AgileFlow

Recent Change Note: from The Impact of Object Orientation on Application Development 1993... (read more) by Alistair Cockburn

I never refer to the daily scrum (or daily standup) meeting as a “status meeting.” The term “status meeting” is too pejorative for most of us. For me it conjures images of sitting around a table with each person giving an update to a project manager while everyone else feigns interest while either mentally preparing for their own upcoming update or wondering how much longer the meeting will last. I prefer to think of the daily scrum as a synchronization meeting. Team memb... (read more) by Mike Cohn

Nothing happening here. Check out Agile Anarchy—the tumblelog edition. ... (read more) by Tobias

I’ve never been a micro-manager, especially not since using agile and Scrum. I could have turned into a micro-manager early in career, except I’ve always been too busy to spend my time checking up on people. But, while I’ve avoiding checking up on teams or people, I’ve never been reluctant to check in with them. I was recently reminded of this by reading an article about the importance of small wins. While checking up and checking in may seem similar, there are four key t... (read more) by Mike Cohn

The other day at the lab I was going about my 'morning constitutional' in the little boys room when I noticed the end of the toilet paper had been folded into a point. You know, just like in hotel room bathrooms. I realized I had a big smile on my face. This simple act by the office cleaner apparently made me happy. I think the fact it surprised me - I so wasn't expecting it - had an amplifying affect on my delight.... (read more) by Simon Baker

27 Mar 2012 James Shore/Blog/Lets-Play The source code for this episode is available here. Visit the Let's Play archive for more episodes!Many thanks to Danny Jones for figuring out the HD Youtube embed code. Comments ... (read more)

If we hear about Scrum and want to convince some managers to do it, how should we present the benefits of this approach?The 2011 Agile Survey by Version One gives some ideas.  See it here:http://agileconsortium.pbworks.com/w/page/51511217/2011%20State%20of%20Agile%20SurveyTypically the biggest idea is: faster time to market.  And this is very powerful idea.But it is an idea that is hard to measure for many firms. Or perhaps better to say that the firms, in my experience, do not discuss what t... (read more) by Joe

In 1970, Dr. Winston Royce wrote the paper on Waterfall.  And defined it.Here is the paper: http://agileconsortium.pbworks.com/w/page/52184647/Royce%20Defining%20WaterfallHe identified 5 things that must be added to reduce most of the risks of doing waterfall.  And I will comment on how Scrum addresses these.1. Program Design Comes First Well, I think he may have been mostly right then.  But I would rather say that ‘solution design’ comes first. Meaning that we most truly try to... (read more) by Joe

Something common I’ve seen in effective agile teams is that testing has found a new home at the heart of development. I’m not referring to developers doing test-driven development to create code that is simpler in design and has testability engineered into it. I’m referring to testers working among developers doing continuous exploratory testing on vertical slices of stories still in progress. ... (read more) by Simon Baker

I have recently been asked for advice on how to compare Waterfall (WF) and Scrum.  This is a hard question in some ways: the best way to compare will depend on the person you are talking to.  Another problem is that few people do ‘pure’ waterfall in actual practice. And the variations of Waterfall are many.Still here are some thoughts that occur to me.  We think these statements often need explanation, but they can be useful as a start for a discussion, eg, ‘should we move f... (read more) by Joe

We’re designing a session about governance in an agile world that will explore a contrarian view of what agile governance can be. It’s called: Governance – Friend or Foe? Basically…... (read more) by Simon Baker

There can be many reasons organizations struggle with their agile adoptions, but often it is because they’re clinging to the idea that only a select few people can be trusted to do the real thinking.  Design decisions are left in the hands of the leads or senior engineers, and so are the estimates. Tasks are then doled out as piecework to the “team resources” (who were recently drafted from the resource pool). Problems that arise are funneled to a leader, who evaluates them a... (read more) by Lee Cunningham

It is around one month since I arrived in India with the intention of settling down with my family, and also for doing Agile & Scrum work in India. We have settled down in Bangalore.It has been an eventful one month, with the Agile India 2012 conference, visiting my Mom with Thumbi ( our 7-month-old ) & Rahmi ( my wife ), Thumbi falling ill and recovering from severe cough, and so on. We also made some good business connections in Bangalore and also in Trivandrum ( my hometown ). Most im... (read more) by Bachan Anand

22 Mar 2012 James Shore/Blog/Lets-Play The source code for this episode is available here. Visit the Let's Play archive for more episodes!Many thanks to Danny Jones for figuring out the HD Youtube embed code. Comments ... (read more)

20 Mar 2012 James Shore/Blog/Lets-Play The source code for this episode is available here. Visit the Let's Play archive for more episodes!Many thanks to Danny Jones for figuring out the HD Youtube embed code. Comments ... (read more)

I was leading an Intermediate CSPO course last week in Winston-Salem.  Some good questions. One theme was about the agile transformation.The idea is simple, and has many names.  One way to say it: Only be transforming the culture and many of the current ‘ways of doing things’ can a firm realize the fuller value of lean-agile-scrum.So, a couple of related sayings:“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”“Once you implement Scrum, everything must change.”But befo... (read more) by Joe

In Part 1 of “Learning Your Agile Scales” I why it’s important to learn and practice your scales in agile development. Here we will cover three forms of scales you should make part of your basic language: Test Driven-Development, Object Oriented principles (SOLID) and Patterns.Test Driven Development Writing a test prior to writing your code is not very controversial anymore.  Everyone recognizes the value in doing this.  And yet, most programmers will maybe write a few tests... (read more) by Steve Ropa

15 Mar 2012 James Shore/Blog The response to my Let's Play: Test-Driven Development screencast has been pretty good. I've had over 88,000 video views and it's the most popular part of my site. The conversations about design and architecture have been pretty great, too.There's just one problem: it's written in Java and Swing.Don't get me wrong. I like Java. It's just not, um, the most... exciting programmi... (read more)

Recently, we looked at how a jazz combo is a great metaphor for the interactions and exchanges that make up a great small team.  The question then comes to mind, “surely, isn’t there more to it than that?”  The answer is an unequivocal yes.  There’s quite a lot to it.  Groups who reach this level of comfort and collaboration have a lot of experience and expertise under their belts.  Let’s start to explore the journey that gets us there.When I was a kid, I was very lucky in my ... (read more) by Steve Ropa

15 Mar 2012 James Shore/Blog/Lets-Play The source code for this episode is available here. Visit the Let's Play archive for more episodes!Many thanks to Danny Jones for figuring out the HD Youtube embed code. Comments ... (read more)

I’ve been wondering lately if Scrum is on the verge of getting a new standard meeting–the Backlog Grooming Meeting, which is a meeting an increasing number of teams are doing each sprint to make sure the product backlog is prepared and ready for the start of the next sprint.To see why a Backlog Grooming Meeting may be a few years away from becoming a Generally Accepted Scrum Practice, or what I call a GASP, let’s revisit the early 2000s.Back then, Scrum didn’t have a form... (read more) by Mike Cohn

It is really humbling to reflect back on and observe that it has been one year since we stumbled upon the concept of Pay it forward / Donation based training. For anyone who is not aware of these trainings, they are Scrum trainings where the participants pay any amount they choose to for attending the Read moreRelated posts:My Thanksgiving Note to All If I were to encapsulate the Year 2011, I would...Learning from mistakes In our very busy lifestyle, it is not always that...Paying it Forward on ... (read more)

13 Mar 2012 James Shore/Blog/Lets-Play The source code for this episode is available here. Visit the Let's Play archive for more episodes!Many thanks to Danny Jones for figuring out the HD Youtube embed code. Comments ... (read more)

The comic strip at XKCD today is brilliant.  It takes a bit of effort to follow it, but the punchline is brilliant.  Communication is tough.  How does this apply to agile teams?  You be the judge!... (read more) by Mishkin Berteig

Agile and Scrum first appeared on the Indian horizon about six or seven years ago. They quickly caught the attention of software development teams, mostly owing to the fact that the existing models at the time were inadequate or unsatisfactory in handling changing requirements. However, there were also initial skeptical responses and reactions: Some believed Read moreRelated posts:Agile Metrics that Matters by ThoughtWorks Here is a Webinar by Patricia Carlin, General Manager from...10 challenge... (read more)