Publications

Image of the Essence WorkBench Logo

The page explains how to undertake a User Story splitting workshop in Essence WorkBench. It covers, the what, why and how of the activity.

Image of the Essence WorkBench Logo

The page explains how to undertake a Target Goals exercise using Essence WorkBench. It covers, the what, why and how of the activity.

Image of the Essence WorkBench Logo

The page explains how to play the Values Spotlight serious game using Essence WorkBench. It covers, the what, why and how of the activity.

24 Questions - why Essence is not just another method white paper

Written by Dr. Ivar Jacobson, Paul E. McMahon and Roland Racko Over the years, collective experience of the authors has revealed many questions on the SEMAT and Essence initiative. To bring clarity of the initiative to our readers, the authors have answered 24 of the most common questions.

The Essentials of Modern Software Engineering: the book cover

An in-depth introduction to software engineering that uses a systematic, universal kernel called Essence to teach essential elements of all software engineering methods

Ivar Jacobson Speaks about Agile and Essence in this podcast

Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, invited Dr Ivar Jacobson to his podcast to speak about his work defining the essence of software engineering.

Alpha State Card Games Guide - Agile Coaching Games

This instructional guide provides a brief introduction to the Alphas and presents seven different games that can be played with the Alpha State Cards by software development teams.

In the 6th blog of our series, Brian and Ian present the Contract Bridge game played with the Scrum Essential cards. The game is useful wherever there is a perceived boundary between a Scrum Team and its customers.

In the fifth blog post of this series, Brian Kerr and Ian Spence an experience report of a team learning and applying the Practice Mapping game. The power of this game is to see inside the mind of others and have useful discussions about the results.

In the fourth blog post of this series, Brian Kerr and Ian Spence provide directions to use the Scrum Essential Cards to play the Practice Mapping game. You can use this game to test the understanding of individuals or small groups, particularly as part of a training event.