May 12, 2019
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SPaMCAST 546 features our interview with Michael Milutis. Michael and I talk about putting people back in charge of their careers. Michael provides advice that every listener can put to use immediately and in the long run.
Michael’s Bio:
Michael Milutis is an INFP and IT generalist committed to human capital development and continuous learning within a shifting technology landscape. (more…)
December 6, 2018
A life cycle is a series of floors!
Story mapping is a technique for visualizing and organizing a product backlog. Story maps are useful for identifying a minimum viable product, for planning releases, for finding holes in the features product management needs and even for finding extraneous functionality that finds its way into every grouping of work. Story maps are so useful that they often thought of as a silver bullet. However, they are not a tool for every scenario that a team (or team of teams) might find itself facing. All software products follow a fairly typical product lifecycle. Software products are created, enhanced and extended, maintained and then retired. While every piece of software follows this path, not every team participated in every stage of the life cycle. Story maps are not equally useful in each stage. (more…)
February 11, 2018
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SPaMCAST 481 will feature our essay on the Life Cycle of A User Story. A user story – a brief, simple requirement statement from the user’s perspective – tends to follow a loose life cycle. That life often begins even before the word ‘user story’ gets mentioned and typically by people that don’t understand (or care to understand) the concept of a user story. We zoom in from 40,000 ft down to user stories in 500 or so words!
Read other entries on user stories by following this link: https://tcagley.wordpress.com/?s=user+story
The second column this week is from Kim Pries, the Software Sensei, Kim discusses using the Extended Backus-Naur Form as a tool to extract information out of nebulous text.
Last but not least, Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the cast. In this entry, Jeremy discusses why QAs/testers should be given space to manage their own workflow. Jeremy has recently moved the QA Corner to https://qacorner.blog/
Re-Read Saturday News (more…)
May 30, 2017
No Uncertainty Here!
Uncertainty has a significant impact on both the business and engineering of software development (in all of its myriad forms). Wikipedia provides an operational definition of ‘uncertainty’ as, “a situation which involves imperfect and unknown information.” Defining and understanding uncertainty is important because it is a common condition across the entirety of the software development life cycle. The big BUT that follows the statement that uncertainty is common is that it is often unremarked or ignored, which are rarely useful responses. Recognizing the uncertainty in any scenario is useful in selling ideas, planning, motivation and in development. Over the course of the next several articles we will explore uncertainty across the life cycle; however, we begin with some of the sources of uncertainty and why it matters.
There are typically four macro sources of uncertainty: (more…)
February 26, 2017
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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 Transformation LLC.
Re-Read Saturday News
This week we tackle Chapter 5 in Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). In Chapter 5, Dweck uses examples from the business world to illustrate and elaborate on fixed and growth mindsets.
Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have “read” from the point of view of someone pursuing an organizational transformation and also how to use the material when coaching teams. (more…)
October 11, 2016
Efficiency a measure of how much wasted effort there is in a process or system. A high efficiency process has less waste. In mechanical terms the simplest definition of efficiency is the ratio of the amount of energy used compared to the amount of work done to create an output. When applied to IT projects, efficiency measures how staffing levels effect how much work can be done. The problem is that while a simple concept, it is difficult because it requires a systems-thinking view of software development processes. As a result it is difficult to measure directly. (more…)
July 7, 2016
Too big to fail?
Moral hazards occur when the potential outcome of taking a risk is disassociated from who will bear the cost of a risk. Moral hazard is often caused by information asymmetry; the risk taker has more information than the person or organization that will bear the cost of a risk. Even though we assume in many cases perfect information or harp on the need for communication, information asymmetry is a common occurrence. Too big to fail is a form of moral hazard in which the organization may take larger risks with the potential the larger returns because they know they will not be allowed to fail. (more…)
