Agile Videos

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 72! In the SPaMCAST 72 I interviewed Diana Larsen. Diana and I discussed agile and retrospectives. The interview was full of practical advice, philopsphy, wit and wisdom. Diana Larsen sparks the creation of workplaces where productive teams display resilience in times of change and focus on frequent delivery of high value software customers want and use. Drawing on fifteen+ years of experience working with technical professionals, Diana takes a pragmatic approach to consulting with leaders and teams to promote work processes where innovation, inspiration, and imagination flourish. Diana co-authored Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great! and writes articles and blog posts at http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/blog. She is a partner in FutureWorks Consulting, LLC, in Portland, Oregon. Current chair of the Agile Alliance Board of Directors, Diana co- founded the âAgile Open Northwestâ conference and the international âRetrospective Facilitators Gatheringâ. Diana discovers solutions and possibilities where others find only barriers and obstacles. Contact Data: Website: http://www.futureworksconsulting.com/ Website: http://www.agilealliance.org Twitter: Dianaofportland The essay in SPaMCAST 72 concludes my essay titled Traceability, A Radical Approach Based on User Involvement. This is part seven which includes examples (mini-case studies) and a summary. The entire document will be available via my blog and at the David Consulting Group website. I would also like to promote another podcast that I produce. While a little off the IT track, Tales by Tom which are readings of my father's novels, novellas and short story collections is an engaging ang thought provoking podcast. Visit Tales by Tom at www.talesbytom.com. Conferences and Speaking Engagements in 2010 (To Date) Are Your Project Stakeholders Satisfied February 11, 2010 11:00 am - 12:30 pm Eastern Time Measuring customer satisfaction is more than just asking if your clients got what they wanted. Customer satisfaction is a messy mix of expectations, experiences, and perceptions - with maybe a hint of functionality. In this webinar, Tom Cagley will outline one method for measuring this mixture and for identifying what really matters in customer satisfaction. Learning Objectives: â How to define customer satisfaction â Strategies for identifying what really matters â A practical framework for measuring customer satisfaction â Not all attributes of customer satisfaction matter to the same level for all stakeholders Register at http://solutions.compaid.com/forms/WebinarA20100211?ProcessType=PreReg Quest Conference in Dallas April 21 - 23. I will be talking on Process Improvement in a Multi-Model World . The conference includes two days of workshops. The website to get more information is http://www.qaiquest.org/dallas/index.html The next Software Process and Measurment Cast features an interview with David Bovis. We discussed lean and the phycology of change. This is a do not miss interview for anyone involved or impacted by change. . . .might mean everyone ought to hear this interview.

 Chapter 3: The Big PictureThis show continues a chapter by chapter discussion about the new book, Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility, by Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, and Jim Trott. This show focuses on Chapter 3, The Big Picture. We talk about why, if you want to see improvements in throughput in product development, it is vital to focus on the entire value stream, the entire process from when an idea is formed until it reaches the user or customer. In fact, a transition to Lean-Agile involves agility in at least four areas. It is not enough just to focus on helping developers. In order to see improvements in the throughput for product development, you have to look at the whole value stream: the entire process from when an idea is formed until it reaches the user or customer. You want to focus not on where you are spending your money but where you are spending your time. And this means looking at the time you spend waiting as well. Keeping people busy can be counter-productive if it keeps them from being available on the most important things. Think of it this way: What is the impact if projects are having to wait on the most productive, highest value people just because they are working on too many things? Agile coaches often have a technical background. This means that too often, Agile deployments focus chiefly on helping developers. This is good and necessary but it is not sufficient. If delays are being caused elsewhere, then improving development will only offer marginal gains. When you are transitioning, you have to look at improving agility in four areas: Team agilityTechnical agilityManagement agilityBusiness agilityOf course, where to start depends on your situation.About Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise AgilityThe motivation of this book is to create a bigger picture what teams transitioning to agile need to do. Yes, teams need to understand the mechanics of the approach to get working, but there is more. Management needs to understand how to help teams work together. Business leadership prioritizing the right things to be working on. And there is a need to ensure technical quality so that development can be done in a sustainable way.We also want to introduce Lean and how it applies to the transition. We don t believe scaling up is a very effective approach. Rather, taking a more holistic view is needed to get success. That is how Lean thinking helps.This is not a book for experienced practitioners but for those who are picking Agile, Scrum, or Lean for software development. We expect you do understand a bit about Agile but not anything about Lean.For more information see the resource page for the book.Recommendations Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility by Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, and James R Trott The Lean-Agile Pocket Guide for Scrum Teams by Alan Shalloway and James R Trott Emergent Design: The Evolutionary Nature of Professional Software Development by Scott Bain Design Patterns Explained by Alan Shalloway and James R TrottFor more information, visit us at http://www.netobjectives.com/Music used in this podcast is by Bill Cushman at http://ghostnotes.blogspot.com and Kevin McLeod: http://www.incompetech.com/. If you need music, I’d encourage you to subscribe to their feeds.

 Chapter 2: The Business Case for Agility This show continues a chapter by chapter discussion about the new book, Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility, by Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, and Jim Trott. This show focuses on Chapter 2, The Business Case for Agility. We cover the five most important reasons for going Agile and how it is that understanding the whys of Agile helps you with this transition.It is important to understand the reasons for going Agile. Perhaps as important is understanding the whys of Agile: It helps you navigate your journey as you make the transition. Here are five of the most important reasons for going Agile: Deliver value quicker. Getting to market quicker is good. It is often possible to deliver some important features in stages. It allows faster return with less investment and that is always good! Helping customers discover what it is they need. Agile is best understood as a process that helps customers and developers discover in stages what it is that software should do. It helps customers focus on specifying what they know and avoid having to guess about requirements that they are not yet sure of. The most important book that covers this is Software by Numbers by Denne and Clelland-Huang. Better project management. Waterfall tends to steer projects based on milestones, which is an inaccurate guide about where a project really is. Agile steers based on working code which is much more accurate. Improving process faster. It would be better if teams learned continually but at least Lean-Agile has them learn after each iteration. Short iterations let teams learn quickly what is working and what is not. It is much better to learn lessons after two weeks rather than after two months!  Letting your design emerge based on what you are learning. While it is often ignored, there is also a technical reason for going Agile. With some discipline and appropriate tools (automated regression testing), it is possible to avoid up front design (almost always wrong or incomplete) and allow design to emerge based on what the team is discovering. This is powerful. There are two good books that describe why this is so:  Emergent Design: The Evolutionary Nature of Professional Software Development by Scott BainAgile Software Development, Principles, Patterns, and Practices by Bob MartinAbout Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise AgilityThe motivation of this book is to create a bigger picture what teams transitioning to agile need to do. Yes, teams need to understand the mechanics of the approach to get working, but there is more. Management needs to understand how to help teams work together. Business leadership prioritizing the right things to be working on. And there is a need to ensure technical quality so that development can be done in a sustainable way.We also want to introduce Lean and how it applies to the transition. We don t believe scaling up is a very effective approach. Rather, taking a more holistic view is needed to get success. That is how Lean thinking helps.This is not a book for experienced practitioners but for those who are picking Agile, Scrum, or Lean for software development. We expect you do understand a bit about Agile but not anything about Lean.For more information see the resource page for the book.Recommendations Lean-Agile Software Development: Achieving Enterprise Agility by Alan Shalloway, Guy Beaver, and James R Trott The Lean-Agile Pocket Guide for Scrum Teams by Alan Shalloway and James R Trott Emergent Design: The Evolutionary Nature of Professional Software Development by Scott Bain Design Patterns Explained by Alan Shalloway and James R TrottFor more information, visit us at http://www.netobjectives.com/Music used in this podcast is by Bill Cushman at http://ghostnotes.blogspot.com and Kevin McLeod: http://www.incompetech.com/. If you need music, I’d encourage you to subscribe to their feeds.

...we discuss "Becoming Agile" from a Project Manager's point of view

Podcast (MP3): Download Hosts: Markus Guests: Linda Rising Recording venue: OOP 2009 This episode is once again with Linda Rising, this time on the book she coauthored with Mary Lynn Manns on introducing ideas into organizations. The talk is another one of the SE Radio Live sessions recorded at OOP 2009 - thanks to SIGS Datacom and programme chair Frances Paulisch for making this possible. Links Linda s website Book: Fearless Change