Software Process And Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 542 features our interview with Kevin Rush. Mr. Rush has developed an innovative approach to facilitate sprint/iteration planning.  Kittens, exploding kittens, and fat cats are used to help teams probe whether the team understands the story and if the story is broken down well enough for the team to reduce the risk of failure.  All change agents talk about making changes at the team level but many fail to change how they work, Kevin suggests that experimenting with different approaches is eating our dog food. Way too many pet metaphors, but a great discussion. Kevin’s Bio Kevin is a certified Scrum Master and Agility Enablement leader at Hyland Software. Before coming to Hyland he worked as an innovation consultant and coach with for-profit and nonprofit organizations throughout Northeast Ohio. A graduate from DeVry University he spent time as Technology Coordinator for several local school districts before transitioning to ministry then back to tech! When he's not working with teams and organization

In SPaMCAST 541 we discuss using guardrails in decision making. Guardrails are a tool to ensure alignment with the organization’s goals and objectives and to keep people on the right path. Well-formed guardrails conform to five attributes that help teams and individuals make decisions. Our second segment features Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column. Jon discusses reciprocal agreements and their impact of on teams and products. Re-Read Saturday News We continue our poll to decide on the next book in the Re-read Saturday Series. We will announce the next book on Saturday 13 April 2019.  Make your opinion known! What are you reading during our interregnum? Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 542 will feature our interview with Kevin Rush. Mr. Rush has developed an innovative approach for facilitating sprint planning.  Kittens, exploding kittens, and fat cats are used to help teams probe whether the team understands the story and if it is broken down well enough for the team.  Kevin is a Scrum

SPaMCAST 540 features our interview Mark Kilby and Johanna Rothman. Johanna, Mark, and I discussed their new book, From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams, Collaborate to Deliver (Buy your copy here: https://amzn.to/2Omur23). Distributed agile teams are a fact of life; Johanna and Mark provide an extraordinary amount of wisdom for making distributed teams exceptional.    Johanna’s Bio Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” provides frank advice for your tough problems. She helps leaders and teams see problems, resolve risks, and manage their product development. Johanna was the Agile 2009 conference chair and was the co-chair of the first edition of the Agile Practice Guide. Johanna is the author of 14 books that range from hiring, to project management, program management, project portfolio management, and management. Her most recent books are From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams (with Mark Kilby) and Create Your Successful Agile Project: Collaborate, Measure, Estimate, Deli

SPaMCAST 539 features our essay titled, Assessment and Continuous Process Improvement. Assessments and continuous process improvement are intertwined. Assessments being both a source of ideas and a tool to validate change and other experiments.  Other essays that have appeared on the SPaMCAST blog on agile assessments include: Assessment and Continuous Process Improvement - https://bit.ly/2UU8mdI Components Of A Solid Assessment Plan https://bit.ly/2YsHqnM Assessments: Being or DOing https://bit.ly/2HGOEiK An Assessment: A Mall Map For Change https://bit.ly/2TX8BbJ We will also have part 2 of Susan Parente’s discussions on distributed agile.  This week we will focus on tools. Susan reminds us that unless you spend time building trust and learning how to communicate, a tool won’t solve a communication problem. Re-Read Saturday News This week we conclude the re-read portion our tour through Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point by tackling both the conclusion and the afterword. The Tipping Point is a theory tha

SPaMCAST 538 features our interview with Ben Linders.  Ben and I talk about his new agile assessment game. Ben’s game and the book that supports the game provide teams and individuals with a tool for introspection and process improvement.  This is not Ben’s first visit to the podcast. Ben’s last visit was in November 2017 (SPaMCAST 470) to discuss what drives quality in software development. Ben Linders is an Independent Consultant in Agile, Lean, Quality, and Continuous Improvement, based in The Netherlands. Author of Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives, Waardevolle Agile Retrospectives, What Drives Quality and Continuous Improvement. Ben is the creator of the Agile Self-assessment Game. The book supporting the Self-assessment Game can be found at https://www.benlinders.com/the-agile-self-assessment-game/  As an adviser, coach, and trainer he helps organizations with deploying effective software development and management practices. He focuses on continuous improvement, collaboration and communicatio

SPaMCAST 537 features our essay on the use of assessments for agile efforts.  Assessments come under a wide variety of names: appraisals, health checks, audits or even assessments. These terms are commonly conflated.  Assessments are a tool to prove a point. The essay in the cast explores the myriad types and reasons for assessments. Rounding out the cast is the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim tackles physical security, including the wall (no politics included)! Re-Read Saturday News We continue our re-read of The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. Chapter Seven of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point is a case study.  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 538 features the return of Ben Linders.  Ben and I talk about his new agile assessment game.  Fitting based on this week’s essay!

SPaMCAST 536 features our interview with Dave Sohmer. Dave is an executive that has led two separate major agile transformations.  Mr. Sohmer provides an executive's perspective on the impact of adopting agile in two major financial institutions. The two very different companies took to two very different approaches to agile. Bio: Dave Sohmer is a technology and operations executive with over 25 years of experience.  He has spent many years in the code but has come to enjoy the people and process side of software almost as much.  Dave has built and led many development teams at scale at Northern Trust and Bank of America Merrill Lynch over the last 20 years. Over that time he has come to believe in the power of the team as the fundamental unit that unlocks business agility.  He has championed two large scale Lean Scrum transformations within the financial services sector and has come to appreciate that a healthy mix of Lean principles, Agile values, Scrum by the book, XP practices and common sense will radica

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 -