SPaMCAST 497 – Micromanagement, Getting a Handle, Hybrid Agile Solutions

http://www.spamcast.net

Listen Now
Subscribe: Apple Podcast
Check out the podcast on Google Play Music

SPaMCAST 497 features our essay on micromanagement.  Micromanagement is a bane to employees that fall under a micromanager’s control. If you ask any manager if they think micromanagement is useful they will tell you no.  The problem is that many managers still do it and then rationalize the behavior.

We also welcome back Dr. Susan Parente, with her “Not a Scrumdamentalist” column.  In this installment, Susan discusses using hybrid agile methods to deliver value. The message is that the development approach needs to meld with the organization’s culture.

Gene Hughson brings the cast home with another entry from his Form Follows Function blog.  In this installment Gene discusses his essay, Getting a handle on IT costs by eliminating chargebacks?  IT costs are a chronic problem. Ideas for getting a handle on costs are always useful.

Re-Read Saturday News

In week twelve of the re-read of L. David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around!  (Buy your copy now).  This week we tackle Underway for San Diego and All Present and Accounted For.  Two more tools that are immediately useful.

Current Installment:

Week 12: Underway for San Diego and All Present and Accounted For – https://bit.ly/2J7AkRx

Advertisements

 

SPaMCAST 491- When Done Breaks Production, Personal Kanban, Real Software Quality

http://www.spamcast.net

Listen Now
Subscribe: Apple Podcast
Check out the podcast on Google Play Music

Software Process and Measurement Cast 491 features our essay titled, Can “Done” Be Allowed To Break Production?  The most succinct answer to the question is always no, the story is not done. The reason is that the story is not implementable, and unless the goal of the story is to blow up production and anger customers it can’t be considered to be done.

Susan Parente brings her Not a Scrumdamentalist column to the cast this week.  Susan discusses Kanban for You and Me.  The discussion focuses on personal Kanban and how to use it to guide your day to day activities effectively and efficiently.

Kim Pries, the Software Sensi, anchors the cast this week.  Kim’s essay is titled Real Software Quality.  In this column, Kim warns us of the dangers of interventionism on quality.

Re-Read Saturday News

In week six of the re-read of L. David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around! we tackle chapter 7, titled I Relieve You. I am breaking the two chapter pattern to layup so that we can have a clean start the second part of the book next week Chapter Seven completes Part One of the book.  Part one serves tells the story of how Captain Marquet came to be in command of the USSN Santa Fe rather than the Olympia. Much of Marquet’s leadership model was emergent (like design in agile). Change may occur even without a shock like Marquet’s reassignment, but adding energy will hasten change. In this case, the shock made the development of Marquet’s leadership model inevitable.

Current Installment:

Week 6: I Relieve You – https://bit.ly/2F7C5ag

Previous Installments:

 

The Definition of Done: Simplicity and Complexity Revisited

A Simple Life!

The Definition of Done is an important Agile technique to help teams plan and execute work.   The simplest definition of the Definition of Done is the criteria that a work product must meet to be considered to be complete. While the concept is simple, the implementation of the technique in the real world is rarely simple. Both context and interpretations make things just a bit gray!

 

SPaMCAST 487 – Don’t Shortcut Shu Ha Ri, Not A Scrumdamentalist, What Works

http://www.spamcast.net

Listen Now
Subscribe: Apple Podcast
Check out the podcast on Google Play Music

SPaMCAST opens with our essay, Don’t Shortcut Shu Ha Ri. Recently I have been thinking about just how rigorously practitioners need to follow processes, methods, and frameworks, and when it makes sense to tweak processes to fit the culture. Learn and practice first, then decide how to tweak agile, Scrum or any framework to your culture. The results will be better.

 

Life Cycle of A User Story: States

Some states are entrances!

User stories are a way of stating requirements.  Ron Jefferies coined the meme, the Three Cs to describe a user story.  The 3 Cs are:

1. card,
2. conversation, and
3. confirmation.

The idea of a card was to keep the user story short to avoid making the requirement overly complex and to avoid analysis paralysis. Because the card was a short statement of the user story, conversations are required to expose the nuances of the user story (note: nowhere does it say NOT to document your conversations. If someone tells you not to document your conversations, forget them!).  Finally, the third C, confirmation equates to testable statements that allow the team to know when the user story is satisfied. User stories might begin as nebulous statements, however, when groomed, a well-formed story provides strong guidance on the business need to be addressed.

User stories pass through four basic states.

 

SPaMCAST 454 – Iteration Planning, QA Leads, Trash or Treasure

http://www.spamcast.net

Listen Now
Subscribe on iTunes
Check out the podcast on Google Play Music

SPaMCAST 454 features three columns!  The first is our essay and checklists on iteration planning. Aristotle stated that “well begun is half done.”  While we might argue the half part, planning is required to be well begun and that is important on any measurement scale.

Jeremy Berriault delivers a new entry in the  QA Corner.  In this installment of the QA Corner, we discuss the function of a QA Lead. Check out Jeremy’s blog at the QA Corner!

Gene Hughson anchors the cast with his Form Follows Function blog to the SPaMCAST to discuss the entry,  Trash or Treasure – What’s Your Legacy? Gene begins with the contentious topic of legacy systems.

Re-Read Saturday News

We continue re-reading The Science of Successful Organizational Change.  Steven Adams is leading this re-read.  In this week’s entry, we cover the introduction to Part 2 and chapter 3.  Gibbon’s takes us down the path of strategy and uncertainty. Remember to buy your copy.   

This week and previous installments:

Week 1: Game Plan

Week 2: Introduction   

Week 3: Failed Change

Week 4:  Introduction to Part 1 and Fragility to Change-Agility

Week 5: Governance and the Psychology of Risk

 

A Call To Action

 

Iteration Planning Meeting Logistics: Simple Checklist

Logistics Are Part of All Meetings

Planning meetings are not terribly glamorous.  They are, however, an important first step in effectively delivering value for any sprint or increment.  I have developed a simple checklist for preparing for a planning meeting (we will explore a simple process in the near future).  Agile planning events couple the discipline of saying what will be done and then delivering on that promise with the need to embrace the dynamic nature of development and maintenance.