Software Process And Measurement Cast

The next Software Process and Measurement Cast features our interview with Brad Clark.  Brad and I talked about cost estimation, estimation in government and COCOMO II and what is on the way in COCOMO III. Even if you are firmly in the #NoEstimates camp this interview will give you ideas to think about! Brad’s Bio Dr. Brad Clark is Vice-President of Software Metrics Inc. – a Virginia-based consulting company. His area of expertise is in software cost and schedule data collection, analysis and modeling. He also works with clients to set up their own estimation capability for use in planning and managing. He has also helped clients with software cost and schedule feasibility analysis and cost estimation training. Dr. Clark received his Master’s in Software Engineering in 1995 and Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1997 from the University of Southern California. He is a co-author of the most widely used Software Cost Estimation model in the world, COCOMO II. This model estimates the effort and duration required to co

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 442 features our essay on capability teams. The use of teams to deliver business value is at the core of most business models.  Capability teams are a tool to unlock the value delivery engine of teams. Gene Hughson brings his Form Follows Function Blog to the cast this week to discuss his recent blog entry titled, Systems of Social Systems and the Software Systems They Create. We live in a complex world and just focusing on social systems or software systems misses the point! Our third column is from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  The entry this week is titled, Software Quality and the Art of Skateboard Maintenance. This entry is an homage to Robert M. Pirsig the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, who recently died. Re-Read Saturday News And welcome back!  For those who are interested, The Frederick Half Marathon last weekend was great.  I met my goals: I crossed the finish line, collected my medal and got to hang out with my family in Frederick.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 441 features our interview with John Le Drew.  John and I discussed the concept of safety at work, and how safety, or the lack of it, affects the effectiveness of software teams. John’s bio . . . In almost 2 decades working in software engineering, John Le Drew has worked as a software engineer, team lead, project manager, product owner, trainer, agile coach, and consultant. Working with clients ranging from small start-ups to multinationals. Through Wise Noodles he has helped organizations solve tough technical problems by untangling their people problems. John hosts The Agile Path Podcast; producing in-depth audio documentaries on the topics that most affect organizations transitioning to agile ways of working. The manifesto for agile software development and the principles behind it is central to how John approaches software and value development. Working with organizations to help them learn to apply the principles has become a passion. There is nothing more excit

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 440 features our essay on two storytelling techniques: premortems and business obituaries.  Almost all work that takes more than a few days is subject to risks that are not immediately obvious without some form of structured process to focus the team's thought process. Teams often use storytelling techniques to generate a big picture/vision to guide a project or to help people frame their thoughts. A story provides a deeper and more nuanced connection between the team and information than most lists of PowerPoint bullets or a structured requirements documents. The same storytelling skill can be used as a risk management tool. Premortums and business obituaries are structured techniques for using storytelling for risk management. Our second column is from Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy discusses the importance of conferences for learning new ideas and for networking.  Jeremy suggests that if you are have not learned new ways to test and you are testing the same way you were

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 439 features Alex Yakyma.  Our discussion focused on the industry's broken mindset that prevents it from being Lean and Agile.  A powerful and a possibly controversial interview. Alex’s Bio Alex Yakyma brings unique, extensive, and field-based experience to the topic of implementing Lean and Agile at scale. Throughout his career, he has served as an engineering and program manager in multi-cultural, highly-distributed environments. As a methodologist, trainer and consultant, he has led numerous rollouts of Lean and Agile at scale, involving teams in North America, Europe and Asia, and has trained over a thousand coaches and change agents whose key role is to help their organizations achieve higher productivity and quality through the adoption of scalable, agile methods. Alex is a founder of Org Mindset (http://orgmindset.com), a company whose mission is to help enterprises grow Lean-Agile mentality and build organizational habits in support of exploration and fast del

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 438 features our essay on leveraging sizing in testing. Size can be a useful tool for budgeting and planning both at the portfolio level and the team level. Gene Hughson brings his Form Follows Function Blog to the cast this week to discuss his recent blog entry titled, Organizations as Systems and Innovation. One of the highlights of the conversation is whether emergence is a primary factor driving change in a complex system. Our third column is from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim discusses why blindly accepting canned solutions does not negate the need for active troubleshooting of for problems in software development. Re-Read Saturday News This week, we tackle chapter 1 of Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World by Brian J. Robertson published by Henry Holt and Company in 2015. Chapter 1 is titled, Evolving Organization.  Holacracy is an approach to address shortcomings that have appeared as organizations evolve. Holacracy is not

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 437 features a discussion of our recent re-read of  The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass, Copyright 2002, 33rd printing) with Steven Adams.  Steve has participated on nearly all of the re-reads, providing his unique wisdom.  It was a great talk that helped me understand why the book has (and continues to have) such a large impact on how I view Agile and software development. Steve also has some advice on how to get the most out of the re-read feature. Steve lives in the San Francisco Bay Area (a.k.a, Silicon Valley) where he has a successful career in software development.  Steve has worked for Hewlett Packard, Access Systems Inc, Trilliant Inc., and Sony Mobile Communications; plus has consulted at Cisco Systems.  Steve has a computer science degree from California State University at Chico, learned software project management at Hewlett-Packard and, in 2009, started his Agile journey with Sony Ericsson.  Steve enjoys listening to technic

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 436 features our essay titled, Change Fatigue, Tunnel Vision, and Watts Humphrey, in which we answer the question of whether the state and culture of the organization or team, can have a large impact on whether a Big Bang approach or an incremental approach makes sense to change. Our second column is from Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy discusses user acceptance testing and Agile. There are lots of different ways to accomplish user acceptance testing in an Agile environment.  The only wrong way is not to do UAT in Agile.  Jeremy  blogs at https://jberria.wordpress.com/   Jon M Quigley brings his column, The Alpha and Omega of Product Development, to the Cast. This week Jon puts all the pieces together and discusses systems thinking.  One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transformation LLC. Re-Read Saturday News This week we wrap-up our re-read of Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along).  In the wrap-up, we discuss overa

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 435 features our interview with Allan Kelly.  Our discussion touched on the concepts behind #NoProjects.  Allan describes how the concept of a project leads to a number of unintended consequences.  Those consequences aren’t pretty. Allan makes digital development teams more effective and improves delivery with continuous agile approaches to reduce delay and risk while increasing value delivered. He helps teams and smaller companies - including start-ups and scale-ups - with advice, coaching and training. Managers, product and technical staff are all involved in his improvements. He is the originator of Retrospective Dialogue Sheets and Value Poker, the author of four books, including "Xanpan - team-centric Agile Software Development" and "Business Patterns for Software Developers". On Twitter he is @allankellynet. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 8 of Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along).  Chapter 8, tit

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 434 features our essay on Change Implementations - To Big Bang or Not To Big Bang? The knee jerk reaction amongst transformation leaders is usually a loud NO! However, the answer is not nearly that cut and dry.  Big Bang approaches to change have a place in bag of tricks every transformation leader has at their fingertips. The second column this week is from Steve Tendon. Steve Tendon brings another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here) to the cast.  In this installment, we talk about Chapter 16, The (Super)-Human Side of Flow. In Chapter 16 Steve and Wolfram go into detail on in Kotter’s attributes of flow state.  A good discussion and a good read. Our third column is from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim discusses Fermi Problems. Fermi problems or questions are a tool to teach approximation and estimation.  These problems usu

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 433 features our interview with Jeff Dalton discussing holacracy.  Holocracy.org defines holacracy as, “a complete, packaged system for self-management in organizations. Holacracy replaces the traditional management hierarchy with a new peer-to-peer “operating system” that increases transparency, accountability, and organizational agility.” Jeff has implemented holacracy in his own firm and others and has a lot to share about this exciting form of management and leadership. Jeff Dalton is President of Broadsword, a Process Innovation firm, and Chief Evangelist at AgileCxO.org, an Agile Leadership Research and Development center that develops models for high-performing agile teams.  Jeff is principle author of “A Guide to Scrum and CMMI,” published by the CMMI Institute, and is a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser and Certified Agile Leadership Consultant that specializes in software product development, self-organizing teams, and performance modeling.  His upcoming book, the “Agil

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 432 begins with an essay on the impact of leadership types on adopting and sustaining Agile.  Leadership style has a direct impact on an organization’s ability to adopt and sustain Agile.  Some leadership styles are more supportive, while others evoke more of a response that is epitomized by locking feral cats and dogs in a room (nobody wins). Next up, Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the cast to discuss surprises in QA testing.  Visit Jeremy's blog at https://jberria.wordpress.com/  Next we will have a column from The Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim discusses the holy trinity of forethought, execution and follow through. Reach out to Kim on LinkedIn. Last, but not least, Jon M Quigley brings his column, the Alpha and Omega of Product Development, to the Cast. In this segment, Jon discusses on-boarding. On-boarding new people is critical even if the person is just joining from another team down the hall.  One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transfo

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 431 features our interview with  Andrew Neitlich on leadership.  We discussed whether leadership can be learned and if tech leadership is different than other kinds of leadership.  Leadership is a core requirement for making all teams, Agile or not, effective! Andrew’s bio: Andrew Neitlich is the founder and director of the Center for Executive Coaching (http://centerforexecutivecoaching.com), a leader in training and certifying executive and leadership coaches. He also leads his own executive coaching practice, with an emphasis on working technical leaders that sometimes get frustrated with engaging their teams and having more impact when they communicate. Andrew is the author of Coach!, Elegant Leadership, and Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and lives in Sarasota, Florida. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 4 in Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 430  features an essay on product owners.  The product owner role is nuanced, always complicated and sometimes hard.  The essay will help you sort things out.   Steve Tendon brings another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here) to the cast.  In this installment we talk about Chapter 15, Understanding the Impact of a Constraint.  In our discussion Steve schooled me a bit on constraints. Gene Hughson brings his  Form Follows Function Blog (the same Gene, that Ryan Ripley called out on last week’s cast) to the cast this week to discuss the third in his series on leadership.  This week we discussed the antipattern Gene calls The Thinker.  Might sound good, but it isn’t. Have you checked out Agile for Humans? If not please do.  If you are an Agile for Humans listener visiting the Software Process and Measurement Cast for the first time,

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 429 is a  special event. Ryan Ripley (who appeared on SPaMCAST 404 and is the host of the Agile for Humans Podcast) and the I recently connected virtually to discuss the role and impact of certifications on the Agile movement.  Certifications are an important gating tool in the job market and may provide evidence that people are keeping up to date with changes in the industry.  Or certifications could represent the calcifying of boundaries that make the adage ‘inspect and adapt’ a thing of the past.  We discuss!  We are going to release the audio on both our podcasts serially, the SPaMCAST today and then Agile for Humans on the 13th!   Make sure both Agile for Humans and the Software Process and Measurement Cast are part of your weekly rituals!   Mr. Ryan Ripley has worked on agile teams for the past 10 years in development, scrum master and management roles. He’s worked at various Fortune 1000 companies in the medical device, wholesale, and financial services industr

One my favorite serial interviewees, Dr. Mark Bojeun, returns to the Software Process and Measurement Cast for a third time (we may need to get him a permanent seat at the table soon).  Mark and I discussed the role and impact of project and product visions on the ability to effectively deliver value.  The vision is an important directional statement that can’t be left to chance!    Mark has last visited the Software Process and Measurement Cast on SPaMCAST 388 to discuss PMOs as a strategic tool and before then on the  SPaMCAST 280 to discuss  his book, Program Management Leadership: Creating Successful Team Dynamics (Kindle version). Mark’s Bio: Dr. Bojeun has more than 20 years of experience in providing strategic management and leadership through portfolio, project and program management. His experience includes developing and managing multi-million dollar portfolios, programs, and projects, facilitating the achievement of strategic objectives, and creating best practice processes for program and project

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 427 begins with an essay on the Post-Agile Age, titled Onward to Post-Agile Age.  The Post-Agile Age is coming and it is a bed that human nature and commercial pressures have created. Next Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the Cast to discuss how he views the role of product owner in Agile testing . Visit Jermey’s new blog at https://jberria.wordpress.com/ The Software Sensei, Kim Pries, discusses requirements and weird tools like the Z notation.  Reach out to Kim on LinkedIn. Jon M Quigley, brings his column, the Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the cast.  In this installment, Jon concludes a three part series on configuration management.  This week Jon puts all of the pieces together. One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transformation LLC. Re-Read Saturday News This week we start to get into the nitty gritty of our re-read of Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. This week we discuss Chapter one and then explore some the a

SPaMCAST 426 marks a milestone!  SPaMCAST 426 is the end of Year 10.  The Cast features our second annual roundtable.  Almost all of the SPaMCAST contributors gathered virtually to discuss a number of topics, including: Is software quality really one of the most important focuses in IT in 2017? Even though people are adopting agile, is agile a principle-driven movement over? In 2017 will security trump quality and productivity? The multiway discussion was exciting and informative! This was a great way to finish year 10 and get the motor primed for year 11! Re-Read Saturday News This week we begin the re-read of Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. We will start slowly as I read ahead and give you time to find or buy a copy of the book.   I am reading the 2008 Ballantine Books Trade paperback edition version of the book (I had to re-buy the book as my first copy seems to have a new home).   I was excited that the Software Process and Measurement Blog readers selected Mindset for Re-read Sat

Happy New Year!   SPaMCAST 425 features our annual tune-up ideas. We need to strive to be more effective and efficient every day or the world will pass us by!  These are suggestions that have worked for me and might be useful for you. We will also have columns from Steve Tendon with another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here).  Steve and I talked about Chapter 14 which covers kanban, flow, and throughput.   Anchoring the cast is Gene Hughson’s Form Follows Function Blog with an entry in his theme of leadership patterns and anti-patterns.  This week we talk about The Great Pretender. Remember that Penny Pullan in SPaMCAST 424 offered listeners a great offer!  Penny provided a coupon for her new book  Virtual Leadership for 20% off.  Use the code  VLF20 at www.koganpage.com, which includes post and packing in the UK and the USA. Re-Read Saturday News In this week’s re-rea

Happy New Year!   SPaMCAST 424 features our interview with Penny Pullin.  Penny returns to the SPaMCAST to discuss her new book Virtual Leadership: Practical Strategies for Getting the Best Out of Virtual Work and Virtual Teams.  Virtual teams and therefore the need for virtual leadership is a critical success factor for delivering value in the 21st Century. Penny’s Bio: Dr. Penny Pullan's latest book is Virtual Leadership: Practical strategies for getting the most out of virtual teams and virtual work. Writing it involved immersing herself in the virtual world and listening to countless stories of success and, all too often, disaster! Penny works with people in multinational organizations who are grappling with tricky projects: uncertain, with ambiguous requirements, stakeholders who need to be engaged and teams dispersed around the world. When they work with Penny, clients notice that communication, collaboration, and confidence grow and projects don’t seem quite as tricky as before! Penny is a Director of