Agile Foundations: The Level 1 Playbook
Agile Foundations: The Level 1 Playbook
About the Book
Agile Foundations: The Level 1 Playbook is a practical workbook designed for teams and organizations just beginning their Agile journey.
Instead of theory-heavy text, this Playbook gives you ready-to-use, fill-in-the-blank policies, workflows, and templates you can immediately apply. It’s written for busy leaders, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Agile Coaches who need clarity and structure—without reinventing the wheel.
Inside you’ll find:
- Framework guidance: How to decide between Scrum, Kanban, or a hybrid approach.
- Editable policies: Fill-in templates for ceremonies, intake, estimation, WIP limits, dashboards, and team agreements.
- Governance tools: Definitions of Ready & Done, metrics standards, and reporting expectations.
- Visual workflows & diagrams: Intake process workflow, governance tables, and Agile maturity roadmaps.
- Readiness checklist: A complete “Level 1 Agile Maturity” checklist to confirm when your team is ready to move forward.
This Playbook is meant to be used, not just read. Each chapter ends with actionable templates your team can fill out and adopt as working agreements.
If you’ve ever struggled to answer questions like:
- “Should we use Scrum or Kanban?”
- “How do we define Done?”
- “What governance policies should we have at the start?”
…this Playbook gives you the structure, templates, and clarity to get started with confidence.
It is the first in the Agile Playbook Series, with future volumes expanding into sustaining agility (Level 2) and optimizing at scale (Level 3).
About the Author
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
-
Introduction
- Agile vision & objectives
- How to use this playbook
- Principles at Level 1
-
Framework Selection
- Scrum vs Kanban guidance
- Framework Selection Policy (fill-in template)
- Completed example
-
Ceremonies
- Scrum ceremonies
- Kanban cadences
- Ceremony Participation Policy (template)
-
Visibility & Tooling
- System of record
- Boards & dashboards
- Visibility Policy (template)
-
Intake Process
- Submit → Review & Triage → DoR check
- Prioritization → Add to backlog → Assign teams
- Intake Policy & required fields (template)
-
Team Agreements
- Core hours & communication
- Escalation & conflict resolution
- Team Agreement (template)
-
Roles & Responsibilities
- BO, PO, SM/Flow, PM, AC, BA, Dev/Test
- RACI overview
- Role Alignment (template)
-
Glossary & Definitions
- Epic, Feature, Story, Task, Defect
- Lead time vs cycle time
- Glossary governance (template)
-
Definitions of Ready & Done
- DoR checklist
- DoD checklist
- Quality Policy (template)
-
Metrics & Measurement
- Scrum: Burndown, Velocity, Predictability
- Kanban: CFD, Throughput, Cycle Time
- Metrics Policy & roll-ups (template)
-
Governance Policies
- Planning & Estimation
- System of Record & Intake
- WIP, DoR/DoD, Dashboards, Team Agreements
-
Putting It All Together
- Level 1 readiness checklist
- Roadmap to Level 2 (Define → Practice → Sustain → Evolve → Optimize)
- Next steps & review cadence
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