Software Process And Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 535 features our essay spawned when I was asked to help a Scrum Master who said: “I messed up a scrum team, should I do kanban?”  There is not a straightforward answer because regardless of the path forward there are people issues that need to be dealt with first. Also in this podcast, we have a visit from Susan Parente and her ‘I am not a Scrumdamentalist’ column.  In this installment, Susan discusses distributed Agile. Agile on distributed teams is often discussed in hushed tones.  Susan brings the topic out into the open and provides excellent advice. Re-Read Saturday News We continue our re-read of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Chapter Four of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point begins the discussion of the role of context in approaching a tipping point.  Stop borrowing your best friends copy and buy a copy of the book for yourself!   Check out the current entry of Re-Read Saturday at www.tcagley.wordpress.com Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 536 will feature our interview with Dave Sohmer.   

SPaMCAST 534 features our interview with Al Shalloway.   Al returns to the SPaMCAST after far too long. This week we discuss the trials and tribulations of scaling agile, and his passion about getting knowledge transfer right! I hope you have as good of a time listening to this interview as I had creating it. Bio Al Shalloway is the founder and CEO of Net Objectives. With 45 years of experience, Al is an industry thought leader in Lean, Kanban, product portfolio management, Scrum and agile design. He helps companies transition to Lean and Agile methods enterprise-wide as well teaches courses in these areas. Al is a former SAFe Program Consultant Trainer. Al has developed training and coaching methods for Lean-Agile that have helped Net Objectives' clients achieve long-term, sustainable productivity gains. He is a popular speaker at prestigious conferences worldwide. Website:  https://www.netobjectives.com/ Email:  alshall@netobjectives.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alshalloway/ Re-Read Saturday Ne

SPaMCAST 533 features our essay titled, Can Agile (SAFe) Be Interfaced With Waterfall? The long answer is yes, but the short answer is yes, but try to find a way to avoid the self-inflicted complexity. If you can’t avoid mixing and matching frameworks, there are paths to success you can leverage. Other essays in our series on interfacing SAFe and waterfall efforts include: Can Agile (SAFe) Be Interfaced With Waterfall? - https://bit.ly/2SLUmou Interfacing Agile (SAFe) With Waterfall? – Transparency - https://bit.ly/2MWNYFT Interfacing Agile (SAFe) With Waterfall? –  Synchronization - https://bit.ly/2WVgLio Interfacing Agile (SAFe) With Waterfall? –  Code - https://bit.ly/2I6eUUR This week we also have a quick visit from Tom Henricksen.  Tom created the popular Online Agile Summit. Today he announces the DevOps Online Summit that will be held on April 8th through 11th.  After you listen, check out the website! https://www.devopsonlinesummit.com/2019 Jeremy Berriault brings a new installment of the QA Corner (h

SPaMCAST features our interview with Julia Wester.  Julia returns to the cast to discuss spectrum thinking.  Specturn thinking is an important tool in system thinking and required to address complexity.  Even though using binary thinking is rarely the most effective path, it is rare to use spectrum thinking to address problems. Julia provides a path to more effective decision making. Julia’s Bio Julia is a Co-Founder of Lagom Solutions and its Principal Consultant. Lagom Solutions is an outcome-focused consulting and product company. Julia leads the consulting side of Lagom Solutions. When working with customers, she leverages her 18 years of experience working in and managing high-performing teams at companies such as Turner Broadcasting, F5 Networks, and LeanKit. Julia is passionate about teaching others how to tame the chaos of everyday work by embracing transparency, continuous improvement, and a lagom mindset. She also loves talking about how management doesn’t have to be a dirty word. Julia blogs at eve

SPaMCAST 531 features our essay on Balancing Control and Self-Organization to Avoid Heat Death.  Control and self-organization represent a classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears problem. We discuss whether there is a solution. Interested in more on this topic?  Other blog entries include: Balancing Control and Self-Organization to Avoid Heat Death -https://bit.ly/2UnzfGu   Balancing of Autonomy with Alignment - https://bit.ly/2Sg1xFy   VUCA, Heat Death and Gray Goo - https://bit.ly/2RhlGq8 In the second spot this week we hear from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the cast.  Jon discusses the impact of cognitive biases on product development. Fighting biases is an important role for product owners and developers alike. The fight is rarely easy. Re-Read Saturday News This week we begin our re-read of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. We are re-reading this book because it is important for any person involved in leading or participating in change (this is all of us).  D

On January 18, 2007 show zero was posted.  Show zero established the RSS feed and let me get some of the bugs out of our workflow.  We begin year 13 next week. Thank you for being part of the Software Process and Measurement Cast. SPaMCAST 530 features our interview with Justin McPherson. Justin and I talked about the role of the enterprise architect in agile. Organizations struggle with the role of the architect as they embrace agile methods.  However it is not all about agile, the multiple layers of architecture such as solution, application and enterprise add to the confusion and the perception that people need to jump through too many hoops. Justin’s experience provides direction. Justin’s LinkedIn Bio: Executive consultant with 25 years of experience in IT Strategy, Enterprise Architecture and Business Transformation leadership. Specializing in Establishing the Office of the Architect, Enterprise Architecture Design & Performance Management, Enterprise Architecture Platforms, Application Portfolio Op

SPaMCAST 529 features our essay titled Habit and Commitment.  We are still early enough in the year to be pursuing new beginnings and the New Year resolutions you made a few weeks ago.  Commitment and habits can be positively interrelated. Commitment is being dedicated to a cause or activity. Habits reflect a more or less fixed routine. We also have a visit from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim discusses nonlinear and analog thinking. Kim’s essay is a perfect counterpoint to Habit and Commitment Re-Read Saturday News I decided to complete the content portion of the re-read of Bad Blood this week.   From a team-level perspective, I believe we can all recognize some if not all of the behaviors seen in Bad Blood, albeit on a far less sociopathic scale. If this were a business novel, it would be easy to assume that the behavior shown in the book is hyperbole used to make a grand point.  In Theranos’s case, the supporting reading I have done suggests the book is somewhat understated. Why do people take the abu

SPaMCAST 528  features our interview with Allan Kelly.  Allan makes his third appearance on the cast to talk about his book Continuous Digital (buy a copy!) and the state of agile.  A great way to start the year! Allan’s Bio: Allan Kelly helps companies large and small enhance their agility and boost their digital offering. Past clients include Virgin Atlantic, Qualcomm, The Bank of England, Reed Elsevier and many small innovative companies you've never heard of. He invented Value Poker, Time-Value Profiles and Retrospective Dialogue Sheets. He is the author of "Dear Customer, the truth about IT" and books including "Project Myopia", "Continuous Digital", "Xanpan" and  "Business Patterns for Software Developers". His blog is at https://www.allankellyassociates.co.uk/blog/ and on twitter he is @allankellynet. Re-Read Saturday News My intent is to complete our re-read of Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup in three more weeks.  The book has 24 chapters and an epilogue, therefore there will

SPaMCAST 527, is our last podcast of 2018.  We say goodbye to 2018 by talking about user story maps.  User story maps are both versatile and an underused tool. Perhaps something that we can address in 2019? We also have a visit from Susan Parente.  Susan brings her Not a Scrumdamentalist column to the cast to discuss agile risk management.  Risk management is a requirement for any form of work. Why do some in the agile community feel it is not needed?   Re-Read Saturday News We are re-reading Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 – Buy a copy and read along).  This week we move through three chapters. These three chapters continue to show the same pattern of abuse of the truth and employees that we have seen in other chapters. Arguably, conflating Theranos’s mission with a religion (chapter 14) might take the story to a new level of crazy but it is only that, a new level. Week 10 - Chiat\Day, Going Live and Unicorn - https://bit.ly/2SrRp

SPaMCAST 526 features an interview with Freddie Clark.  Mr. Clark is a tester and Scrum Master by day and video game entrepreneur in the evening.  We had an in-depth conversation about using Scrum and other agile techniques in a lean startup environment.  It is not the same as the standard corporate environment. Freddie’s Bio Freddie hails from Cleveland, Ohio where he discovered an enthusiasm for games at an early age. When he was not forced to play outside, he was enjoying co-op games with his friends at home. This excitement led him to earn a degree in Game Design and Development at Rochester Institute of Technology. During his college career, Freddie found a passion for the production process, which he fostered through various experiences in this industry. More recently, Freddie has been exploring the world of Agile and independent game development, which he is using as he oversees the production and design of his new independent game studio, Misfitmakers. Email: faclark16@gmail.com Twitter: @gwaanybyte  

SPaMCAST 525 continues our conversation about story points.  Many teams find that story points are only a partially useful tool to facilitate the flow of work within a team. Today we will highlight a behavioral fix and talk RATS. We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault with a discussion from the QA Corner.  Jeremey and I talked about how the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) impacts testing.  Check out Mr. Berriault’s blog at https://qacorner.blog/ Re-Read Saturday News We are re-reading Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 – Buy a copy and read along).  Chapter 10 focuses on what when Hollywood makes a movie from Bad Blood will be a titanic battle between the indomitable Elizabeth and a career military officer, but what is really a struggle between right and wrong. Week 8 - Who is LTC Shoemaker - https://bit.ly/2GkbWv0 Previous Entries: Week 1 – Approach and Introduction – https://bit.ly/2J1pY2t    Week 2 -- A Purposef

SPaMCAST 524 features the return of Matt Heusser.   Matt and I talk about the nuts and bolts of being a tester in today’s software environment including agile testing.  Matt and I had covered difficult areas that anyone that is interested in quality and risk needs to think about. Matt’s bio: The Managing Director of Excelon Development and a member of the board of directors for the Association for Software Testing, Matt Heusser leads test training and change efforts while making as many contributions as he can to active projects. Learn more about Matt at www.xndev.com follow him on twitter at @mheusser or check out the testing show podcast on iTunes or online at https://www.qualitestgroup.com/resources/the-testing-show/    Re-Read Saturday News We are re-reading Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 – Buy a copy and read along!). Chapter 9, titled Wellness Play, continues the focus on overpromising and the toxicity overpromising generate

SPaMCAST 523 features our essay on story points.  Story points were a tool designed to give teams a rough understanding of their flow of work. It was a great idea at the time, but that time has passed. Unfortunately, story points now are being used improperly creating more problems than they solve. In addition, Jon M Quigley brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the cast. In this installment, Jon discusses the risks of Centers of Excellence.  They are another great idea that can and has been ill-used by many in the industry. Re-Read Saturday News We are back with Chapter 7 of Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018 – Buy a copy and read along!). Chapter 7, titled The miniLab, focuses on overpromising and continues to layer on toxicity to the Theranos story. Week 6 - The miniLab -  https://bit.ly/2rfmwJh Previous Entries: Week 1 – Approach and Introduction – https://bit.ly/2J1pY2t    Week 2 -- A Purposeful Life and Gluebot -

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 522 features the return of Jeff Anderson.  Jeff returns to discuss scaling agile and getting to a minimum viable product. Many teams and organizations struggle with the concepts of scaling and getting to an MVP, Jeff provides advice for not going crazy! Jeff’s Bio Jeff is the President of Agile by Design.  Over the last decade, Jeff has played a leadership role on a large number of enterprise-scale agile transformations, providing program management, operating model design and change-management services. Jeff frequently blogs about and presents on lean and agile adoption, and is the author of The Lean Change Method, which guides organizations through the application of lean startup techniques. His mission in life: to help knowledge workers be awesome at what they do. LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomasjeffreyandersontwin/ Website:  http://agilebydesign.com/ Twitter: @thomasjeffrey Re-Read Saturday News The Software Process and Measurement Cast and Blog cre

SPaMCAST 521 features our essay on user stories and legacy code.  A common question is how user stories can be developed for legacy code or for problems that crop up in production.  The implication is that creating user stories is too hard when dealing with legacy code changes or too slow when dealing with production problems.  User stories are a core tenet for most agile approaches and have a lot of value. This week we also have a visit from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries!  Kim talks about training in a column titled, “Software Catechism.” Can you help keep the podcast growing? Here are some ideas: Tell a friend about the cast. Tweet or post about the cast.  Every mention helps. Review the podcast wherever you get the cast. Pitch a column to me. You are cool enough to be listening; you deserve to be heard. Sponsor an episode (text or call me to talk about the idea). Listen. Whether you do one or all six, being here is a big deal to everyone that helps get the podcast and blog together. Thank you! Re-Read

SPaMCAST 520 features our interview with Doc Norton. We talked about his new book Escape Velocity, measurement, and why velocity isn’t generally a good measure for teams. By the time teams get to a point where story point velocity is consistent and predictable, they will have better tools that have fewer negative side effects. Doc’s Bio Doc Norton is passionate about working with teams to improve delivery and building great organizations. Once a dedicated code slinger, Doc has turned his energy toward helping teams, departments, and companies work better together in the pursuit of better software. Working with a wide range of companies such as Groupon, Nationwide Insurance, Belly, and JaTango, Doc has applied tenants of agile, lean, systems thinking, and servant leadership to develop highly effective cultures and drastically improve their ability to deliver valuable software and products. A Pluralsight Author, Clean Coders contributor, frequent blogger, international keynote speaker and coach, in his spare ti

SPaMCAST 519 features our essay on a code of ethics for agile coaches. A code of ethics is a compilation of ethical principles brought together into a framework. Most professions have a code of ethics that guide their behaviors, typically guided by an association that provides credentials. I think it is time to discuss a code of ethics for agile coaches. We also have a visit from Susan Parente, with her Not A Scrumdamentalist column.  Susan discusses how to become an agilist. It is not as easy as learning any individual set of methods and techniques. One of the places to find Susan is at S3 Technologies, LLC. I know I promised a visit from Jon M. Quigley, but I had a minor problem with the drive and did not get the column into production soon enough to make the deadline.   Interested in supporting the podcast? Here are some ideas: Tell a friend (or better yet listen to the podcast with them) about the cast. Tweet or post about the cast.  Every mention helps. Review the podcast wherever you get the cast. Pitc

SPaMCAST 518 features our interview with Rebecca Staton-Reinstein.  We discussed leadership, the difference between leadership and management, coaching versus mentoring and who should own your improvement program.  Rebecca and I have known each other for years and I have always enjoyed her wisdom and pragmatic advice. She really delivers the goods. Rebecca’s bio: REBECCA STATON-REINSTEIN, Ph.D. is the president of Advantage Leadership, Inc. Where she works with companies around the world that want strategic leaders and engaged employees to increase bottom- and top-line results and delight customers. Clients achieve their goals through strategic planning and leadership, management, team, and organizational development. Rebecca’s team works with clients to craft customized, successful solutions to their complex business issues in all economic sectors. Rebecca’s says, “Our mission is your success.” For over 25 years, Rebecca has contributed improved organizational value as a leader, manager, technologist, keynot

SPaMCAST 517 is very different from my original plan -- and pretty cool if I do say so my self.  This week I spoke at ISMA 16 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was originally scheduled to open the session, however, the translators were two hours late. The Portuguese speaking speakers were moved earlier so that the conference could get started.  During my wait, I discovered that I could record sessions on my iPhone, therefore, the SPaMCAST 517 is a recording of my talk, titled Product Owners In Agile – The Really Hard Role! If you would like a copy of the slides please email me at SPaMCASTinfo@gmail.com .   Note:  There is a bit of noise in the audio, shirt pockets might not be the best recording platforms.   Re-Read Saturday NewsToday we continue our journey through Bad Blood, Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2018).   Today we tackle chapters one and two. They are titled, “A Purposeful Life” and “Gluebot.”  I have not changed the estimate of 20 to 25 weeks,

SPaMCAST 516 features our interview with Nishi Grover Garg.  Nishi and I started by discussing the major differences in agile and non-agile testing and ended with a discussion of agile pods. This is a wonderfully idea-rich interview. Note:  I am recording part of this episode remotely from a hotel in Brazil! Nishi’s Bio: Nishi is a Consulting Agile and Software testing trainer. With a decade of experience working in an Agile environment in different product-based companies, she has had a chance to work in all stages of software testing life cycle from a White box, Black box to Automation testing and Usability testing. Having now extended it to her full-time job, Nishi is a coach, trainer, and mentor in areas of Agile and software testing, specializing in conducting QA Induction boot-camps, ISTQB workshops, DevOps Foundation and Selenium Automation courses. She is certified by Agile Testing Alliance (ATA) as a CP-DOF, CP-SAT, CP-AAT, CP-MAT and by ISTQB as a Foundation and Advanced Test Analyst and likes to ke