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.

Toptalauthors 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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Toptalauthors 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.

How Open-Loop Processes Disrupt Information Flow in Business

The essence of a good process is very similar to the manner in which SQL-based relational databases were designed to ensure transactional consistency. Learn how closing open-loop processes saved tens of millions of dollars for a pharma company.

8 minute readContinue Reading
Allan Milne Lees

Allan Milne Lees

Allan has over 25 years of experience in financial services, pharma, cyber-security, telecommunications, mobile apps, and biotech.

Agile Documentation: Balancing Speed and Knowledge Retention

The various documents, artifacts, and the processes that generate documentation are some of the main symbols of the Waterfall model. Borrowing from Lean, Agile considers a lot of documentation as “waste” that needs to be eradicated in order to streamline the development lifecycle.

7 minute readContinue Reading
Vinod Sukumaran

Vinod Sukumaran

Vinod is a seasoned technical project manager who focuses on developing web, mobile, and digital products for global customers.

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A Road to Better Agile Testing

The yearly World Quality Report created by Capgemini shows that 42% of survey respondents list a “lack of professional test expertise” as a challenge in applying testing to Agile development. While the advent of Agile has brought the increased speed of iterations for software development, in some cases this has come at the cost of quality.

8 minute readContinue Reading
Vytas Butkus

Vytas Butkus

Vytas is a professional project and product manager leading products and projects in education, 3D graphics, eCommerce, and adtech.

What Is PMO? A Guide to Project Management Office

Ever wondered how to successfully improve the delivery of projects in your organization? Using PMO best practices, business can drive consistent delivery of projects in today’s competitive environment.

8 minute readContinue Reading
Simone Theeboom

Simone Theeboom

Simone is a seasoned agile product manager boasting 15 years of experience delivering digital journeys that delight online customers.

5 Questions a Scrum Master Should Ask Before Joining a Startup

The scrum master role has been gaining popularity with the widespread adoption of Agile. Startups adopt Scrum at an ever earlier stage and look for professionals to help them out. There are some simple questions a scrum master candidate can ask to find the right startup company for their skill set.

7 minute readContinue Reading
Vytas Butkus

Vytas Butkus

Vytas is a professional project and product manager leading products and projects in education, 3D graphics, eCommerce, and adtech.

The Comprehensive List of Agile Conferences

The only Agile conference list you will ever need. This list contains 116 Agile conferences all around the world. It is arranged by month and includes insights about notable conferences, locations, and ticket prices.

14 minute readContinue Reading
Vytas Butkus

Vytas Butkus

Vytas is a professional project and product manager leading products and projects in education, 3D graphics, eCommerce, and adtech.

5 False Hopes of Scrum and How to Fix Them

Scrum is easy to introduce but hard to master. Left to its own devices, Scrum creates false hopes and undercuts many of the expected benefits. Scrum teams need to continually improve their process and work culture to reap the rewards of an Agile transition.

7 minute readContinue Reading
Matt Johnson

Matt Johnson

Matt was a cofounder of Mediaxstream and also an executive at a global telecom.

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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