Articles & Resources
Check out articles, blogs, podcasts, videos, slides, and more.
Backlog Grooming Bugs Me
I wrote this article, a rant really, in April 2014. It was lost in a website shuffle a couple years ago, and someone recently asked if I could put it back. So here it is. But, it’s been slightly renovated from the original version to bring it up to 2017...
Opportunity Canvas
An Opportunity Canvas is a simple one-pager I like to use to facilitate a discussion about a new feature or capability. It’s put together in the spirit of the Business Model Canvas or Lean Canvas which are fabulous tools for discussing new products. But,...
How to Do User Story Mapping – An Example with MadMimi
About This Podcast In this podcast with Talking Code, released 7/14/2015, Jeff teaches us how to map user stories by focusing on the user's journey to an outcome. He shares his opinion on the notorious "MVP" and how he helped Gary Levitt build his MVP with Mad Mimi....
Story Mapping Example Problems
I have a fundamental problem when teaching Story Mapping in a class or workshop. That is, participants never have enough time to build a complete enough backlog to explore all the different release and development strategies that having a full backlog...
How do I handle branches in Story Maps?
This question recently came from Douglas Ferguson (but I get asked a lot) [In User Story Mapping], how do you typically handling multi-user processes that create branches? Do you create different maps for different users and different flows? My response: I get asked...
Jeff’s Thoughts On Garrett’s Elements of User Experience
My take on Garrett's popular Elements of User Experience model coupled with tactical advice for: creating models to better understand your users, improving your software's usability, and improving your applications' visual design. Garrett's Elements of User Experience...
Jeff Patton Discusses How Agile Does Not Work
About This Video Jeff Patton and Dave Gray discuss agile design, lean startups, design thinking, teams of teams and much more. "For me, an agile process turns good people into order takers." - Jeff Patton What is valuable out of agile...
Agile Requirements & Product Management
About This Video Understanding and communicating requirements in an Agile environment is a very different way of thinking and working. In this talk, Jeff will explain where the idea of the agile story came from and how best to write and use...
Scrum Product Owner Role
These slides set the context for a short talk and workshop to discuss the Scrum Product Owner role. Download "Scrum Product Owner Role" PowerPoint Presentation by Jeff Patton
Slow Software
In August 2007 I was lucky enough to be able to edit an issue of Better Software Magazine. I was able to choose my authors: Alistair Cockburn, Jim Highsmith, and Jim Shore. I did this because I was lazy – I wanted great articles without a lot of effort....
Story Mapping & User Stories
About This Podcast Many people find Jeff's work inspirational. In this podcast, produced by the folks at Mastering Business Analysis, Jeff shares his thoughts on story mapping and user stories, really providing tons of value to listeners. It is available...
Agile Development and Scrum Quick Reference
This is the 11" x 17" 2-sided Quick Reference Guide for Agile Development and Scrum that I use in classes. Be careful. It's scary. It has a lot of stuff packed into it. And, I won't be surprised if you don't agree with it all. Download it from...