Top all-time · #7379
Maarten Dalmijn
Personal blog · mdalmijn.comcareerbusiness
Maarten Dalmijn writes Maarten’s Newsletter, a personal blog at mdalmijn.com about career and business. Since 2021, 10 different Hacker News readers have linked it 20 times, most often “Scrum: Failure by Design?”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters link Maarten Dalmijn's posts on software estimation and Scrum sprint goals, and on working pull-based. They cite them as sources or pointers, without judging the writing.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
11K readers escape the noise of Product Management with a weekly dose of clarity by Maarten Dalmijn.
Most-linked posts?
- Scrum: Failure by Design?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-08-31
- Laws of Software Estimation for Complex Work2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-08-08
What Hacker News says?
As a senior, I consider "keeping us honest" one of my primary tasks: - It's not done until at least it's in front of the customer. - Estimates are useful, but not for any of the obvious reasons.[1] - Understand lints before silencing them. - If it's important enough to get a name, spend the time to give it a good name. [1] https://mdalmijn.com/11-laws-of-software-estimation-for-comp...
Comment linking /11-laws-of-software-estimation-for-complex-work/
on “Be critical or be corrupted”Submitted Scrum's Built-In 'Get Out of Jail Free Card' Against Criticism as a story · 47 points
HN discussionIt's a misconception that Sprints don't work when you're highly interrupted. Sprints are as flexible as Kanban, with the only exception that you set a single objective per Sprint. This is the thing that matters most. If you can't set a single objective per Sprint, then Sprints don't work. Any flexibility argument reflects a poor understanding of Sprints. Here you can read more: https://mdalmijn.com/p/are-you-practic…
Comment linking /p/are-you-practicing-anaconda-or-hummingbird-style-scrum
on “Ask HN: Do Agile 'Sprints' Benefit Software Developers?”Submitted Your Company's Problem is Hiding in Plain Sight - High Work-In-Progress (WIP) as a story · 42 points
HN discussionI'm the author of the first book on Sprint Goals (Driving Value with Sprint Goals: Humble Plans, Exceptional Results). I'm not working in game development. However, I do think I can add some insights. Sprint Planning can be very simple. I've literally started a Sprint with just a goal and a Spike. You can also work entirely pull-based ( https://mdalmijn.com/p/are-you-practicing-anaconda-or-hummin... ). The Sprint is…
Comment linking /p/are-you-practicing-anaconda-or-hummingbird-style-scrum
on “Ask HN: Do Agile 'Sprints' Benefit Software Developers?”Submitted “Laws” of software estimation for complex work (2021) as a story · 16 points
HN discussionSubmitted Laws of Software Estimation for Complex Work as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted Signs you’re working in a Scrum Feature Factory as a story · 4 points
HN discussionSubmitted "Why Do You Criticize Scrum, When You Wrote a Whole Book on Sprint Goals?" as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Are Scrum Masters Too Much Overhead? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Unintended Accountability Sink of Scrum as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Laws of Software Estimation for Complex Work as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Agile in One Sentence as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Sayonara to the Golden Age of Scrum as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Era of Copy-Paste Agile Is Over as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Wasabi Scrum as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Velocity Theater Produces Awful Meals as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Scrum: Failure by Design? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Scrum: Failure by Design? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Scrum: Failure by Design? as a story · 1 points
HN discussion