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Showing posts from May, 2011

About Feature Injection

Feature Injection has been my favorite will-o'-the-wisp over the past month or so, starting from the point where I discovered that the "founding document" for the concept is a set of photos of Chris Matts's moleskine notebook which he wrote on a plane and uploaded to picasa in 2009.  I'm still digesting the ideas, which I was completely unable to read in photo form, but was further able to track down as a set of comics on Agile Journal as follows: Episode 1 :  getting all the information before you commit in code Episode 2:   determining project value Episode 3:   minimum set of marketable features Episode 4:   identifying variants Afterlude:   How FI fits into Business Analysis as a Knowledge Management Process When Chris says to allow readers to "pull" information, rather than "pushing" it on them, he's serious about it!  I hope it doesn't mess with the system too much to have links to all five posted in one place. Here...

Automated testing with your existing staff

I just met the ThoughtWorks global "Head of Quality"* this week, Kristan Vingrys .   He was able to make me see automated testing more clearly than I ever did before with a quick sketch and 10 minute discussion, and I wanted to share what I heard with others of you who might be more on the management/business end of things, and less on the development/testing end.  Keep in mind, there is plenty of room for slippage between "what he said" and "what I heard," so errors here should all be blamed on me.  Friends, please jump in and correct what I'm getting wrong here. First point:  automated testing and continuous integration are what make those short bursts of value delivery possible, at any desired software quality level. As a would-be Agile PM or BA, you are probably saying things to yourself like "wow, we're going to deliver ACTUAL WORKING AND TESTED CODE every two weeks!  This is great!"  You are thinking about your company web si...

Glass ceilings, Sticky floors

I just discovered a LinkedIn affinity group called "Glass ceilings, Sticky Floors," which has a charter to promote women leaders: Exploring strategies that will succeed in promoting women leaders: this group is for anyone who has an interest in finding ways to dissolve real or perceived glass ceilings, and to help women who are limiting themselves to get unstuck. What should Governments, regulatory bodies, companies, ambitious/talented women, and men do to create progress? Insights on the problems to be overcome, with emphasis on suggestions about how to successfully overcome them, will be welcomed. Isn't that a great name?  Of course, I thought at first the "Sticky Floors" part was about how things look a home after you've been on the road for a couple of weeks, but even so, count me in!   One of the first posts I found on the group was a link to this Ted talk by Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook.  She has a very interesting perspective, and sug...