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Agile Foundations: The Level 1 Playbook

Roger Martinez

Agile Foundations: The Level 1 Playbook is a hands-on workbook for teams beginning their Agile journey. Instead of theory, it provides ready-to-use, fill-in-the-blank policies, workflows, and templates you can apply immediately.

Inside, you’ll find practical guidance for choosing between Scrum and Kanban, editable policies for ceremonies and governance, and visual workflows that bring clarity to intake, estimation, and prioritization. Each chapter ends with templates your team can adopt as working agreements—saving time, reducing confusion, and creating alignment from day one.

This Playbook is designed for Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Agile Coaches, and leaders who want to establish clear foundations, build discipline, and create visibility. Whether you’re defining your Definition of Done, setting WIP limits, or building dashboards, this resource gives you a clear starting point.

It’s the first volume in the Agile Playbook Series, guiding you from foundations to maturity and beyond.

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About

About

About the Book

Agile Foundations: The Level 1 Playbook is a practical workbook designed for teams and organizations just beginning their Agile journey.

Instead of theory-heavy text, this Playbook gives you ready-to-use, fill-in-the-blank policies, workflows, and templates you can immediately apply. It’s written for busy leaders, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, and Agile Coaches who need clarity and structure—without reinventing the wheel.

Inside you’ll find:

  • Framework guidance: How to decide between Scrum, Kanban, or a hybrid approach.
  • Editable policies: Fill-in templates for ceremonies, intake, estimation, WIP limits, dashboards, and team agreements.
  • Governance tools: Definitions of Ready & Done, metrics standards, and reporting expectations.
  • Visual workflows & diagrams: Intake process workflow, governance tables, and Agile maturity roadmaps.
  • Readiness checklist: A complete “Level 1 Agile Maturity” checklist to confirm when your team is ready to move forward.

This Playbook is meant to be used, not just read. Each chapter ends with actionable templates your team can fill out and adopt as working agreements.

If you’ve ever struggled to answer questions like:

  • “Should we use Scrum or Kanban?”
  • “How do we define Done?”
  • “What governance policies should we have at the start?”

…this Playbook gives you the structure, templates, and clarity to get started with confidence.

It is the first in the Agile Playbook Series, with future volumes expanding into sustaining agility (Level 2) and optimizing at scale (Level 3).

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Author

About the Author

Roger Martinez

Roger Martinez is a seasoned Senior Director, Enterprise Agile Coach, and Atlassian Solutions Architect with over 30 years of experience leading large-scale transformations in Fortune 500 companies.

He specializes in:

  • Designing and implementing enterprise-wide Agile frameworks
  • Coaching leadership, Product Owners, and Scrum Masters
  • Configuring Jira and Atlassian tools for governance, transparency, and scalability
  • Building intake and governance models that align business and technology

Roger is also the creator of The V.A.L.U.E. Approach™, a proven framework for implementing enterprise methodologies, and the author of two additional books on career growth and Agile transformation.

When he’s not writing or building playbooks, Roger focuses on helping teams simplify complexity, increase delivery speed, and make work visible, real, and measurable.

Contents

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
    • Agile vision & objectives
    • How to use this playbook
    • Principles at Level 1
  2. Framework Selection
    • Scrum vs Kanban guidance
    • Framework Selection Policy (fill-in template)
    • Completed example
  3. Ceremonies
    • Scrum ceremonies
    • Kanban cadences
    • Ceremony Participation Policy (template)
  4. Visibility & Tooling
    • System of record
    • Boards & dashboards
    • Visibility Policy (template)
  5. Intake Process
    • Submit → Review & Triage → DoR check
    • Prioritization → Add to backlog → Assign teams
    • Intake Policy & required fields (template)
  6. Team Agreements
    • Core hours & communication
    • Escalation & conflict resolution
    • Team Agreement (template)
  7. Roles & Responsibilities
    • BO, PO, SM/Flow, PM, AC, BA, Dev/Test
    • RACI overview
    • Role Alignment (template)
  8. Glossary & Definitions
    • Epic, Feature, Story, Task, Defect
    • Lead time vs cycle time
    • Glossary governance (template)
  9. Definitions of Ready & Done
    • DoR checklist
    • DoD checklist
    • Quality Policy (template)
  10. Metrics & Measurement
    • Scrum: Burndown, Velocity, Predictability
    • Kanban: CFD, Throughput, Cycle Time
    • Metrics Policy & roll-ups (template)
  11. Governance Policies
    • Planning & Estimation
    • System of Record & Intake
    • WIP, DoR/DoD, Dashboards, Team Agreements
  12. Putting It All Together
    • Level 1 readiness checklist
    • Roadmap to Level 2 (Define → Practice → Sustain → Evolve → Optimize)
    • Next steps & review cadence

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