Toptal Projects Blog

The Toptal Projects Blog is a focal point for learning about the current best practices, tricks of the trade, and state of knowledge in Project Management and Agile leadership. These publications are brought to you by the professional project managers and agile professionals in the Toptal network.

authors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they have demonstrated experience. All of our content is peer reviewed and validated by Toptal experts in the same field.

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World-class articles, delivered weekly.

authors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they have demonstrated experience. All of our content is peer reviewed and validated by Toptal experts in the same field.

Remote Solutions for Effective Agile Retrospectives

Leading effective remote retrospectives can be challenging. These videoconferencing best practices will help you run successful retros whether your teams are remote or in-house.

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Jim Stewart

Jim Stewart is a project expert and certified Agile coach with more than 25 years of experience consulting on and managing projects for companies, including JPMorgan Chase and Fidelity Investments. He has been a PMP and CAPM instructor for more than 12 years.

Stay on Track With These Proven Agile Project Estimation Techniques

Estimation is an important part of Agile project delivery, and there are many ways to weigh and rank the items in a backlog. This comprehensive guide can help you decide which method is best suited to your team and project.

6 minute readContinue Reading

Jonathan Donado

With more than 15 years of experience as a project leader, Jonathan has led projects for Fortune 100 clients as well as FEMA, the US Army, and the US Department of State. As an Agile professional, he has worked across many industries, including technology, IoT, and BPO.

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Agile Transformations: Why Leaders Resist and How to Bring Them on Board

Agile transformations require significant organizational change, which can be unsettling for the C-suite. These tips can help Agile coaches address leaders’ uncertainty and create sustainable agility.

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Andy Deighton

Andy is an Agile expert and Professional Scrum Master who has introduced and implemented Agile practices at Lloyds Bank, National Grid, and others. A former Java web developer for BMW, Andy brings his deep understanding of software development teams to his work as a coach for both startups and multinational companies.

Automate Your Way to Better Project Management

Software automation tools can help project managers streamline tasks that distract from more crucial responsibilities. We took a deep dive into Jira’s automation capabilities and asked Toptal project managers for their thoughts on how to best automate workflow.

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Monica Zaleski

Monica is Lead Editor, Product and Projects, at Toptal and a former editor at the Project Management Institute. She worked in academic and business publishing for more than 15 years on book projects for the University of California Press, as well as on marketing communications projects for Microsoft, SAP, and Synnex. Monica also holds a doctorate in English.

Scrum Master vs. Agile Coach: Why Successful Transformations Need Both

During an Agile transformation, leaders often assume that the Agile coach role can be undertaken by a Scrum master. While they share similar traits, these roles have scopes that differ greatly.

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Tony Amos

Tony is a software engineer turned Agile professional who uses his development experience to guide organizations and teams to success.

What Is a Technical Project Manager?

Surging demand for Technical Project Managers has raised some important questions for PMs in software development. What are the responsibilities and expectations associated with this role? And just how technical is “technical”?

9 minute readContinue Reading

Adina Zoltan

Adina has more than 15 years of experience leading editorial and product development teams in the publishing industry.

How to Facilitate Change Through Agile Servant-leadership

The philosophy of servant-leadership gives project managers a superpower to influence teams without direct authority, which allows them to drive change across the organization more effectively.

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Alvaro Villena

Alvaro is a skilled project manager with extensive experience in Scrum and Agile.

Toptal Project Management Expert

Marco De Stefano

Marco started out as a software developer but moved on to more suitable roles—scrum master and Agile project manager—which he’s been successfully occupying for over the past decade. His technical background and business-oriented mindset facilitate effective communication with development teams and with different business stakeholders. Recently in his latest projects, he also works as an Agile coach to foster scrum adoption.

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