Software Process And Measurement Cast

This week Dr. Eric Cole and I talk cybersecurity and entrepreneurship. Most of you will have been on the edge of your seat while you tracked the news of the ransomware attack on the Colonial Pipeline. Security can not be an afterthought. Remember this is not a drill; this not hype.  Also, preorder Dr. Cole’s new book Cyber Crisis which will be released on June 1st. Dr. Cole is a world-renowned cybersecurity entrepreneur and founder of Secure Anchor Consulting, Eric understands the dangers of cybersecurity and knows how to build successful companies.  Today, Dr. Cole shares the many lessons learned from overcoming adversity and staying committed to your purpose. Dr. Cole focuses on security and innovation with a mission to make cyberspace safe in a world where it can be an unrecognized danger and threat.  Website: https://secure-anchor.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericcole1/  The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit which starts tomorr

Work entry, in its simplest form, is the steps needed for work to be triaged to ensure that it is the right work, that it is ready to be worked on, and the priority of the work. This week we talk about five common patterns. On Tuesday I will include the PDF in the feed to see if I can spur a discussion about other patterns.   We also have a visit from Tony Timbol with his To Tell A Story column.  In this installment we discuss different forms of user stories and when to use them.  The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.  The First Global Scrum Master Summit Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21 Re-Read Saturday News  Chapter 13 in Fixing Your Scrum, Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems, by Ryan Ripley and Todd Miller, discusses the concept of a deployable product increment and done. What we deliver is a big deal, getting it right is the diff

Experimentation is a dirty word in many organizations, however, it can be a powerful tool to drive and guide change.  Tammy Gretz shares how she adopted experiments in her practice and how she uses them to change the behavior and culture of people and organizations. I am occasionally asked why I enjoy meet-ups so much. Meeting people like Tammy is a major part of the reason.  Thanks to the Women in Agile, Cleveland for the great introduction which lead to this interview!   Tammy’s bio:  Tammy  is an “Agile Coach Making Shift Happen” “I exist to generously collaborate, embrace tension and use it to make shift happen.” I have been influencing change through servant leadership, elbow grease, and lattes for over 20 years. I am a massive maker and the majority of my education comes from experimenting and the relentless pursuit of understanding team dynamics, embracing tension, and using it to fuel innovation and change in the workplace and beyond. https://tammygretz.com/ linkedin.com/in/tammygretz tsgretz@gmail.co

Alex Omeyer and I discussed defining, tracking, and measuring technical debt. Technical debt generates a liability that every organization must deal with. As Alex states, “tech debt might not be the sexiest topic” but if teams and organizations don’t address their liabilities it will be difficult to deliver the value customers need and expect.  We also talk about the practicalities of pivoting life ambitions and entrepreneurship. Alex is the Co-founder and CEO of Stepsize.   Alex personally spends most of his time speaking to the best software development teams in the world about how they handle technical debt. Hit him up to talk tech debt. He loves to share what they taught him. Alex and his co-founders are building Stepsize—a free tool for engineering teams to track and prioritize technical debt. Stepsize’s mission is to make software development more accessible, efficient, and powerful.  Website: https://www.stepsize.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandre-omeyer-060a0175/ Twitter @AlexOmeyer

The majority of work entry problems are caused by eight problems. The eight problems often occur in clusters and are a reflection of organizational culture.  Knowing that there are eight problems is useful when they can be recognized. Unless people wear their motivations on signs hung around their neck, recognition requires conversation and observation.  Fixing any problem starts with recognizing that problem.  We will also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her, Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast. Today Susan and I discuss the concept of Hybrid Agile and the new book Hybrid Project Management https://amzn.to/3al4b4F that Susan wrote with Mark Tolbert The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.  The First Global Scrum Master Summit Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21 The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps On

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 646, Albert Ahdoot and I focus on discussing the impact of strong off-premise infrastructure on the delivery of value, the impact on the bottom line, and the mitigation of risk. Albert Ahdoot is a successful entrepreneur focused on building IT businesses through meaningful relationships. His flagship company, Colocation America, was founded to serve as the premier data center provider for IT solutions looking for a secure and scalable IT.  Albert is a highly respected business development expert who has helped many technology companies achieve great success. Albert received his Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from UCLA and his masters in Bio-Technology from NYU. Albert A.’s Profile linkedin.com/in/albertahdoot Website  ColocationAmerica.com  (Company Website) Email  albert@colocationamerica.com Twitter AlbertAhdoot The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.  The First Glo

The headlines of 3 and 4 April 2021 are stark - the data of 533 million Facebook users available on the web (change your password now).  You have 533 MILLION reasons to take Paul Katzoff’s message on data security to heart. Paul Katzoff (Twitter) For almost a decade, Paul has worked with technology companies seeking manageable growth and brand loyalty/expansion. His career has ranged from being an integral part of a new business start-up team to becoming a key driver in the business enabling it to become both sustainable and profitable. Currently, Paul serves as the CEO of White Canyon Software -- a data security company used by 44 of the fortune 100 companies. As a leader in the data security industry, Paul would love to chat about how to mitigate any potential data breaches with work-from-home becoming the new norm.  The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.    The First Global Scrum Master Summit Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded Organize

In the SPaMCAST 644, we talk teams. At the core of agile is the belief that the team is the fundamental building block of work. Because they are so important, organizations put tons of effort into helping and guiding teams. The problem is not that teams aren’t important or that we aren’t working hard to make them better, teams are still chronically messed up. We discuss a framework for guiding support for teams.  We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault who brings his QA Corner to the podcast.  Jeremy and I discuss the differences between static and dynamic testing. Understanding the definition of each is an important step in improving quality.  The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the Global Scrum Master Summit.    The First Global Scrum Master Summit Week of May 17th, 2021, Live and Recorded Organized by the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast http://bit.ly/scrummastersummit21 The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.  DevOps

This week, Caleb Woods, CEO and Senior Software Craftsman at RoleModel Software joins the podcast. Caleb and I talk about the role of craftsmanship in developing and maintaining software (or really anything else). Caleb Woods - RoleModel’s CEO - Caleb is a proven leader with extensive experience evaluating technology trends, leading teams, and implementing best practices. As CEO, Caleb promotes continuous improvement while cultivating a collaborative work environment. Caleb is a technologist who understands and solves complex business problems. He has a passion for software craftsmanship and producing sustainable software and has become the visionary leader of the next generation of RoleModel Software. Caleb began his software career as a web developer at an academic coaching company, where he gained experience in infrastructure migrations, team leadership, and business analysis. He’s continued that dedication to technology advancement. At his previous position as Chief Technology Officer for RoleModel, Caleb

Vasco Duarte returns to the podcast to discuss the Scrum Master. Scrum Masters are the face of agile in many organizations. Helping team facilitators get the role right benefits not only the agile community but every business they are involved with!   Vasco has been working in the software industry since 1998 and has learned the hard way what works (most of the time) and what does not work (almost never). His goal is to help our industry evolve. We can’t become better without trying out new and innovative approaches to software development. The majority of our businesses run on software. We owe it to our society to get better at an activity that affects so much our lives and our countries’ economies. Vasco consults companies that understand software is a key component of their business model. Get in touch via twitter: @duarte_vasco; or on his company’s web-site: http://www.oikosofy.com/. Check out the Scrum Master’s Toolbox Podcast: https://scrum-master-toolbox.org/ The Software Process and Measurement Cast i

In the podcast this week, we discuss the Agile Coaching Code of Ethics and the process of building an ethical foundation.  Shane Hastie and Craig Smith have been leading the effort to craft a useful Agile Coaching Code of Ethics for the past year. These two thought leaders have helped to pull together a diverse group of coaches, and then guide that herd of cats in order to create a new force to guide agile coaches of all stripes.  In May 2017 Shane Hastie joined ICAgile as the Director of Agile Learning Programs, tasked with ensuring the learning objectives remain valid and useful, supporting the various communities that make up the ICAgile ecosystem, and seeking ways to advance the state of agile learning. In November 2019 he moved into the Director of Community Development role, building and supporting the global community of thought leaders, members, instructors, and certification holders. Shane’s Profile - linkedin.com/in/shanehastie Email - snhastie@gmail.com  Twitter - shanehastie Craig Smith has been a

The idea of Communities of Practice is thrown around alot in organizations, often without thinking about the goals of a CoP.  Why? Organizations are increasingly becoming more diverse and distributed, while at the same time pursuing mechanisms to increase collaboration between groups and consistency of knowledge and practice hence the rapid growth of Communities of Practice.  Let's explore the goals of a CoP. This week also marks the premiere of Tony Timbol’s new column, “To Tell A Story.” In this week’s installment, we begin to explore the nuances of User Stories.  Tony is a practitioner, consultant, entrepreneur, and science fiction author -- Tony does it all.  Email: tony.timbol@agileready.net Web: BeAgileReady.com  Interested in Mikolaj Pawlikoski’s book, Chaos Engineering, Site reliability through controlled disruption I have discount codes for the listeners of the Software Process and Measurement Cast, ping me @tcagley@tomcagley.com and I will share them with you!   The Software Process and Measurement

Chaos Engineering comes to the Software Process and Measurement Cast this week delivered (chaotically) by Mikolaj Pawlikoski.  Miko and I talked about the definition of chaos engineering, why chaos is not scary, and most importantly his new book Chaos Engineering, Site reliability through controlled disruption.  One of the most important side effects of chaos engineering is uninterrupted sleep caused by things not going bump in the night! Mikolaj Pawlikowski is a recognized authority on chaos engineering. He is the creator of the Kubernetes chaos engineering tool PowerfulSeal, and the networking visibility tool Goldpinger. https://mikolajpawlikowski.com/ https://twitter.com/mikopawlikowski https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikolajpawlikowski/ I have discount codes for the listeners of the Software Process and Measurement Cast, ping me @tcagley@tomcagley.com and I will share them with you! The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.  Not to put too fine a point on

This week we connect with Paul Clayson to talk about cybersecurity in the IoT space. When you are dealing with extreme constraints being secure is complicated and doing nothing is a really bad option. Paul also weighs in on the CMMC (new security model) and serial entrepreneurism.     Paul’s Bio: CEO of AgilePQ. 98% of IoT devices are currently unsecured. On average a data breach costs $8.2 million. AgilePQ was born to address these issues. AgilePQ has raised a total of $10M. Paul has extensive experience in launching and growing early-stage companies. He has launched four disruptive technology companies and served as CEO to five early-stage companies in nanotechnology, automotive, graphene, carbon nanotube, PCB, microprocessor, and other advanced technologies. Connect with Paul at linkedin.com/in/paulclayson The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.  Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak.  The crew a

This week the Cast features our essay titled, “Collaboration - Disconnected.” The improvement imperative is driven by the need to stay competitive at a holistic level. One would expect that continuous process improvement or continuous improvement would be discussed earnestly at every staff meetings at every level of an organization, and at every meeting. It isn’t. Jon M. Quigley returns with an installment of the Alpha and Omega of Product Development.  Jon and I completed an arc on product quality with a discussion of the cost of poor quality.  The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.  Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak.  The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at https://bit.ly/3syp2c5   https://bit.ly/3syp2c5 Re-Read Saturday Ne

Tony Timbol of Agile Ready joins the Software Process and Measurement Cast this week. Tony and I have worked together in a past life, so we had a bit of fun poking at each other as we talked about user stories, Tony's new product, Agile Ready, and entrepreneurship. Tony delivers a number of great tips, some of which I already have put to use.    Tony Timbol is an agile coach, trainer, and consultant with a 35-year history in technology and software development. Currently serving as an Enterprise Agile Coach for a large healthcare insurance provider, Tony teaches and coaches agile best practice principles, the SAFE framework specializing in the Product Owner role, and agile requirements authoring processes. Other interests include cooking, writing novels, and binge-watching sci-fi (no matter how bad). Early in 2018 Tony conceptualized the Agile Ready Platform and began experimentation and preliminary design discussions with trusted friends and colleagues. This eventually led to a commitment to develop and lau

Cue the music . . . Happy Birthday, Software Process and Measurement Cast!  Today we begin year 15 with a visit from Johanna Rothman.  We talked about her THREE new books: Practical Ways to Manage Yourself: Modern Management Made Easy, Book 1 https://amzn.to/2LXKkiQ Practical Ways to Lead & Serve (Manage) Others: Modern Management Made Easy, Book 2 - https://amzn.to/39Viwnj  Practical Ways to Lead an Innovative Organization: Modern Management Made Easy, Book 3 - https://amzn.to/3qS90Z3  We of course covered more ground.  For example about 2/3rds of the way through we talked about why the word experiment is a dirty word in most organizations. This is a longer interview, but when I grow up I want to be just like Johanna (I am serious).  Here is her bio: Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” offers frank advice for your tough problems. She helps leaders and teams do reasonable things that work. Equipped with that knowledge, they can decide how to adapt their product development. With her tradema

In this edition of the Software Process and Measurement Cast, I talk with Rick Hall, CEO of Aginity. Rick and I talked about analytics, which has been Rick’s lifelong passion. Rick provides insights on how analytics fits in a modern organization and how to staff that group.  We also discussed serial entrepreneurship. His advice is, if you don’t have passion for the idea, don’t try it.  Rick Hall is a software entrepreneur focused on the analytics market.  He has led the development of over a dozen software products and taken several companies from the early stage to an eventual sale. Rick led a group in the purchase of Aginity in March of 2020, and has taken over the CEO role as a result.  Aginity was an early innovator in Analytics Management and launched Aginity Pro early last year.  The product is off to a fast start attracting 13,000 subscribers in the first nine months and is set to grow by more than 250% through 2021.  Reach out to Rick  https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-hall-6685513/ https://www.link

The Podcast this week features my interview with Unmesh Srivastava. We talked about organizational culture and disrupting health care through development that is customer-focused. We also spent time discussing the need for empathy in order to find critical business needs. Unmesh points out that many times technologists think with their technology before they think with their hearts.  Unmesh is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at P3 Health Partners. Over the years, Unmesh and his teams have helped US healthcare with opportunities to drive innovation and disruptive transformation using digital enablement. He has worked with multiple innovative organizations building and deploying the next generation of healthcare. All the digital enablement projects have been geared towards driving a differentiated provider and patient experience while reducing the cost of care and improving quality of care. The technology products delivered by Unmesh and his teams range from clinical decision support technology for provider

Software Process and Measurement Cast 632 reprises a panel from the 18th of March 2020 just as things were getting interesting on the working from the home front. Today we discuss what they have learned working with and supporting remote teams versus how it was supposed to work. The panel is: Jeff Dalton,  jeff@broadswordsolutions.com  Amy McDonough Amy, McDonough@spr.com  Sandeep Koorse, Sandeep@koorse.com  Christopher Hurney, Christopherhurney@gmail.com Tom Cagley, tcagley@tomcagley.com  2020 was a year of firsts, this week one of those firsts intrudes on the podcast. Some sort of equipment error destroyed the first 8 ish minutes of the recording was lost. Actually lost was not a perfect description, in your mind picture a high-pitched screech. Then it was gone and the rest of the discussion was wonderful.  I have chopped out the ear killing screech and we pick up late in the first question with Chris Hurney and go from there! Re-Read Saturday News  This week it is time for Chapter 4 of  Great Big Agile, An