Agile has become more than just a framework—it’s a mindset that shapes how teams plan, collaborate, and deliver value. Yet, even the most experienced teams can fall into ruts or lose sight of Agile’s foundational principles. To keep teams aligned and effective, it’s critical to periodically assess not just what they’re doing, but how and why they’re doing it.
Exploring that how and why is what we do in Itero Group’s Agile Quick Wins Assessment—a simple, effective way to identify gaps and opportunities for improvement.
We see that when evaluating Agile teams, it works well to focus on the pillars of successful execution: thoughtful planning, clear and meaningful user stories, and deliberate, structured collaboration through stand-ups and retrospectives. These practices don’t just keep the engine running—they drive the outcomes your team is working toward.
Planning: Are You Setting the Stage for Success?
Agile planning isn’t about locking in detailed roadmaps or sticking rigidly to deadlines. It’s about setting realistic, prioritized goals that reflect your team’s capacity and your organization’s objectives. The plan serves as a foundation, but it should never become a straitjacket.
Ask yourself:
Are sprint goals tied to broader business outcomes?
Is your backlog refined enough that your team knows what to focus on next, without unnecessary ambiguity?
Do your planning sessions lead to clear, actionable commitments, or are they rushed and superficial?
A healthy Agile planning process should feel collaborative and energizing, not like a chore. If the team leaves sprint planning with more confusion than clarity, it’s time to dig deeper. Consider whether priorities are communicated clearly and whether stakeholder input is being effectively integrated into your backlog.
User Stories: Are You Building on a Clear Foundation?
User stories are the backbone of Agile execution. A well-crafted story guides the team, captures the why behind the work, and ensures a shared understanding of the problem at hand. But let’s be honest—writing good user stories isn’t easy, and even seasoned teams fall into the trap of treating them as task lists.
To assess your team’s stories, consider:
Are stories written from the user’s perspective, focusing on outcomes rather than technical implementation?
Are acceptance criteria clear, specific, and measurable?
Are stories sized appropriately for a sprint, or do you frequently end up splitting or carrying them over?
If stories feel vague or incomplete, your team may be losing precious time reinterpreting requirements or engaging in endless debates about scope. A strong practice here is “INVEST” (Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable)—a framework that keeps stories actionable and aligned with user needs.
Prioritization: Are You Delivering the Most Value?
The heart of Agile is prioritization. A great Agile team isn’t just working hard—they’re working smart, continuously tackling the highest-value items first. Misalignment here often leads to frustration: stakeholders feel their needs aren’t being addressed, and teams feel like they’re chasing moving targets.
Reflect on these questions:
Is there a single source of truth when it comes to priorities, or do competing voices create confusion?
Are lower-priority items routinely pushed aside, or do they linger in the backlog without a clear resolution?
Does the team feel empowered to challenge priorities that don’t align with the sprint goal?
When prioritization works well, it builds trust—between the team, stakeholders, and leadership. Everyone knows what’s being worked on and why, creating alignment and focus.
Stand-Ups: Are You Communicating or Just Checking Boxes?
Daily stand-ups are often the first practice teams adopt when transitioning to Agile, and they’re deceptively simple. But too often, stand-ups devolve into robotic updates, with team members listing what they did yesterday, what they’ll do today, and calling it a day.
To ensure your stand-ups are effective, ask:
Are blockers raised and addressed promptly, or do they linger?
Do team members actively engage with one another, or do they simply report out?
Is the meeting concise, staying within the 15-minute timebox?
A great stand-up fosters alignment and problem-solving. If your team is disengaged or the same issues keep resurfacing, it’s a sign that deeper collaboration and accountability might be needed.
Retrospectives: Are You Learning and Improving?
Retrospectives are where the magic of continuous improvement happens—if they’re done right. This is your team’s opportunity to reflect, identify challenges, and decide what to change moving forward. Yet retros can often feel rushed, repetitive, or performative.
To evaluate your retrospectives, ask:
Does the team feel psychologically safe sharing honest feedback?
Are action items identified and revisited in future sprints, or do they fall into the void?
Are retrospectives balanced, focusing on both successes and opportunities for improvement?
If your retrospectives aren’t leading to actionable change, it may be time to reexamine how they’re facilitated. A simple format like “Start, Stop, Continue” can provide structure while keeping the focus on progress.
Pulling It All Together
Assessing an Agile team isn’t about passing judgment or assigning grades. It’s about understanding how well the team’s practices align with Agile principles—and where they might need support. The best Agile teams don’t just do Agile; they embody its spirit, using planning, stories, and collaboration as tools for learning and adaptation.
When in doubt, remember: the purpose of Agile is to create value through collaboration and continuous improvement. Planning sessions, user stories, prioritization, stand-ups, and retrospectives are just the mechanisms. What truly matters is the mindset your team brings to these practices and their commitment to evolving as they go.
So step back, reflect, and ask the right questions. The path to an exceptional Agile team is not through perfection—it’s through persistence, iteration, and a shared dedication to doing better every day.