// track 03 · 11 lessons · ~54 min
Execution & Methodologies.
Sprints, ceremonies, change control.
Running the work day-to-day. Scrum's roles + ceremonies + artifacts, Kanban's WIP-limited flow, the SAFe vs LeSS scaling debate, sprint planning with forecasting (not commitment), the daily standup (and what it isn't), backlog refinement, retrospectives that surface system change, status reporting up + sideways, formal change control, ongoing risk monitoring, and the QA + testing vocabulary every PM needs.
- 16 min03.01
Scrum — roles, ceremonies, artifacts
Time-boxed sprints, three roles, five events, three artifacts.
- 6 min03.02
Kanban — WIP limits, flow, evolutionary change
Visualize, limit WIP, manage flow, improve continuously.
- 5 min03.03
SAFe / LeSS — scaling Agile
When one team becomes a hundred, you need scaffolding.
- 5 min03.04
Sprint planning — commitment vs forecast
What the team plans to do, with intellectual honesty about what they can finish.
- 4 min03.05
The daily standup — do and don't
Fifteen minutes for the team, not for the manager.
- 4 min03.06
Backlog refinement
Keep the top of the backlog ready, the bottom rough.
- 5 min03.07
Retrospectives — running them, surviving them
The team's safe space to look at the system, not the people.
- 5 min03.08
Status reporting — up and sideways
Different audiences want different signals at different cadences.
- 5 min03.09
Change control + the Change Control Board
How disciplined orgs handle scope changes that need authority.
- 4 min03.10
Risk monitoring + response playbook
Identify is half. Watch and act is the other half.
- 5 min03.11
Software QA + testing for PMs
What testing actually is, so you can ask the right questions.
// canonical reading for this track
Beyond what we wrote.
These are the primary sources our lessons draw from. If you want to go deep on this track, start here.