Writer Guidelines

Writer Guidelines

Awesome that you are interested in becoming a writer! The Mastering Agility Publication is a great place for writing for both experienced authours and those looking for a way to start writing. Experienced authours can spar with our reviewers and editors to find inspiration and explore new subjects. Those starting off will find a supporting community happy to share their own experiences and support you to deliver awesome content. And best of all, anything you publish will automatically enjoy a huge audience. Becoming a writer is really easy. Just join us on our Discord Community, introduce yourself and that’s it! Now you are a potential writer. The next step is of course to actually publish something. The way we do that is a as follows:
  • create an article in Medium,
  • please please check the submission criteria below when you are ready to submit your article. Our reviewers are all volunteers and eager to support you, but submitting a sloppy article is not going to make them very enthusiastic about helping you, especially when it comes to the basics like grammar,
  • when you are ready to submit, copy the Medium draft link (which you can find in the article menu) and share it in our Discord in the ‘ready-for-review‘ channel, under the ‘Submissions’ heading. Introducing yourself as a new writer and add a short invitation to review the article – have a look around the channel to get a feel for this,
  • and that will get the ball rolling. Reviewers will leave comments on your medium article and will let you know in the Discord channel. Check below for details about the review process below.
  • for your first article with us, when we are satisfied with the quality of the article, we will add you to the Mastering Agility publication on Medium, after which you will be able to add the article to the publication.

Submission Criteria

  1. Relevance: articles must relate to Agility or DevOps.
  2. Originality: content must be original. if you have published the same article elsewhere, make sure to comply to rules regarding copyright, etc. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Images, diagrams and quotes should be correctly cited.
  3. Writing Quality: articles should be easy to read, clear, and engaging. They should be well structured, with appropriate use of headings, subheadings and paragraphs. Authors should use tools like Grammarly and the Hemingway app to ensure proper grammar, spelling, and readability.
  4. Visual aids: should be used appropriately to enhance the content and be relevant to the topic.
  5. Experience-Based: Articles should be grounded in real-life experiences and should include real-life examples to illustrate points.
  6. Innovative: Articles should provide new insights or innovative approaches rather than covering basic concepts.
  7. Objective Language: Avoid subjective language and absolute opinions. Articles should be balanced and fair and provide value to a diverse audience.
  8. Insightful Content: Articles should go beyond the basics. They should address the topic comprehensively. Avoid topics such as “how to do a retrospective” or “what is Scrum” unless they present a novel perspective or advanced techniques.
  9. Branding: please add a Mastering Agility tag to your article, and our banner to the bottom of the article. Just select the banner and caption below and paste it under your article:
Mastering Agility Publication
Would you like to become a writer or join the discussion? Join us at Mastering Agility!

Review Process

  1. Submission: Authours should submit their articles to the Mastering Agility Publication on medium and should message in our discord channel in the ready-for-review channel, including a link to the article on medium.
  2. Initial Screening: Upon submission, articles will undergo an initial screening by one of the editors to ensure they meet the basic criteria such as originality, clear structure, grammar and spelling.
  3. Peer Review: At least one editor will review articles. The review will focus on the quality of writing, relevance, originality, and adherence to the guidelines.
  4. Feedback: Authors will receive constructive feedback through the discord channel. If revisions are needed, articles will be reviewed again after the feedback is addressed.
  5. Final Approval: At least one editor must approve the article before publication. 
    Until the final approval, the review may repeat indefinitely, until the editors are satisfied with the quality of the article.
  6. Publication: Agree a publication date with one of the editors. The article will be published on Mastering Agility on medium and substack. We will also share it on socla media.
  7. Teaser: Share a teaser for your article with us on Discord. We will use it when sharing to social media.