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Boring Triggers Snoring

I once attended a presentation by an executive who began by saying, “I want to get through the initial slides so we can get to the interesting stuff.”

How would you react to this remark if you were in his audience?

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
The Shape of Change on Agile Teams

Many times, Scrum Masters and agile coaches are confronted with the need to change a team that seems to be stuck in its own behavior. And though team members may be willing to change, they just can’t seem to get out of their current situation. The author sheds a new light on this difficult problem and proposes to change the environment instead of the team.

Jurgen Appelo's picture Jurgen Appelo
Becoming Lean – The Why, What and How

Although many companies may have heard that the concepts of lean production would be of use to their organization, they do not see how something that sprang from manufacturing practices could apply to software development. This article presents a different way of looking at Lean Software Development—one that is independent of Lean’s manufacturing heritage.

Al Shalloway's picture Al Shalloway
Becoming Lean: The Why, What, and How

This article presents a different way of looking at lean software development; one that is independent of lean’s manufacturing heritage. It begins by presenting lean as a collection of a body of knowledge applying lean principles to software development.

Al Shalloway's picture Al Shalloway
Kanban System Design

Karl Scotland explains that viewing kanban as a systemic approach leads to systems thinking. Systems can be thought of as being made up of elements, which interact to meet a purpose. They are more than the sum of the parts, and the system’s purpose is crucial in determining the system’s behavior.

Karl Scotland's picture Karl Scotland
Four Reasons Medical Device Companies Need Agile Development

The waterfall style of development is so deeply engrained into the culture of medical companies that most can’t imagine anything else being used to develop software that has power over human life.

However I argue that precisely because of patient safety, medical device companies in particular need to adopt agile practices. I’ve seen too many bloated medical device project fail or limp across the finish line for causes that can be directly linked to the waterfall method. Specifically:

TechWell Contributor's picture TechWell Contributor
PRINCE2 and Agility: Reclaiming the Manifesto

In October this year Codeworks DEV received the 2010 Agile Award for the “Best Use of Agile in the Public Sector”. The use of Agile Methods within large, publically accountable environments has long represented a challenge to the Agile community. Agility is more often associated with small to medium size enterprises (SME’s) in the private sector, where organisations are incentivised to keep pace with a changing business environment. Public sector companies and larger corporates, on the other hand, are renowned for their essentially prescriptive, “non-agile” attempts at long-term planning using techniques such as PRINCE2.

TechWell Contributor's picture TechWell Contributor
Lessons from a Loudmouth

I have a colleague whom I used to view as a loud mouth. He was intelligent, articulate and full of life, but also arrogant and opinionated. He never talked quietly; he shouted, hurling his voice across the room.

One evening, he appeared just as several of us were leaving for dinner after a day-long meeting. I tried to send him go-away vibes, but he wasn’t in receive mode. When one of the others invited him to join us, he eagerly (and loudly) accepted.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten
Thoughts from Mid-Project

My team is in the middle of one of the hardest projects—we call them "themes"—we’ve ever tackled. We’re a high-functioning agile team that has helped our company grow and succeed over several years now—we “went agile” in 2003. Here’s one thing I know for sure: No matter how many problems you solve, new challenges will pop up.

Lisa Crispin's picture Lisa Crispin
How to Resolve Disputes So Everyone Wins

It's a special skill to be able to terminate disputes amicably. In this week's column, Naomi Karten offers suggestions for how to resolve disputes so that none of the parties suffers from black eyes or bruised egos.

Naomi Karten's picture Naomi Karten

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