Scope Creep v Flexible Scope – Undisciplined v Agile
Bart asked “What do I do when agile is abused as an excuse for scope creep?” with the sub-text “You’re agile so you’re flexible, no?”. I say point out the difference between scope creep and flexible...
View ArticleI Only Trust Architects That Code
I only trust architects that code. Who have skin in the game. Who will suffer personally if they make the wrong architectural decisions. Who will dive in to fix any problems that arise from their...
View Article#NoEstimates #YesEstimates #NoEstimates #YesEstimates
I’m not a fan of the #NoEstimates hashtag on Twitter. It turns out, after many blog posts and tweets, that #NoEstimates is a Contranym – a word that can function as its own opposite. #NoEstimates can...
View Article35 person-years worth of prototype is a fantastic spec
I once invested 35 person-years worth of effort on prototyping. From my perspective this was time and money well invested. By the end of that time we knew, really knew, what problems our customers were...
View ArticleTest driven architecture – use your tests to inform architecture
As test-loving development teams, we are all painfully aware of the complexity of getting an application into the zen state of development – quick, test-driven red/green feedback for developers,...
View ArticleProduct Owner – leader, facilitator or unnecessary overhead?
Daniel Markham thinks the Product Owner is “the perfect scam in the Agile community” and recommends getting rid of the role. This might work for highly functioning teams working in highly functioning...
View ArticleProgrammes can use more than one method: Kanban, Scrum, XP, BDD, etc
I have my preferences – Kanban and BDD – but don’t enforce these on my teams. That means I’ve got a couple of Scrum (ish) teams and teams that don’t use BDD. And I also have a bunch of people …...
View ArticleContinuous Delivery by Default; Timeboxes by Exception
Once I used timeboxes by default. Now I relegate Sprints and such like to exception situations. I used to timebox everything in the way that Scrum, XP and DSDM do. This, for example, strongly...
View ArticleProgrammes are above Projects on the Value Ladder
The Value Ladder highlights how a supplier contributes to the success of the customer. The way I see it programmes and projects can be mapped onto the Value Ladder. Value Ladder Jan Dyer Torsilieri and...
View ArticleDisruptive Innovation is an Illusion Hiding Efficiency
The way I see it disruptive innovation is an illusion to observers who have not had the same focus. From my experience that apparent disruptive innovation actually comes from companies who have...
View ArticleDelivery Manager – A new role for an Agile world
Rich Lewis is the best I’ve worked with. When I met him he was a Business Analyst who, on the sly, was Scrum Master of a small team. He was good at this but capable of much more. I invited … Continue...
View Article“Mad, Relentless, Scary, Fun”– my year on Digital Growth
“Mad, Relentless, Scary, Fun” is how my programme director – Stuart Mays – described the initiative we’ve been running at at Global Media and Entertainment. I’ve been the Programme Manager for “Digital...
View ArticleEmploying too many ideas people leads to Zombie Projects
Employing too many ideas people leads to Zombie Projects. Resuscitate the Zombies or kill them off. Ideas people If you pay people to have ideas they will produce ideas. Not necessarily good ones. Not...
View ArticleMake BlackOps development the Corporate Standard – Embrace Microservices
Contrary to how they are perceived in the media as lumbering dinosaurs, most large organisations have loads of clever people and good ideas.The trouble is these organisations can’t deliver against the...
View ArticleLook for Product Owners in the Business
You cannot lead what you don’t understand so I often recruit product owners from the business. Business insight You Cannot Lead What You Don’t Understand – You Can’t Understand What You Haven’t Done....
View ArticleAre you leading or just going for a walk?
If you fancy yourself as a leader, have a glance behind you … is anybody following? Are you leading or just going for a walk? “I’m a natural born leader, and I’m not getting the opportunity to show...
View ArticleLead time versus Cycle Time – Untangling the confusion
Despite being a fan of Lean and using Kanban I’ve stopped talking about “Cycle Time”. The problem is that there are two conflicting definitions of Cycle Time. And one of those definitions is identical...
View ArticleToo Busy to Innovate
I hear this a lot. “We want to be smarter and more innovative, give the Dev team something to stir up their creative juices. Impossible though, we’re all too busy”. It might be true, at least it might...
View ArticleWhat is the optimal number of manual testers in a development team? Zero?
To have manual testers, or not to have manual testers, that is the question. Typically I have one per team: Less than many teams but more than some organisations get away with. Testing is one of those...
View ArticleStrong products are backed by “Three-market-forces”
Oren Klaff’s book is on how to “Pitch Anything” however it includes a lot of valuable insight into start ups and new product development. One idea I liked was the “Three-market-forces” pattern. Klaff...
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