- Linear
- Scrum
Linear is a brilliant tool. Here is when it is not your tool
Linear is fast, polished and loved by product teams. But it has no free viewer seat and is built for one kind of team. Here is when a different tool fits better.
4 min read
The Scrumpy blog
Scrum without the busywork
Practical writing on sprint planning, backlogs and running an agile team, from the people building a scrum tool you will actually enjoy.
- Zenhub
- GitHub
Zenhub ties your roadmap to GitHub. What happens if you leave?
Zenhub adds real scrum reporting to GitHub issues, but it works only with GitHub and bills for every seat. Here is the lock-in to weigh before you commit.
4 min read
- Sprint planning
- Scrum
How long should a sprint be? One, two, or four weeks
How long should a sprint be? The Scrum Guide caps it at a month, but the real answer is a trade-off between fast feedback and meeting overhead. Here is how to choose and commit.
4 min read
- GitHub
- Scrum
GitHub Projects is great, until your team needs a real sprint
GitHub Projects lives right next to your code and handles iterations, but has no native burndown or velocity. Here is where a scrum team hits its limits.
4 min read
- Notion
- Scrum
Running sprints in Notion, and the wall you eventually hit
Notion has a real native Sprints feature now, but no story points, velocity or burndown. Here is how far it takes a scrum team and exactly where it stops.
4 min read
- Scrum
- Estimation
Burn-up vs burndown: which sprint chart should you watch?
Burn-up and burndown charts both track a sprint but answer different questions. Here is how they differ, why a changing scope exposes the gap, and which one to trust.
5 min read
- Backlog
- Scrum
How to write a user story a developer can actually build
How to write a user story that is clear enough to build: the As a / I want / so that format, when to drop it, writing acceptance criteria, and splitting stories that are too big.
6 min read
- Monday
- Pricing
What Monday.com really costs a small scrum team
Monday.com looks affordable per seat, but a three-seat minimum and a separate product for real scrum change the math. Here is the honest total for a small team.
4 min read
- Scrum
- Backlog
Definition of done and definition of ready, without the bureaucracy
What a definition of done and a definition of ready actually are, how they differ from acceptance criteria, and how to keep both short enough that a team will use them.
5 min read
- Asana
- Scrum
Asana can fake a sprint. Here is where it stops
Asana approximates scrum with templates and custom fields, but has no native story points, sprint object or automated velocity. Here is what that costs a scrum team.
4 min read
- Trello
- Scrum
When your Trello board needs to become a scrum board
Trello is a joy for simple kanban, but it has no native sprints, story points, velocity or burndown. Here is what changes when your team needs real scrum.
4 min read
- Scrum
- Retrospective
How to run a sprint retrospective your team doesn't dread
A guide to the sprint retrospective that leads to real change: a simple format, the one rule that keeps it honest, and how to avoid the same complaints every sprint.
5 min read
- Scrum
- Standup
How to run a daily standup that actually helps, in under fifteen minutes
A practical guide to the daily standup: what it is really for, how to keep it short, why the three questions go wrong, and how to make it useful for remote teams.
6 min read
- Pricing
- Scrum
Stop paying for teammates who only need to watch the board
Jira, Linear and Zenhub charge a full seat for anyone who just wants to view the board. Here is why read-only access should be free, and which tools get it right.
5 min read
- Backlog
- Scrum
Backlog refinement: how to keep your backlog from becoming a graveyard
A practical guide to backlog refinement: what it is, how often to do it, what a refined item looks like, and how to stop your backlog turning into a dumping ground.
5 min read
- ClickUp
- Scrum
ClickUp can do everything, which is exactly the problem
ClickUp bundles docs, whiteboards, dashboards and sprints into one app. Here is why that breadth turns into overwhelm for scrum teams, and when a focused tool wins.
4 min read
- Scrum
- Kanban
Scrum for solo developers: what to keep, what to skip
Do you need scrum as a solo developer or a two-person team? What is worth keeping, what is pure ceremony overhead, and how to run a light board on your own.
5 min read
- Scrum
- Kanban
Scrum vs Kanban: which one does your team actually need?
Scrum vs Kanban explained simply: how they really differ, when each one fits, whether you can mix them, and how to choose without overthinking the framework.
5 min read
- API
- Product
Create stories from anywhere with the Scrumpy API
Give any external system a team-scoped API key and let it create stories in your backlog. Perfect for turning a support form or ticket inbox into ready-to-work stories, with the requester tracked automatically.
3 min read
- Estimation
- Scrum
What are story points? A plain guide to estimating without overthinking it
Story points explained without the jargon: what they are, why teams use them instead of hours, how to start estimating, and the mistakes that make them useless.
5 min read
- AI
- Product
AI that helps you write better stories, included in your plan
Scrumpy now has an AI writing assistant built into the board. Turn rough notes into clear stories, dictate by voice, and teach it your team's style. Included, not a paid add-on.
4 min read
- Scrum
- Jira
Jira too complicated? A simpler way to run scrum in 2026
Jira too complicated for your team? Here is why it feels heavy, what it really costs, and how to move to a simpler scrum tool without losing a single issue.
6 min read
- Sprint planning
- Scrum
A sprint planning checklist your team won't dread
A practical sprint planning checklist and meeting agenda: what to do before, during and after, how long it should take, and a worked example you can copy.
5 min read
- Scrum boards
- Workflow
Scrum board with too many columns? Stop the horizontal scrolling
If your scrum board forces horizontal scrolling or hides columns once you have too many, it is working against you. Here is what a board should do with many columns instead.
5 min read