Troubleshooting Agile

Today we speak to author, podcaster, and DevOps expert John Willis https://twitter.com/botchagalupe . John covers a wide variety of topics at lightning speed, including: SHA - a hash algorithm, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHA-1 CAB - Change Advisory Board, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change-advisory_board Jim Benson on Kanban - http://personalkanban.com/pk/about-us/team/jim-benson/ Andreesen on “software eating the world” - https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world/ Knight Capital disaster - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knight_Capital_Group#2012_stock_trading_disruption CAMS - https://medium.com/@brunodelb/the-cams-model-to-better-understand-the-devops-movement-ffe6713c3fd7 Deming 14 points - https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newSTR_75.htm Peter Senge 5th Discipline - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fifth_Discipline Equifax breach - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-49070596 Air France 447 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_France_Flight_447 Sidney Dekker

Listener Jamie let us know about a sequel to one of our favourite blog posts, John Cutler on the Feature Factory. We focus on just one of John's well-made points, the idea of lowering Work In Progress to improve throughput. We tell a story about on "death by spreadsheet" project management and the futile and counterproductive attempt to get utilisation to 100%. This brings us back to lean methods, kanban, and the Theory of Constraints. SHOW LINKS: - 12 Signs You're Working in a Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Feature Factory 3 Years Later: https://amplitude.com/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory-3-years-later - Kanban book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kanban-Successful-Evolutionary-Technology-Business/dp/0984521402 - The Goal: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0566086654 - Slack (the book not the software!): https://www.amazon.com/Slack-Getting-Burnout-Busywork-Efficiency/dp/0767907698 *** Our new book, Agile

Our new book is all about what people miss in their digital/agile/lean/devops transformations: cultural changes that underlie human-centred development and the conversations that can lead you to those changes. Inspired by the book Accelerate!, we look at Westrum's Three Cultures and reflect on how the culture you're in affects how you transform to the culture you want. SHOW LINKS: - Accelerate!: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Accelerate-Software-Performing-Technology-Organizations/dp/1942788339 - Westrum on Three Cultures: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1765804/pdf/v013p0ii22.pdf - Gale, Digital Helix: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Helix-Transform-Aspect-Organization/dp/1626344647 - Edmondson, Teaming: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Teaming-Organizations-Innovate-Compete-Knowledge/dp/078797093X/ref=sr_1_1 - Previous episode on the 4 Rs: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/learning-through-case-studies-the-4-rs *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itr

Alistair Cockburn gets us thinking about how agile methods are spreading, even to non-software teams like sales. Further, we bring in the idea of Wardley Mapping to see how, ironically, this very spread can lead to the conclusion that agile development is headed for the dustbin, but conclude (phew!) that agile methods have a healthy future. Apologies for a minor audio problem about 12 minutes in. SHOW LINKS: - Alistair Cockburn says Agile isn't dead: https://heartofagile.com/agile-is-not-dead-quite-the-opposite/ - Moore, Crossing the Chasm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossing_the_Chasm - Sheridan, Joy, Inc.: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Joy-Inc-Built-Workplace-People/dp/1591847125 - Wardley Maps: https://www.slideshare.net/swardley/an-introduction-to-wardley-maps - Previous episode on Agile beyond software: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/agile-outside-software-teams - Heresy.io: https://heresy.io/ *** Our new book, Agile Conversations, will be out in May 2020! See https://itrevolution.c

Following on further from Avery Pennarun's intriguing article on "what executives do", we ask how, exactly, executives (and others!) can trigger action, if they are not themselves going to carry it out? It turns out we've covered our favourite technique for this before - Bungay's Briefing and Back Briefing - but this time we have a scoring checklist that can help you use the technique, and two new stories about successful and unsuccessful delegation. SHOW LINKS: - What do executives do, anyway? by Pennarun: https://apenwarr.ca/log/20190926 and Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21088425 - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Previous episode on Bungay: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/briefing-and-back-briefing *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and su

We respond to an intriguing and dense article from Avery Pennarun about what executives do. He takes us back to Andy Grove’s classic High Output Management and we reflect on the leverage leaders can use, how they and their staff can fool themselves into thinking they have the right information, and a mindset exercise to help you find “unknown unknowns”. SHOW LINKS: - What do executives do, anyway? by Pennarun: https://apenwarr.ca/log/20190926 and Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21088425 - Andy Grove, High Output Management: https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884 - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink - Argyris, Organizational Traps: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8633384-organizational-traps - Unknown Unknowns, Rumsfeld: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/There_are_known_knowns *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twit

We conclude our conversation with Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp and author of Shape Up, by asking him how the team functions without requiring code reviews or QA checks. Then he goes on to describe in detail their "hill" metaphor for progress measurement and why this method provides a useful narrative that goes way beyond sprint duration or story points. SHOW LINKS: - Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup/?ref=df - Daring Fireball intro to Shape Up: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up - Extreme Programming Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Petition the King: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/petitiontheking/ - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShoot

We continue chatting with Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp and author of Shape Up. Ryan explains the "shaping" and "betting" processes in more detail, including who does the various roles and what is crucial to get right when you set up a design-and-build system like the one they advocate. SHOW LINKS: - Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup/?ref=df - Daring Fireball intro to Shape Up: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up - Extreme Programming Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Petition the King: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/petitiontheking/ - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just

We start our conversation with Ryan Singer, Head of Strategy at Basecamp, by asking him to help us understand how their Shape Up process works and how they developed it. He explains how the fear of not shipping drove their movement to frequent delivery of carefully designed (or "shaped") features, why their teams avoid single-page apps to ensure designers can make the maximum contribution, and why they have neither front-end devs nor back-end specialists. SHOW LINKS: - Shape Up: https://basecamp.com/shapeup/?ref=df - Daring Fireball intro to Shape Up: https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up - Extreme Programming Explained: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Extreme-Programming-Explained-Embrace-Change/dp/0321278658 - Feature Factory: https://cutle.fish/blog/12-signs-youre-working-in-a-feature-factory - Petition the King: https://ronjeffries.com/xprog/articles/petitiontheking/ - Art of Action: http://www.stephenbungay.com/Books.ink *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have ab

Squirrel adds to last week's story, describing how being transparent and curious helped him uncover a conflict that helped lead to insight and better alternatives. SHOW LINKS: - The HiPPO effect: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2017/10/26/data-driven-decision-making-beware-of-the-hippo-effect/ - The Uncanny Valley of a Functional Organization: https://stratechery.com/2013/the-uncanny-valley-of-a-functional-organization/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2

Squirrel tells a story in which digging for emotional signals helps a technical team find alternatives to an arbitrary-looking initiative. Jeffrey explains how nonviolent communication provides a framework for seeking emotional understanding first. SHOW LINKS: - Nonviolent communication: https://www.cnvc.org - Feelings inventory: https://www.cnvc.org/training/resource/feelings-inventory - Kano model: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/2013/07/using-the-kano-model-to-prioritize-product-development/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2

We saw last week how inflexible implementation killed checklists at hospitals - and the same disease affects agile development, we've found. Do you think there's a single "recipe" for agile, like our friends at Basecamp who claim they're not agile because they don't use post-its, backlogs, or standups? If so, we think you're missing some important opportunities for building internal commitment and improving your practise. SHOW LINKS: - Hospital checklists fail: https://www.nature.com/news/hospital-checklists-are-meant-to-save-lives-so-why-do-they-often-fail-1.18057 - Fix XP: http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/fixit.html - Anand's comment on Agile as chocolate-chip cookie: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/activity:6432900799365419008/ - Basecamp ShapeUp: DaringFireball https://daringfireball.net/linked/2019/08/04/shape-up and announcement https://basecamp.com/shapeup - Heart of Agile: https://heartofagile.com/ *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Emai

Troubleshooting Checklists Checklists are a great way to capture learning in any organisation, but sometimes they don't work - why not? A recent study of hospitals with varying levels of success in adopting checklists helps us reflect on similar adoption challenges for agile methods. SHOW LINKS: - Checklist article from Nature: https://www.nature.com/news/hospital-checklists-are-meant-to-save-lives-so-why-do-they-often-fail-1.18057 - Agile principle 12 on reflection and improvement: https://www.agilealliance.org/agile101/12-principles-behind-the-agile-manifesto/ - Atul Gawande's The Checklist Manifesto: http://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/ - Ignaz Semmelweis, promoter of hand-washing: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll fi

Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/

Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/

Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/

Our first interview ever! We welcome to the studio Chris Clearfield, co-author of Meltdown, a book all about system failure and the reasons for it. Chris explains ideas like tight coupling (not the OO kind!) and system complexity, and we explore how they apply to technical debt and bug prioritisation. We get to hear some of the best stories from the book as well, including the hedge fund that lost £500m in 45 minutes, and we learn about failcake and pre-mortem analysis. GUEST LINKS: - Chris's site: https://www.chrisclearfield.com - Chris's twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisClearfield - Book site: http://meltdownbook.net - Take the quiz: http://quiz.rethinkrisk.net/quiz/ - Book video preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Wi8KA4I34s&feature=youtu.be SHOW LINKS: - Psychohistory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychohistory_(fictional) - Normal Accidents: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_Accidents - John Allspaw: https://www.kitchensoap.com/about-me/ - Just Culture book: https://sidneydekker.com/

This week, Jeffrey and Squirrel discuss the history of “software for humans”, the agile, lean, and devops movements. No links this week as the book deadline looms, but feel free to ask us if you can’t find a reference. Normal service will resume shortly! *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2

A listener question about running a Troubleshooting Agile study group inspires advice on keeping your learning from becoming lunchtime entertainment, as well as surprisingly relevant stories about a pottery class, a management seminar, and the Israeli military. SHOW LINKS: - Joel's tweet requesting advice on his study group: https://twitter.com/joelchippindale/status/1143137854278840321 - Our series on the twelve agile principles: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile/the-importance-of-the-agile-principles - Pottery story from Art & Fear: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0961454733/ via https://stratechery.com/2015/buzzfeed-important-news-organization-world/ - Joel Spolsky on Fire and Motion: https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/ - Reg Revans on action and learning: http://actionlearning.academy/benefits.html *** We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas, or feedback you have about the show. Email us: see link on troubleshootingagile.com Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingA

The engineers know the project is in terrible trouble, but the executives think it's going great. This "greenshifting" anti-pattern occurs at NASA, software companies, and everywhere in between. We tell a few related stories, including a fable, and suggest methods that might work to counteract the greenshifting tendency in your organisation. SHOW LINKS: - "The Mushroom Song" by Steve Savitsky: http://steve.savitzky.net/Songs/mushroom/ - The SNAFU Principle (communication fable) from the Jargon File: http://skeptictank.org/files//cowtext/jargn10.htm - Appendix F on the Challenger disaster, by Richard Feynman: https://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/51-l/docs/rogers-commission/Appendix-F.txt - Scott Ambler on Greenshifting: https://www.drdobbs.com/dr-dobbs-agile-newsletter/191600661 - Alistair Cockburn on information radiators: http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=24486&ranMID=24808 - Brian Marick on lava lamps as build status indicators: https://gist.github.com/marick/3ec112bc38b2af267e1