry, we can't actually say "well, others are doing that, but not me, that's different for industry/edition/hardware manufacturers, etc"... Of course we are not building cheicken, but we are planifying new projects, new features, debugging old products, dealing with financers, management and so on.
And there is also some romance and suspence.
This short novel is a must read if you are aware of projects management software practices and have some sense of humour and derision. I guess "serious" people may not catch it, and that's too bad.
I love it.
Amazon Reviewer
Agile Team Room Kit
Walking into a new situation? You can either pick something up at the office store and hope you have what you need, or walk into the room knowing that whatever the Agile/Scrum needs as far as in-room tracking, you're prepared.
This is a two-container kit that includes adhesive tape, painter's tape, index cards, colored index cards, post-its, paperclips, sharpies, dot stickers, stars, super-strong magnets, and more. You could assemble this all by hand over a period of months. You could go out and spend the day organizing and labeling your kit. Or you could just be prepared. Note, some of the techniques and demonstrations in the advanced video series includes items from this kit.
My teams have been using these books since they came out. The only thing we don't like about them is that they end too soon, after only a dozen or so topics. Any chance you could roll up several of these into one larger how-to book? If so, we'd love to pick up a copy for everybody in our development group.
Srini Roberts, Developer, Bangalore
I loved this! I've already emailed all my friends to download their copy. The videos really increase the amount I can learn. I'm watching them during my morning workouts on my iPad. All I want to know is how do I get in on the beta list for the next book?
Joeseph Liles, Developer, Virginia
Our company had been doing "Cargo Cult" Agile for far too long. Tiny Giant Books helped us actually understand what the point to Agile was. Thank you.
Antione Djouay, Toronto
Even though we had taken the training, and had coaching available, still
my team just couldn't put it all together. We're very happy we found your website.
Alice Sanger, ScrumMaster, New York
I was starting a new job and it was an Agile shop. I wasn't too sure about the training I had taken years ago. The ScrumMaster series really helped me get down to nuts and bolts the first day there and show folks I knew what I was talking about.
Gary Gallant, Development Manager, Virginia
Build The Right Thing.
Or Go Home.
Backlogs are consistently rated as one thing teams screw up. They're too big, they have stories the team doesn't understand at all, they get in the way of doing the work, and teams are unable to use them to provide any useful information to the rest of the world as to how the project is going.
