Agile Scout

Agile in Hardware Projects – When Issues Arise

peter — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:15:46 +0000

Ruhroh. Looks like we have some issues here…

What you see above is one of the hardware issues we encountered when we started laying the conveyors for a hardware and Agile manufacturing project, conducted in an Agile fashion.

If it don’t fit…

So let’s talk about the implications of taking an Agile approach when these types of issues arise:

Contractor Considerations – We need to talk with the hardware contractors as to what happened here.
Supplies – How can we get the right supplies, (sooner rather than later) to help mitigate this issue?
Timeline – How does this affect our total roll out of the right supplies being shipped, installed, and QA tested?

We ended up having a conversation with the Operations Director on site to discuss the downstream implications that could (hopefully not) affect our installation of the terminals, scanners, as well as package readers and further conveyor belt installation.

We Stood Up and Talked Right on the Scene

Something wonderful about face-to-face conversation, right? Within our conversation we elicited the following:

What happened
When supplies will come in
Installation timeline
Implications to previously stated considerations above

Oh, and this conversation took all of about 10 minutes. No emails, no yelling (beyond raising our voices of all the background noise), no hierarchy of management to deal with. Straight to the source. Notes were taken, actionable items were noted, and followup dates were decided.

Yahoo. I love my job.

Agile in Hardware Projects – When Issues Arise

Business Optimization and Human Potential

peter — Mon, 14 May 2012 12:15:36 +0000

We are often blind.

As Agile Coaches, consultants, and organizational improvers, we strive to help teams and businesses alike improve their performance, output, and even culture.

The problem is… that we often come into a team or business blind, not understanding the full context of each team and each individual who makes up that team.

This is a problem.

To be the most effective we need to understand how people operate. We need to understand how they work collectively, as a group, as a team, and as individuals. The quicker we can assess and understand the contextual culture of our clients and teams, we are left to empirically deduce assumptions that most often are half-truths.

As we jump into consulting or coaching with any client, it would be great to know their cultural context, how people are behaving, and even how to engage with them best.

Easier said than done, until Action & Influence dropped on the scene.

Action & Influence – Business Optimization and Human Potential

Action & Influence is simply this: A team and business assessment instrument that allows employees, managers, and stakeholders, the ability to understand how to communicate, collaborate, deal with conflict, and engage with each other better.

You now have the right levers to pull. You now have the ability to speak intentionally to each person because you know how they work and operate.

It is no longer an option to go in blind and guess. Know your people. Know your clients. Know how to tap into each team members’ potential.

[HT: myAI.org]

An Example of Individual Assessment Results

[Example Workshop Setup]

Business Optimization and Human Potential

Retrospective 84 – Servant Leader #Fail & History of #Agile

peter — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:18:14 +0000

[Question] – ScrumMasters? Their Role?
113 Crickets Mag – Launched
ScrumMasters are NOT Servant Leaders
History of Agile
User Stories Help Build Sales

Weekly Commenters:

peter (8)
Jordan (4)
Ken ‘classmaker’ Ritchie (4)
YvesHanoulle (3)
Michael Abugow (2)
AgileRenee (1)
Ed Hill (1)
Matthias Marschall (1)
Nick Jenkins (1)
Simon Prior (1)

Retrospective 84 – Servant Leader #Fail & History of #Agile

Scrum Masters: Who’s Driving?

Ken 'classmaker' Ritchie — Fri, 11 May 2012 12:15:46 +0000

DO SCRUM MASTERS “DRIVE” RESULTS?

What do you think?

Care to share?

I’m listening…

Scrum Masters: Who’s Driving?

113 Crickets – A Journal of Creative Writing from Silicon Valley

peter — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:15:56 +0000

113 Crickets is a new literary periodical based in Silicon Valley and published quarterly by Dymaxicon and edited by Tobias Mayer.

Through the publication of both technology-orientated books and works of fiction it strives to promote connections between the two fields. With the advent of agile practices, complexity science, and other modern, more human-centric ideas over the past ten years, many leading technology companies and start-ups alike have embraced a new approach to running businesses, one that treats work as a creative endeavor, and people as unique individuals, rather than components of a system. Such an approach lends itself naturally to craftsmanship and art, hence our effort to seek out and form connections between technology and the literary world.

113 Crickets will feature prose, poetry and short stories by new and upcoming writers, alongside extracts from Dymaxicon’s own literary publications, coupled with author interviews. In addition to this content 113 Crickets will embrace its Silicon Valley roots by seeking published writers from the Bay Area to participate in the project.

*FYI – 113 Crickets is currently #1 on the Amazon Hot New Releases: Best Poetry list, and have been there for the past two days

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I had the opportunity to read through it on my recent flight to my client site. I loved the fresh-ness of the writing and the prose. The poems were a nice add as well.

Sounds interesting right? Check it out [here].

Looks great on my iPad2! (Below)

113 Crickets – A Journal of Creative Writing from Silicon Valley

Being a Servant Leader is HARSH – ScrumMasters Who Don’t Believe in Servant Leadership

peter — Wed, 09 May 2012 12:15:41 +0000

In one of my Agile workshops with a client recently I had one of the most revealing exercises around the term “Servant Leadership” to a bunch of ScrumMasters.

Almost all of my participants in the workshop (about 8 people) had never previously heard of the term “servant leader.” I asked the group what feelings they had around the term. Their responses sent chills up my spine…

“Harsh.”

“I don’t like the term. At our company this isn’t acceptable.”

“When I think about the words, I don’t like it. The word ‘servant’ turns me off.’

“We don’t use those words here. It doesn’t fit into our culture.”

I had known that the client environment was a place of fear. A place where mistakes were not acceptable, and management was very controlling. I had no idea of the toll it had taken on their employees.

ScrumMasters who don’t believe in servant leadership

The fact is: If your… catalysts for positive change (i.e. YOUR SCRUMMASTERS) do not believe in servant leadership, you’re pretty much screwed… well. Not really. There is potential for this to change… but it will be a very hard, long, and up-hill battle with the entire system.

What was so revealing to me was that the ScrumMaster’s responses were so indicative of the cultural dysfunctions at play.

When your ScrumMasters say they don’t believe in servant leadership… it’s time to look in the mirror and really reflect on your company culture.

Being a Servant Leader is HARSH – ScrumMasters Who Don’t Believe in Servant Leadership

History of Agile – The Influencers and Drivers of the Agile Movement

peter — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:15:13 +0000

A recap of how we got to where we are now…

In February this year agile movement completes 11 years of existence. I am sure you are either using some form of agile methodology or examining the possibility of using them. But, are you aware of how the agile movement happened? Did it happen by chance or was it inevitable? Do you know what influenced the agile manifesto? Who the authors are? What are their backgrounds and what do they do now? How was the name “Agile” selected?

The Influencers

It is clear from the notes published by Jon Kern that 4 methodologies had significant influence on the manifesto – they are:

Scrum (Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber – also Mike Beedle)
DSDM (DSDM Consortium represented by Arie van Bennekum)
ASD (Jim Highsmith)
XP (Kent Beck, Ward Cunningham and Ron Jeffries – Martin Fowler)

Prior to the meet all these methodologies were classified as “Lightweight Methodologies”. The meet happened as a logical consequence of an earlier get together of XP proponents organized by Kent Beck. The push for the actual meet came from Bob Martin. Here are the milestones (1992-2003) that had significant impact on the movement. Also, I have tried to attach a face to every name – hope you find it interesting.

1992 – Crystal Methods

Crystal was the starting point of the evolution of software development methodologies which ultimately resulted in what we know as agile movement. The honor of creating Crystal goes to Alistair Cockburn. The methodology was named “Crystal” only in 1997.Crystal can be applied to teams of up to 6 or 8 co-located developers working on systems that are not life-critical. You can see the seeds of agile manifesto in Crystal because it focuses on – (1) Frequent delivery of usable code to users, (2) Reflective improvement and (3) Osmotic communication preferably by being co-located.Here is a post by him on “Notes on the writing of the agile manifesto“.He is a consulting fellow at Humans and Technology which he had founded. (See: His Biography page)I could not locate him in LinkedIn.

1993 – Refactoring

Refactoring was coined by Bill Opdyke in a paper titled “Creating Abstract Superclasses by Refactoring”.This is how Wikipedia describes code refactoring:Code refactoring is “disciplined technique for restructuring an existing body of code, altering its internal structure without changing its external behavior”, undertaken in order to improve some of the nonfunctional attributes of the software. He is now the Architecture Lead at JPMorgan Chase. (Soure: LinkedIn profile)

1994 – Dynamic Systems Development Method

DSDM, unlike all the other items listed in this post, was created by a Consortium. The consortium was an association of vendors and experts in the field of software engineering. The objective was to “jointly developing and promoting an independent RAD framework” by combining their best practice experiences.There isn’t any individual who can be credited with the creation of DSDM but Jennifer Stapleton, as one of the founder member of DSDM consortium was instrumental in the initial compilation of thoughts.She is now a management consultant in UK. (See: LinkedIn profile)

Arie van Bennekum, one of the authors of the agile manifesto has been actively involved in DSDM and the DSDM Consortium since 1997.DSDM focuses on the following 8 principles of (1) Focus on the business need, (2) Deliver on time, (3) Collaborate, (4) Never compromise quality, (5) Build incrementally from firm foundations, (6) Develop iteratively, (7) Communicate continuously and clearly and (9) Demonstrate control. Again, you can see the seeds of agile manifesto!He is now a Senior Consultant, Programmanager, Project Manager, Facilitator, Trainer, Coach, Mentor, Teacher etc. in Netherlands. (See: LinkedIn profile)

Scrum1995 – Scrum and Pair Development

SCRUM was jointly created by Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaberwho presented a paper describing it at OOPSLA ’95 in Austin, Texas.Jeff Sutherland is the CEO at Scrum, Inc. (Source: LinkedIn profile).Ken Schwaber is a founder of Scrum.org. (Source: LinkedIn profile).

Mike Beedle has been one of the very early adopter on Scrum and has introduced Scrum to many organizations since the mid-90′s.As you know Scrum has practically been the de facto standard for agile.He is now the Founder and CEO at Enterprise Scrum. (See: LinkedIn profile)

Pair Development

Pair Development as a concept was simultaneously but independently written about by more than one person.Jim Coplien published a paper titled “A Development Process Generative Pattern Language” which contained a pattern “Developing in Pairs”.He is a Lean and Agile Software Development Coach in Denmark. (Source: LinkedIn profile)

Larry Constantine talked about “Dynamic Duos” in his book “Constantine on Peopleware” published in the same year. This concept went on to become an integral part of Extreme Programming.Though lot of research has been conducted to show the effectiveness of pair programming, the concept or philosophy does not really reflect in the Agile Manifesto.He is now a Novelist, and University Professor in USA, (Source: LinkedIn profile)

1997 – Feature Driven Development

Feature Driver Development was initially devised by Jeff De Luca.The best practices of FDD are, (1) Domain Object Modeling, (2) Developing by Feature, (3) Individual Class (Code) Ownership, (4) Feature Teams, (5) Inspections, (6) Configuration Management, (7) Regular Builds and (8) Visibility of progress and results.Interestingly, “Individual Class (Code) Ownership” goes against the concept joint code ownership which is considered a key practice today.He is now the President at Nebulon. (Source: LinkedIn profile)

However, the FDD process was explained to the world through the publication of the book “Java Modeling in Color with UML: Enterprise Components and Process” which he coauthored with Peter Coad.He had built and sold TogetherSoft to Borland. Currently he is into many things other than Agile! (See: petercoad.com)He has a LinkedIn page but it is empty with no connection!

Jon Kern, one of the authors of the agile manifesto, had closely worked with both Jeff De Luca and Peter Coad and had helped shape the charter on FDD.Here are his “Agile Manifesto Notes – Feb 2001, Snowbird, Utah“. These have been dug out and hosted by Jeff Sutherland.He describer himself as Software Development Quarterback and is associated with multiple companies. (See: LinkedIn profile)

Adaptive Software Development1999 – Many Things Happened

Jim Highsmith formalized the Concept of Adaptive System Development and published a book with the same name.The idea grew out of his work on Rapid Application Development methodologies.He proposed a three phase lifecycle of – (1) Speculation, (2) Collaboration and (3) Learning.He has also written the history or the story behind the formulation of agile manifesto.He is now an Executive Consultant at ThoughtWorks. (See: LinkedIn profile)

The Pragmatic Programmer

Andrew Hunt published the book The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master.The book laid out characteristics of a pragmatic programmer as the one who is (1) Early adopter / fast adapter, (2) Inquisitive, (3) Critical thinker, (4) Realistic and (5) Jack-of-all-trades.He describes himself as Pragmatic /\ndy — speaker, author, publisher! (See: LinkedIn profile)

The coauthor of the book was Dave Thomas.If you go through the detailed list of recommendation you will see its influence on the manifesto.Here are his recollection of the what transpired in the meet in 2001 February – “Some Agile History“.He describes himself as a Software Visionary! (See: LinkedIn profile)

Extreme Programming, User Stories, Release Planning and Continuous Integration

While Kent Beck was working at Chrysler he developed the concept of Extreme Programming. He published the method in 1999 as a book – Extreme Programming Explained.As a part of Extreme Programming, he also introduced the concept of User Stories and Release Planning.The methodology specifies best practices for planning, managing, designing, coding and testing.He is at Facebook and calls himself a Programmer!! (See: LinkedIn profile)

Apart from being a collaborator for the in XP, Ward Cunninghamis also as the creator of the Wiki.Apart from being the Founder of Cunningham & Cunningham, he is also the CTO at CitizenGlobal. (See: LinkedIn profile)

Ron Jeffrieswas also the collaborator and three of them together are considered as the founder of XP.His biography page states that he developing software longer than most people have been alive. (See: Biographical Notes).I could not locate him in LinkedIn.

Though some people think that Martin Fowler introduced the term Continuous Integration in reality CI has also been coinedby Kent Beck.Here is his recollection on the “Writing The Agile Manifesto“.He calls himself an author and speaker and is working with Thoughtworks. (See: About Martin Fowler)I could not locate him in LinkedIn.

2000 – Events leading up to the Manifesto

Bob Martin took the initiative to get the ball rolling on organizing the historic meeting to be held on February 2001 at “The Lodge” at Snowbird ski resort in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah.He is the Owner of Uncle Bob Consulting. (See: LinkedIn profile)

2001 – Agile Manifesto

2001 February + ‘The Lodge’ at Snowbird Ski Resort + 17 Thinkers = Agile Manifesto

Kent Beck, Mike Beedle, Arie van Bennekum, Alistair Cockburn, Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler, James Grenning, Jim Highsmith, Andrew Hunt, Ron Jeffries, Jon Kern, Brian Marick, Bob Martin, Stephen Mellor, Ken Schwaber, Jeff Sutherland, and Dave Thomas

2002 – More Agile Concepts

Test Driven Development

For TDD the credit goes to Kent Beck. The concept of Test Driven Development also originated from XP test-first approach. It was given a shape later by Kent Beck through the book Test Driven Development: By Example.

Planning Poker

The concept of Planning Poker was formulated by James Grenning.Here is the original paper.He is the Founder of Renaissance Software Consulting. (Source: LinkedIn Profile)

What about Brian Marick and Stephen Mellor?

He is the Owner at Exampler Consulting and calls himself Software consultant, specializing in agile methods with a testing slant. (See: LinkedIn profile)

He calls himself a “Freeter”, a Japanese word, derived from English, that means “free agent.” (Source: His home page)He resides in Zimbabwe and here is his LinkedIn profile.

2003 – Lean Software Development

Is Lean Software Developmentan extension to agile methodology? Should we look at it as something distinct from agile? Should it find a place in this post? I have included it for the primary reason that many agilists consider it to be one of the future directions of agile movement.Anyway; term was coined by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieckin 2003.It is an adaptation of lean manufacturing principles and practices to the software development. There are seven principles – (1) Eliminate waste, (2) Amplify learning, (3) Decide as late as possible, (4) Deliver as fast as possible, (5) Empower the team, (6) Build integrity in and (7) See the whole. Amplify learning, deliver as fast as possible, empower the team etc. goes very well with agile principles.I am not so sure about eliminate waste and see the whole.

HT: [Sys-Con]

History of Agile – The Influencers and Drivers of the Agile Movement

User Stories Help Build Sales’ Stuff

Karol McCloskey — Mon, 07 May 2012 12:15:43 +0000

I’ve been thinking how product development, product marketing and sales teams should be joined at the hip.

Seems only natural since we build stuff (tools, live product demos, APPS, websites, etc) to support sales’ efforts converting leads to customers. One thing I have noticed is that not everyone in this triad is on the same page regarding “done” or what is to “be done” when it comes to creating sales tools. That’s a problem.

Why Not Try User Stories and Story Points?

User Stories define what the customer wants the product to do. Well, in this case the “customer” is sales & marketing. User Stories from stakeholders describe the “what” to build, the “why” and the “done” (what success looks like), stopping delays and rework.

Use Story Points to communicate upfront any difficulties in completing the project and changes to the Velocity. This should eliminate everyone’s guesswork AND increase everyone’s “satisfaction” factor.

Finally, and not the least important => strong kudos from “sales” to their partners in “dev” for creating tools that work for them.

Transparency between teams. Increased sales. A true winning strategy. What’s not to like?

Your Agile Ideas…

Are there differences in User Stories for external customers vs internal customers? What does the Agile product development team need from marketing to create effective User Stories for Sales Tools?

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Keep on, keeping on!

User Stories Help Build Sales’ Stuff

Retrospective 83 – Agile Gamification, Giveaway, More Agile Lists

peter — Sat, 05 May 2012 10:24:05 +0000

Weekly Commenters:

Retrospective 83 – Agile Gamification, Giveaway, More Agile Lists

Agile Team Weekend Deployment

peter — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:15:06 +0000

Sometimes the nature of your work demands that you work weekends to ensure enterprise deployments go well.

When that happens… crazy things begin to happen… developers transform… sometimes for good… sometimes… for evil.

Agile Team Weekend Deployment