Software Process And Measurement Cast

Jim Benson has a new book titled, The Collaboration Equation. Jim states that collaboration “is the base of the human condition, we need other people in order to live, but always seem to be at odds with each other.” Jim also states that unless you are striving for improvement, you are unprofessional. I really like talking to Jim; Jim is a force of nature.  Jim’s career path has taken him through government agencies, Fortune 10 corporations, and start-ups. Through them all, his passion has remained consistent – applying new technologies to workgroups. In each case asking how they can be leveraged to collaborate and cooperate more effectively. Jim loves ideas, creation, and building opportunities. He loves working with teams who are passionate about the future, pushing boundaries, and inclusion. His goal with all technologies is to increase beneficial contact between people and reduce the bureaucratic noise which so often tends to increase costs and destroy creativity. Jim is the author of the Shingo Research A

This week we make a quick side trip. Earlier this week I was asked why I “did” the Re-read Saturday column. Today, I offer a short explanation and highlight the experiments I am running as part of our re-read of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins. We also have a visit from Jon M. Quigley. In this installment of his Alpha and Omega of Product Development, Jon and I discuss the role of the team lead in agile teams that have coaches, scrum masters, and just might be self-organizing. There is a role but it is not the classic version that is in common use. Why Do I “Do” Re-read Saturday. Re-read Saturday is a long-running column featured on my blog (tcagley.wordpress.com) and at tomcagley.com. The books selected for the column are nominated and then voted on by readers. Because most books are selected by the acclaim from readers of the blog, the re-read is sometimes actually the first read for me. During the re-read we read, discuss, and highlight concepts chapter by chapter.  There are three major reasons for t

Daniel Doiron's new book Seeing Money Clearly challenges Agile Centers of Excellence to view decision-making through the lens of Throughput Accounting.  Throughput Accounting is a lot of things: An accounting system,  A financial application,  A process of ongoing improvement (POOGI), and  First and foremost, the decision-making arm of the Theory of Constraints.  Daniel’s Bio “I am the only CPA in the world - negative assurance provided - to give a one-day Throughput Accounting class to a CPA chapter (Québec) within the scope of their mandatory Professional Development Program. A few CPA chapters in the world give diluted Throughput Accounting classes in a recorded format and ignore the Five Focusing Steps, thereby disqualifying them from the spirit of Throughput Accounting”, states Doiron.   “For Agile CoEs (Center of Excellence), I wrote the only Throughput Accounting book dealing exclusively with Knowledge Work. It has received rave reviews from the top minds in Throughput Accounting as I have brought nu

Definitions provide several benefits. The first is that once a definition for an object or concept is agreed upon, it is far easier to have a discussion without getting confused. A second and equally important benefit is that definitions provide a platform for establishing attributes that can be used to describe the object or idea. Attributes are critical because even with a definition we need to communicate and measure nuances. Just think if you only had one word to describe rain or hot; a lot would be lost. Today we identify four basic attributes of flow.  We will also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his “To Tell A Story” column to the podcast. In this installment, Tony and I talk about agile requirements. They really exist…really! Re-read Saturday  News This week we began our re-read of Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Adkins (SPaMCAST Amazon affiliate line https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3 buy a copy). I am re-reading my Kindle version of the book.  The front matter includes Forwards by Mike Cohn, Jim Highsmi

107 podcasts ago (just a little over two years ago) on SPAMCAST 601 I interviewed Brian Weaver of Torch.AI about leadership. Lots of things have happened since then, a pandemic, Europe in flames again and Torch.AI thriving.  It was great to touch base with Brian to talk about how his perspective as a leader has changed.  While not needed for this interview, I highly recommend listening to SPaMCAST 601 either before or after.   Brian serves as CEO of Torch.AI and has more than 20 years of experience leading mission-driven, high-growth, technology-focused companies. Torch.AI helps leading organizations leverage artificial intelligence in a unique way via a proprietary enterprise data management software solution. Today, Torch.AI supports clients like H&R Block with fraud detection and mitigation and the U.S. Department of Defense with machine learning-enabled background investigations for all federal employees, supporting the determination of an individual’s trustworthiness and security credentialing. Linke

In SPaMCAST 707 Susan Parente and I discuss the difference between leadership and management in her Not A Scrumdamentalist column. These two concepts are related but not the same.  The votes are in!  The next three books for Re-read Saturday are: Coaching Agile Teams by Lyssa Arkins https://amzn.to/38G0ZD3  Extraordinarily Badass Agile Coaching by Bob Galen https://amzn.to/3wJsbtS  Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais, and Ruth Malan https://amzn.to/3yXINzo  Re-read Saturday  News This week, we are revisiting (and re-editing) the conclusion of the first re-read to tide you over to the completion of Why Limit WIP.  I have been backpacking, glamping, and visiting my father for the past eight days. That in its own right would not have precluded completing our re-read, but I also forgot the power cord for my laptop.  Next week we will conclude our re-read of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work. Remember to buy a copy and read along.  Amazon Affiliate LInk:  https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5  Previous Entries

SPaMCAST 706 features a conversation with Tom Henricksen. Tom makes a strong case that ignoring soft skills will limit your ability to deliver real value. Tom says, "Humans Are Hard, Code Is Easy." Tom’s Bio: Tom Henricksen is a problem-solving technology professional. He has worked in various roles in technology for over twenty years. Tom has learned how to solve challenging issues in technology and lead technical teams. He can help you develop those skills too! URL: codeiseasy.co LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/tomhenricksen  Twitter: @tomhenricksen Re-read Saturday  News The bottom line to Chapter 10 of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work is simple (assuming you have been re-reading along): too much WIP interferes with learning. Without the time or inclination to experiment, the best scenario is learning by accident.  In Chapter 10, the author discusses how knowledge workers learn.   Remember to buy a copy and read along.  Amazon Affiliate LInk:  https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5  Previous Entries Week 1: Preface, Fore

In the SPaMCAST 705 we stay with the basics and define the term flow. I recently listened to a conversation where the term flow was used 30ish times in 30 minutes. Each use of the term meant something different. Today we draw a line in the sand to improve communication.  We also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault from the QA Corner.  Jeremy and I discussed the mistaken belief that Scrum Master and Coach can be translated to administrative assistant.  Re-read Saturday  News In Chapter 9 of   Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work, the author extols the virtues of transparency. The Kanban board provides a platform for everyone (I am not being hyperbolic) to understand how much work is in process. Remember to buy a copy and read along.  Amazon Affiliate LInk:  https://amzn.to/36Rq3p5  Previous Entries Week 1: Preface, Foreword, Introduction, and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3iDezbp Week 2: Processing and Memory – https://bit.ly/3qYR4yg  Week 3: Completion - https://bit.ly/3usMiLm Week 4: Multitasking - https://bit

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 704, we talk leadership with Stuart Leo Founder & CEO of Waymaker.io. One of the reasons I enjoy interviews is that I often stumble across great stories.  Stuart’s entrepreneurial origin story includes golf balls, icy Tasmanian lakes, and scuba divers -- I will remember this story until I die.  Stuart is a global thinker in strategy, systems, and leadership development. As the founder of Waymaker.io he has led the creation of Waymaker’s Leadership Curve - a revolutionary way of building clarity, alignment, and remarkable results for any organization. LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/stuartleo Company Website waymaker.io   Blog waymaker.io/blog-feed/   Twitter @stuartleo  Re-read Saturday  News This week’s chapter of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work opens with a quote from The Dalai Lama linking effective self-discipline with awareness of consequences. The chapter, titled Awareness, speaks to me of redemption. Awareness is a precursor to shedding helplessness and

In the Software Process and Measurement Cast 703, we wrestle with one of the basics of agile.  What is the power of making a commitment? Making and keeping commitments are core components of professional behavior. It is a promise to perform. Whether Agile or Waterfall, commitments are used to manage software projects. They are used to drive the behavior of teams. We also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.  Re-read Saturday  News Chapter 7 is one of my favorites in  Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work. One of the chronic problems I help teams deal with is the perceived need to start everything that comes to them, generating huge amounts of WIP. Many of the items sit in an on-hold status until something else happens. The iron-willed self-discipline of starting is great at creating on-hold items and crap at getting work done. There is a gap in understanding the impact of the consequences.  Remember to buy a copy and read along.  Amazon

In SPaMCAST 702, Matthew Stibbe and I talk about the impact of leadership when building a technology-driven business. Mathew shared stories about learning to type, how he has reinvented himself numerous times, and why he blogs at https://geekboss.com/.  Note: I have not edited out the parts of the interview just before I welcome Matthew to the podcast.  Mr. Stibbe told a couple of very endearing stories that help set the tone for the entire interview. He agreed to allow me to share them.   MATTHEW STIBBE is a serial entrepreneur, marketing maven, writer, pilot, and wine enthusiast. But not necessarily in that order.  He created marketing strategies, content, and campaigns for clients including Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn, and HP and contributed to Wired, Forbes, and Popular Science.  Currently, he is CEO at Articulate Marketing, a UK marketing agency specializing in the technology sector. Also, his geek credentials are strong. Previously, he was founder and CEO at Intelligent Games, a 70-person computer game

With SPaMCAST 701 we go back to basics. Whether you call that quick meeting to coordinate the day the Daily Scrum, Stand-up, or a huddle is not material. Daily coordination is phenomenally powerful and useful unless it isn’t.  Just making teams meet without benefit is a really bad idea.  What else can be done?   We also have a visit from Tony Timbol with another installment from his Tell A Story Column. In this installment, Tony discusses agile requirements. Getting work done in agile is not just user stories and a cloud of dust.    Re-read Saturday  News The chapter of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work this week is titled, Creating An Economy. In the past decade, certain words have become toxic. Words like process, waterfall, and output have become taboo in certain corners of software-related industries. Add the word productivity to the mix and many people would grab torches and pitchforks. The vilification of these words (or any words – it is sort of like burning books in my mind) makes it difficult to

SPaMCAST 700 features our interview with Slater Victoroff. Slater suggests that what we think of as AI today will be overtaken by human-machine partnerships. He uses the metaphor of a bionic arm. AI is the future and that future is not very far away. Slater Victoroff is the Founder and CTO of indico data solutions, an Enterprise AI solution for unstructured content with an emphasis on text and NLP. He has been building machine learning solutions for startups, governments, and Fortune 100 companies for the past 5 years and is a frequent speaker at AI conferences. linkedin.com/in/slatervictoroff slater.r.victoroff@gmail.com Twitter: @sl8rv Website: https://indicodata.ai/    Re-read Saturday  News The chapters of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work this week and last are interrelated.  Last week we focused on multitasking. For those with a short memory, human multitasking is in the same category as unicorns and shiny vampires: a fun concept but dangerous to believe in. This week we deal with context switching

This week we feature our interview with Eric Daimler, PhD. Eric and I discussed how AI can unlock the potential of humanity.   Dr. Eric Daimler is an authority in Artificial Intelligence with over 20 years of experience in the field as an entrepreneur, executive, investor, technologist, and policy advisor. Daimler has co-founded six technology companies that have done pioneering work in fields ranging from software systems to statistical arbitrage. Daimler is the author of the forthcoming book "The Coming Composability: The roadmap for using technology to solve society’s biggest problems." A frequent speaker, lecturer, and commentator, he works to empower communities and citizens to leverage AI for a more sustainable, secure, and prosperous future. As a Presidential Innovation Fellow during the Obama Administration, Daimler helped drive the agenda for U.S. leadership in research, commercialization, and public adoption of AI. He has also served as Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor of Software Engineering

This week Susan Parente and I had an extraordinary conversation about team leads in agile and leadership. In some cases, the role of a team leader is treated as if it were superfluous to requirements in other cases it is a tool to delegate work to people in an effort to subvert self-organization and when organizations get it right the role is a vehicle to unlocking the capabilities of teams. Contact Susan at parente.s3@gmail.com or on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/susanparente Re-read Saturday  News Week 3 of our re-read of Why Limit WIP: We Are Drowning In Work by Jim Benson talks about the thrill of getting things done. People with a lot of WIP look for more work, things they can grab and complete to feel good about themselves. I am as guilty as anyone else. Sometimes when items on my shortlist get stuck instead of breaking the items down into smaller chunks to progress the work I will grab a less valuable task and just do it so I can check something off.  Susan Parente, who you just heard from in one of her

This week we talked with Jardena London. We discussed her book Cultivating Transformations - A Leader's Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical. Being soulful sounds fluffy, but isn’t.  It is critical for delivering lasting change.  Jardena is a Business Transformation Consultant, Author, Keynote Speaker, and a Certified Facilitator of Dare to Lead; Brene Brown’s groundbreaking training program for organizations based on creating courageous workplaces. Jardena is also the Founder of Souls@Work.org which is focusing on leading a movement to create workplaces that nourish our souls and exude positive energy.  Her recent book, “Cultivating Transformations:  A Leader’s Guide to Connecting the Soulful and the Practical” has been described as “the book you buy and carry around with you everywhere.” Her most recent successes have been transforming a large legacy organization into a modern workplace with breakout results. She also speaks at corporate events and on stages worldwide on the positive effects o

We began the Re-Read Saturday feature in 2014 with a re-read of John Kotter’s classic Leading Change. The list of books we have re-read is quite long -- I am going to have to create a list. All that said, last week a person that regularly comments on the podcast indicated they really did not know what Re-Read Saturday was all about. So today to commemorate spring in the northern hemisphere (and the fact that it snowed) and the kick-off of the latest re-read (Why Limit WIP by Jim Benson) I am going to share an audio version of this week's entry.  As we always say, buy a copy of the book and read Jim Benson’s Why Limit WiP (buy a copy using our Amazon Affiliate link  https://amzn.to/3u6Feml get reading) along with us. The written version:  https://bit.ly/3iDezbp  This week we also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault, who brings his QA Corner to the podcast.  Jeremy and I explored the difference between relative and absolute time.  Upcoming Events: Free Webinar When Prioritization Goes Bad https://www.greatpro.or

This week we talk to Julianna Lamb, co-founder and CTO at Stytch about agile in start-ups, hybrid working, how to keep a product backlog under control, grow a business in the early 2020’s, and more.  Julianna is the Co-Founder and CTO of Stytch, a platform for user infrastructure and passwordless authentication. She was previously a software engineer at Strava and Plaid and an early product hire at Very Good Security.  Originally from Idaho, Julianna studied computer science and history at Stanford. A former professional figure skater, she started racing triathlons in college and is now an Ironman triathlete. Contact Data: Website: https://stytch.com/ Twitter: juliannaelamb LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliannaelamb   Re-Read Saturday News  Today we complete our re-read of Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick touching on the Conclusion, Further Resources, and our concluding notes.  Next week we will begin re-reading Jim Benson’s Why Limit WiP (buy a copy using our Amazon Affiliate link 

Organizational design often collides with getting work done; generating friction that causes all manner of problems. No one goes out of their way to make things difficult, however poor operating metaphors and one size fits all solutions are never optimal. There is a way for agile and team leaders to coexist, but can you take that path? Also this week, Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column make time for the cast. In this installment, we talk about time (including a few time-related puns). Re-Read Saturday News  The accountability conversation is the fifth and last conversation addressed in our re-read of  Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick. In Chapter 7 the authors define accountability as “being obligated to render an account of what you have done and why.” Next week we will cover the conclusions and some final thoughts. Then we will have a quick interlude re-reading Jim Benson’s Why Limit WiP while we run a poll to select the next books.      https://am

Today we speak with Prateek Joshi. Prateek and I talked about the definition of AI,  machine learning, and an approach to using AI in the real world.  AI is in your future and it won't be the Matrix or Skywarn (or will it).    Prateek Joshi is the founder of Plutoshift and a published author of 13 books on AI. He has been featured in publications such as Forbes, CNBC, TechCrunch, and Bloomberg. You can visit www.prateekj.com to learn more about him. Plutoshift: https://plutoshift.com/  Re-Read Saturday News  We had a bit of home repair this week and I did not get the Week 10 of our re-read of  Agile Conversations by Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick completed (thanks to Laurie and Todd for use of their condo).  We will be back next week. Buy a copy now! https://amzn.to/3vEjr55  Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - https://bit.ly/3EZspxT  Week 2: Escaping The Software Factory - https://bit.ly/3HIlivg  Week 3: Improving Your Conversations - https://bit.ly/3ty0nYe  Week 4: The Trust Conversation - https://bi