Software Process And Measurement Cast

The DevOps Online Summit 2020 is an online event for DevOps professionals. We will have interviews with DevOps leaders and Ask Me Anything sessions. So wherever you are in the world you can attend these online sessions. It will start Monday, April 20, 2020, and run through Friday, April 24, 2020. I am looking forward to getting my DevOps geek on and hope to virtually see you at xx to the Summit. Check out Tom Henricksen’s audio call to action. Then visit and register for this year’s DevOps Online Summit at https://bit.ly/2UQaupf I am looking forward to getting my DevOps geek on and hope to virtually see you at the Summit. Check out Tom Henricksen’s audio call to action. Then visit and register for this year’s DevOps Online Summit at https://bit.ly/2UQaupf The SPaMCAST is proud to be a media sponsor. 

The SPaMCAST 594 features our interview with Dennis Lewis.  Mr. Lewis, author of Behold the Cryptopreneurs, and I talked about how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are changing all types of software development. Dennis provides great advice for technologists and entrepreneurs that is immediately actionable (without violating social distancing). Dennis is a seasoned digital storyteller and ICO marketing specialist with a proven track record in both Europe and the United States. He has successfully led to market and exited multiple startup companies, and prides himself on his ability to make complex projects easy to understand and relatable. In a marketing landscape increasingly obsessed with shiny objects and overly complicated sales funnels, Dennis still believes that the key to any successful marketing campaign are the words on the page.  LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennishlewis/ Cryptoreneurs Club: https://cryptopreneurs.club/ Behold the Cryptopreneurs: https://amzn.to/3aM9hor  Re-Read Saturday Ne

The SPaMCAST 593 features my interview with Scott Crabtree. Happiness at work might sound squishy, but happiness has rigorous science behind it. Simply put, happiness yields better outcomes both in terms of value delivered and our own perception of our value.   Scott Crabtree helps people apply science to thrive at work. After earning a degree in cognitive science from Vassar College, he went on to lead the design and development of video games and other software. He discovered the science of thriving (positive psychology and other brain sciences) in 2003 and immediately became a passionate student and teacher of that research. He resigned his senior leadership position at Intel in 2011 to found Happy Brain Science. When not presenting the science of thriving at work, Scott enjoys playing music and getting into the Oregon wilderness, especially with his wife and two daughters. Contact Information LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sccrabtree/ Happy Brain Science:  www.happybrainscience.com    Re-Read Saturd

The SPaMCAST 592 features my interview with Shelisa Bainbridge. We talked about human-centered design and the impact of design on the development process. This approach is core to understanding what the customer wants in a way that influences every line of code.  We also talked about how organizations adopt agile and women in agile.  Shelisa is a Senior Business Coach with more than 20 years of experience working with some of Canada’s most notable brands.   Through her various corporate experiences, Shelisa has come to understand the exponential power that ‘human connection’ has on a company’s bottom line, and the support that businesses need to attain exceptional results through brand loyalty and unwavering internal team trust and collaboration. Shelisa is the Head of Human Centered Delivery (HCD) at one of Toronto’s top Agile Consulting and Coaching groups, Agile by Design. HCD is a complete flow that combines Design Thinking, Agile, User Experience(UX), and validated learning. Shelisa B. helps to arm team

The SPaMCAST 591 is a very special podcast.  On the 18th of March, I convened a panel of luminaries to discuss how they were supporting and working with remote teams. I recorded both the audio and video, today I am releasing the audio version.  The panel for this show was   Jeff Dalton jeff@broadswordsolutions.com  Amy McDonough Amy.McDonough@spr.com  Sandeep Koorse Sandeep@koorse.com  Christopher Hurney    Christopherhurney@gmail.com And myself! tcagley@tomcagley.com  We kept the session short but full of practical advice! Next SPaMCAST We will be back with the video soon AND back on Sunday our interview with Shelisa Bainbridge.

The SPaMCAST 590 features my interview with Nancy Kastl. Nancy and I discussed testing and the future of the testing profession. The future of testing is not cut and dry; in the short run more automation and in the long-term more codeless testing and AI might replace entry-level testers. An eye-opening interview! Nancy’s Bio: Nancy Kastl is an accomplished professional with over thirty-five years of experience as a consultant, facilitator, and instructor in software quality and testing. As an entrepreneur and consultant, she brings her expertise in strategic planning, quality management, software testing, process re-engineering, and measurement to every engagement.  As the executive director of SPR’s Testing Services, she provides thought leadership to clients, formulates solutions to their needs, and provides daily guidance and oversight to SPRs on-shore testing team in Chicago. She is the founder and President of the Chicago Quality Assurance Association. Nancy is a frequent conference speaker and served a

The SPaMCAST 589 features our essay on using clean language to refine requirements. Clean Language’s pedigree is from psychotherapy and has found a home in coaching. It is also a valuable tool for discovering information about work products. As product managers, product owners, and stakeholders interact with the world and then describe a set of wants and needs they use metaphors. Clean language helps us unpack those metaphors. We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist Column to the podcast. Susan delivers thoughts and ideas about virtual agile.  Reach out to Susan at parente@s3-tec.com.  Re-Read Saturday News  This week we tackle Chapter 2 of  Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. Chapter 2, titled Mastering Crucial Conversations: The Power of Dialogue. The chapter begins with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that highlights the problem with staying silent. “Our lives begin to end the day w

The SPaMCAST 588 features our interview with Susie Palmer-Trew and Peter Taylor.  We discussed their new book Project Management: It's All Bollocks!  It was great to meet Susie and renew our conversation with Peter. We talked about the assumptions that the profession of project management makes and why we should challenge those assumptions. The episode has the subtitle (you will discover it ½ way through the interview)  Susie Palmer-Trew is an award-winning project professional and Director of Change at The Open University, enabling others to get shit done in a world tied up in red tape. She is the co-creator of the #LetsChangeChange movement, avid risk-taker and professional trouble maker. Contact Susie on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/susie-palmer-trew-13108646)  Peter Taylor is author of the Amazon number 1 bestselling project management book, The Lazy Project Manager, and professional speaker, having given 350 lectures around the world in over 25 countries. He has been described as ‘perhaps the most entertai

For SPaMCAST 587 we are going to break cadence and feature another interview. Ryan Ripley, Todd Miller and I discussed their new book Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems. We discussed how to define broken scrum processes. Ryan and Todd make the point that Scrum is so much more than a checklist of practices to follow, yet that's exactly how many organizations practice it. Todd’s Bio Todd is a Professional Scrum Trainer for Scrum.org and VP of the Agile Innovation Practice at Itero Group, LLC. He has professional experience as a Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer, and Agile coach on a variety of technical and creative projects across a multitude of industries. He presently coaches and trains enterprises and teams across the United States on the Scrum framework, enterprise Agile transformation, and professional software development. Ryan’s Bio: A professional Scrum trainer with Scrum.org, Ryan Ripley has experience as a software developer, manager, director, and ScrumMaster at v

The SPaMCAST 586 features our interview with Jeff Dalton. We talked about his book Great Big Agile and the Agile Performance Holarchy. One of the topics we explored in this podcast is the relationship between being a professional musician and a software developer. Jeff brings his wisdom and humor to the podcast again to help listeners learn from high-performance agile organizations! Note: At 23:50 ish in this Podcast Jeff and I begin an exchange on the difference between the attributes needed to be an agile leader and those needed to climb the corporate ladder. The discussion is a profound truth that rarely is discussed or is suppressed. I would like to hear your thoughts! Jeff last visited the podcast on SPaMCAST 512.  Jeff Dalton is Chief Evangelist at AgileCxO.org, a Research and Development organization that studies agile leadership. He is a technology executive with over 30 years of experience as a CTO, CIO, VP of Product Development, and for that past fifteen years has been CEO of Broadsword and AgileCx

The SPaMCAST 585 features an intimate conversation between Jon M Quigley, Susan Parente, and myself. We discussed experimentation, learning, and a deep dive into whether agile transformations do enough to prepare technical teams to get the maximum value from agile.  Contact Susan at parente.s3@gmail.com Contact Jon at Jon.Quigley@valuetransform.com  Business Agility Conference is sponsoring SPaMCAST!   Dates: March 11-12, 2020 Location: New York City, 117 West 46th Street URL: http://bit.ly/2SmOJMS  Use the special code “spamcast” to get a 20% discount. The Business Agility Conference is an intense 2-day event focusing on the future of business, focusing on customer centricity, employee engagement, organization design, product innovation, and next-gen leadership. The Conference is bringing together some of the greatest speakers and practitioners of business agility to share their experiences and the benefits their organizations have gained from exploring new and agile practices.  This is the first, and origin

SPaMCAST 584, the first interview of our 14th year of the SPaMCAST, features our interview with Allan Kelly. We discussed his new book, The Art of Agile Product Ownership: A Guide for Product Managers, Business Analysts, and Entrepreneurs. The role of a product owner is hard and often misunderstood.  Allan offers practical advice on sorting the role out. Allan’s Bio Allan has pioneered techniques such as Value Poker, Time-Value Profiles and Retrospective Dialogue Sheets. He is the author of seven books including "Continuous Digital", "Little Book of Requirements and User Stories" and his latest book is "Art of Agile Product Ownership." When not writing Allan consults and coaches, helping companies embrace the agile and digital world, and teams to improve their performance. Links: Me: www.allankelly.net Blog: www.allankelly.net/blog Retrospective cards: www.dialoguesheets.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/allankellynet Business Agility Conference is sponsoring this Podcast!   Dates: March 11-12, 2020 Location:

Happy Birthday to the Software Process and Measurement Cast. SPaMCAST 583 marks the beginning of the Podcast’s 14th year!  The first podcast of year 14 features a three-way discussion between Susan Parente, Anthony Mersino, and myself. We discussed the pros and cons of hybridizing agile frameworks. Hybridizing agile approaches is a lightning rod concept in many circles. Susan, Anthony and I have different experiences and opinions on the topic. The conversation was spirited. Business Agility Conference is sponsoring this Podcast!   Dates: March 11-12, 2020 Location: New York City, 117 West 46th Street URL: http://bit.ly/2SmOJMS  Use the special code “spamcast” to get a 20% discount!  The Business Agility Conference is an intense 2-day event focusing on the future of business, focusing on customer centricity, employee engagement, organization design, product innovation, and next-gen leadership. The Conference is bringing together some of the greatest speakers and practitioners of business agility to share their

SPaMCAST 582 features our interview with Paul Gibbons.  We discussed his new book IMPACT: 21st Century Change Management, Behavioral Science, Digital Transformation, and the Future of Work (Leading Change in the Digital Age). The interview started by exploring the high-level factors that influence change and then spun down into areas such as the future of work, biases, and de-biasing. This is the second book in the series he began with  The Science of Successful Organization Change which we discussed on SPaMCAST 480. The ideas that Paul shares are thought-provoking and will improve how you think about change.   Pau’s bio: Paul Gibbons is an author, academic, business consultant, podcaster and professional speaker. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. After eight years as a senior consultant at PwC, Gibbons founded Future Considerations, a consulting firm that provided guidance to major corporations, including Shell, BP, Barclays and HSBC, on achieving whole-systems change. From 2015-2018, he wa

SPaMCAST 581 features a discussion on whether most agile transformations have provided teams with the technical skills to be successful with agile. Kim Pries, the Software Sensei, Jeremy Berriault, QA Corner, and I had a wide-ranging discussion covering experimentation, learning and both personal and management responsibility.  Business Agility Conference is sponsoring this Podcast!   Dates: March 11-12, 2020 Location: New York City, 117 West 46th Street The Business Agility Conference is an intense 2-day event focusing on the future of business, focusing on customer centricity, employee engagement, organization design, product innovation, and next-gen leadership. The Conference is bringing together some of the greatest speakers and practitioners of business agility to share their experiences and the benefits their organizations have gained from exploring new and agile practices.  This is the first, and original, Business Agility Conference. The goal is to bring the local and international business agility co

SPaMCAST 580 features our interview with Bill Fox. Bill and I discussed his new book The Future of the Workplace -  https://amzn.to/2Q8z9Df.  Bill has compiled a huge amount of wisdom from his amazing interviews that translated into his new book. Bill and I spent time in this interview exploring the journey to the new book and Bill’s philosophies.  Our discussion highlights the benefits of a deep humanist view of leadership. Bill’s Bio  Bill Fox is an author, speaker, and consultant who helps build forward-thinking and human-centered workplace cultures. Bill leads a growing global conversation at Exploring Forward Thinking Workplaces (forwardthinkingworkplaces.com) with 75+ pioneering business and thought leaders. His work will help you discover new pathways, make better decisions, and be a forward thinking leader. He is the author of The Future of the Workplace (Apress, October 2019), the Be a Workplace of the Future NOW Series, and 5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success. Learn more about Bill at billfox.

SPaMCAST 579 features our essay on fear-driven agile hybrids.  Most hybridization issues stem from techniques that conflict with the framework and/or agile principles due to clashes with culture or lack of knowledge. Blindly making changes will never reflect what the environment’s context demands. Expecting to get good results by randomly changing how you work won’t be effective.  We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault from QA Corner.  Jeremy and I talked about frameworks and what should happen if the framework is not helping.   Contact Jeremy at https://www.berriaultandassociates.com/  Email: Jeremy.Berriault@Berriaultandassociates.com  Business Agility Conference Dates: March 11-12, 2020 Location: New York City, 117 West 46th Street The Business Agility Conference is an intense 2-day event focusing on the future of business, focusing on customer centricity, employee engagement, organization design, product innovation, and next-gen leadership. The Business Agility Institute is bringing together some

SPaMCAST 578 features our interview with Evan Leybourn. Evan and I discussed HR Guilds and news from the Business Agility Institute. Evan last visited the podcast on SPaMCAST 478 as the Business Agility Institute was just being formed.  Two years later it is going strong and helping change how business is done.  Evan is the Founder and CEO of the Business Agility Institute; an international membership body to both champion and support the next generation of organizations. Companies that are agile, innovative and dynamic - perfectly designed to thrive in today’s unpredictable markets. The BAI connects leaders across industries and regions to share their experiences and insights with each other. The flagship event, the Business Agility Conference will run in New York March on 11 and 12, 2020. Evan is also the author of Directing the Agile Organisation and #noprojects: A Culture of Continuous Value. Business Agility Institute: http://businessagility.institute/ HR Guild - https://businessagility.institute/hr-gui

SPaMCAST 577 features our essay on approaches to backlog prioritization. Today we will share some background and a simple approach because sometimes a straightforward approach will fit the bill! Also this week, Susan Parente joins the cast with an installment of her Not a Scrumdamentalist column.  Susan discusses agile myths. Re-Read Saturday News In this week’s installment of our re-read of Thinking, Fast and Slow we talk about risk policies. The concept of risk policies dovetails quite nicely with our discussion of story and portfolio prioritization.    Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy.  Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon,  It’s time to get reading! The current installment of Re-read Saturday: Week 31: Chapter 31: Risk Policies - http://bit.ly/2RWEqin  Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 578 features the return of Evan Leybourn.  Evan and I discuss

SPaMCAST 576 features a discussion on learning and experimentation with Kim Pries.  Kim has coded, tested, lead, and is an author. He has also delivered pointed advice as the Software Sensei.  Today we discussed the relationship between learning and experimentation which is at the heart of growing as you practice software development. Re-Read Saturday News In this week’s installment of our re-read of Thinking, Fast and Slow we talk about the collision of utility theory and prospect theory, overweighting vivid outcomes, and denominator neglect. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy.  Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon,  It’s time to get reading! The current installment of Re-read Saturday: Week 40: Rare Events - http://bit.ly/2LANUMr  Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 577 will feature our essay on simple approaches to backlog prioritization.  Sometimes a