This session by Johanna Rothman explains why many Agile teams still struggle with slow delivery despite following standard practices. The core issue is not effort but hidden delays caused by handoffs, multitasking, and organizational structures like shared services. Using value stream maps, teams can separate actual work time from wait time and see where the flow breaks down. Rothman shows that expert-based and loosely coordinated teams accumulate significant delays, while highly collaborative approaches like pairing, swarming, and mobbing dramatically reduce cycle time. The takeaway is to stop relying on estimates and individual efficiency, focus on finishing work, limit work in progress, and optimize for end-to-end flow instead of keeping people busy.
The following is an AI summary of the event.
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Overview
In this session, Dr. Alistair Cockburn, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, revisited a long-running ques…
