People & Teams

Articles

How to Make Collocation Work for You
Gil Zilberfeld recounts his experience with collocation during his time at Typemock, and explains how collocation can benefit your team. In modern agile discussions, we struggle with how to work with distributed teams around the globe. The truth is that it’s easy to break stuff just by moving part of the team to the next room.
Getting the Most Out of Your Geographically Distributed Agile Team
Shane Hastie and Johanna Rothman explain the challenges that come with distance, be it cultural, social, linguistic, temporal, or geographic. If you work to reinforce your collaboration habits every day, your geographically distributed agile team will thank you.
Top Twelve Myths of Agile Development
When it comes to agile development, Allan Kelly has noticed a lot of misinformation is being passed off as fact. In this article, Allan takes a closer look at twelve of the most common agile myths he has encountered while training new agile teams.
Book Review: The Human Side of Agile
Being agile is difficult. Not only are there technical and organizational challenges, but the very nature of the way agile methods work brings the assumptions, context, and fears of team members to the foreground. These people issues are explored in Gil Broza’s book, The Human Side of Agile.

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Better Software Magazine

The Four Horsemen of the Testing Apocalypse
Much like the biblical horsemen of Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death, the "Four Horsemen of the Testing Apocalypse" ride into our lives and work bearing great challenges. If the software of tomorrow is to be better than the software of today, we must face these foes directly.
Don’t Bury the Survivors: The Value of Clear Communication
Whether you’re discussing software defects with your test team, analyzing requirements with your BA, or programming in your favorite new language, communication is essential. Lanette Creamer has some tips to help you communicate clearly with any audience.
Surprise! Making the Most Out of Your Most Surprising Moments
Lee Copeland explains that surprise is often an indicator that discovery, learning, or even delight may be just around the corner. The surprise itself can be amusing, enlightening, befuddling, disconcerting, or frightening, but surprise should not be the end of the experience; it should be the beginning. Analyze the surprise to learn why you didn't see it coming and what you gain from that.
The Software Development Game
Adapting your software development tools, practices, and processes can be difficult, even overwhelming. The authors have studied and applied game-like processes and behaviors to help provide structure to software development adaptation. They propose a process strategy called the software development game to help teams who are faced with change.

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Interviews

Culturally Sound Leadership: An Interview with Pollyanna Pixton
Podcast
Pollyanna Pixton shares why crafting a healthy and productive agile culture is so difficult, and how it relies heavily on the shoulders of team leaders. She stresses the importance of leaders not proving their teams with answers—but giving them the ownership to solve problems on their own.
Innovation Courtesy of Innovation: An Interview with Jim Elvidge
Jim Elvidge attributes the last thirty years of fun that he's had in his career to the same qualities teams should be built with today. Innovative products come from teams who are inspired to reach their full creative potential, and getting your employees there may be easier than you think.
Maintaining the Programming Mob: An Interview with Woody Zuill
Video
"Fun" and "kindness" aren't the first things that come to mind when thinking of the mob, but in software development—they're mandatory. Woody Zuill discusses how mob programming takes a very agile and collaborative effort at delivering great software on time, and with the respect of everyone on board.
Kanban's Visual Efficiency: An Interview with Derk-Jan de Grood
Derk-Jan de Grood explains how those who have yet to embrace Kanban can experience the efficiency and communication-building that the practice brings to development teams of all sizes. After defining what "efficiency" means to him, Derk-Jan goes on to explain why he's the fan of Kanban that he is.

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TechWell Stories
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Create a Vendor Contract While Keeping Agile
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Build a List of Things—But Don't Call It Agile
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