Posts Tagged agile
Rewind Your Mind
Posted by David Bland in agile, user stories on September 1, 2011
“A good engineer thinks in reverse and asks himself about the stylistic consequences of the components and systems he proposes” – Helmut Jan
This advice is not limited to engineers. It also applies to many of us who want to produce software that actually matters to people.
Thinking in reverse, yet leaning forward can yield innovative results. This can be especially helpful when you feel as though you’ve become stagnant in your day to day activities.
Applied to Lean Startup
As the Lean Startup movement continues to gain momentum, one has to be careful not to blindly speed through the Build -> Measure -> Learn loops.
As Eric Ries stated in his Mixergy interview, even though you act in… [Read More]
Stop Blaming Waterfall
Posted by David Bland in agile, lean, waterfall on July 19, 2011
I’m here to let you in on a little secret, waterfall isn’t the reason your project failed. Waterfall isn’t the reason you were fired. Waterfall isn’t the epitome of evil in the world of software development.
Blaming waterfall for all of your woes is not unlike blaming the screwdriver you used to paint your wall. It isn’t the screwdriver’s fault you chose the wrong tool for the job.
Waterfall works well when both the problem and the solution are known.
Since I always get chastised for this statement, let me clarify that I’m not the first person to state this and also let me clarify that we never fully know anything.
So if I were to rephrase this for the word police, it would be:
Waterfall works well when both the problem and the solution are mostly known.. … [Read More]
Distributed ScrumMasters Update
Posted by David Bland in agile, scrum on March 30, 2011
It has been over a year since I first gave my Distributed ScrumMasters talk to friends & coworkers around Washington, DC. Since then I’ve learned quite a bit about myself, how I speak publicly and what people are most concerned about with Distributed Scrum. After careful consideration, inspecting and adapting I have updated my original [...]
Dipping Your Toes Into Kanban
Posted by David Bland in agile, extreme programming, kanban, scrum, scrumban on January 26, 2011
The following post was originally a guest article for Planbox and is the basis for my proposed Agile2011 Lightning Talk
Like me, you may have read about the growing popularity of kanban in the agile software development community. Perhaps its mysterious allure and intriguing pronunciation (kahn-bahn not kayun-bayun) have piqued your curiosity, yet you struggle with finding a pragmatic way to apply it to your current software development process?
Interestingly enough, the beauty of kanban is that you can apply it to your two week iterations… right now if you like without that much disruption. In fact, you may even find it so useful that you’ll find other ways to work the kanban mojo.
Let me explain… [Read More]
I hate pair programming (and your code and you)
Posted by David Bland in agile, extreme programming, team room on January 20, 2011
“Are you pair programming?” our manager asked in his snarky tone, while using exaggerated double air quotes to emphasize his skepticism. He then walked away without waiting for a response…
This is merely one example of numerous instances I’ve experienced over the years from skeptics of pair programming… [Read More]
