Articles

Notes from the work

Short pieces on how organizations actually get work done, plus the occasional deep dive. Earlier articles first appeared on pivotagile.com and keep their original dates.

Field survey

Our most recent published work.

Choosing a work-tracking toolOctober 2026About 60 tools screened against a multi-level portfolio and team operating model, with a shortlist matrix, cost by team size and product risk.

Essays

A SAFe Starting PointMarch 9, 2020Where do you start? A sample team-to-train meeting calendar you can adopt, adapt or scrap.
What's the Agenda?March 6, 2020One simple agenda for every meeting, built on the group's Kanban board.
How To Get BetterMay 16, 2019What an esports coach can teach business and IT about breaking through a plateau.
What About Ops?April 29, 2019IT Operations keeps getting forgotten. Here's how long-lived teams and DevOps change its role.
Reduce Project Risk With One Little Change!January 16, 2019Shrink the batch size, shrink the risk. And avoid the dreaded watermelon project.
Efficiency Doesn't MatterJune 1, 2018Why an industrial engineer stopped optimizing for efficiency alone, by way of a theme park queue.
If By WaterfallMay 25, 2018Waterfall: am I for it or against it? Depends what you mean.
The Director and The DeveloperJuly 23, 2017Two groups, the same overload, very different outcomes.
When Face to Face Isn’t BetterJuly 23, 2017Hybrid meetings fail the remote few. Give everyone the same experience instead.
Working Across ContinentsJuly 23, 2017No co-located team? You can still work this way. Some practical tips.

SAFe® in Azure DevOps

A step-by-step series on configuring Azure DevOps Boards for Agile Release Trains and their teams. Screenshots reflect Azure DevOps as of June 2022.