Pragmatic Agilist

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...

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...

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...

I'm working on more PMI/Agile stuff, but in the mean time, check out this AWESOME post!  I wish I had written it! http://threeminds.organic.com/2011/04/the-requirements-superheroes-and-villains.html

I read with interest my colleague Mark Needham's recent blog post about his experience as a trainer at ThoughtWorks University , the on-boarding program my company uses for entry-level employees.  TWU utilizes a training methodology invented by Jay Cross called "workscaping," which is ably described in this blog post by the TWU director, Sumeet Moghe .  This is a very cool program, not least because most entry-level new hires get flown from all over the world to India for six weeks to participate in it. Sumeet's thesis is that the best way to teach people is to put them to work immediately, so they can become aware in context of things they need to learn, and then reach out for that knowledge.  Build the need, then satisfy the need.  And indeed my observation is that in this world, we are now much busier fending off information than reaching out for it. A poignant, but useful digression, I promise:  When I was growing up in Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, I was i...

Two years ago, an interviewer asked me with tactful pity how I happened to have gotten a Project Management Institute " Project Management Professional " certification, (and why I had the bad taste to include that fact on my resume).  I was applying for a job as an agile project manager, and my age and PMP certification both counted heavily against me in this endeavor, although of course we were all being tactful about the age thing.  I was told gravely that people like me are pretty set in our ways and it is usually hard for us to be light enough on our feet to handle an agile project.  I was quizzed heavily (and quite skeptically) on the fine points of stand-up etiquette and card wall techniques. I was taken aback by this experience.  Honestly, I did briefly flirt with the idea that I should just grab my Big Upfront Design binders and totter home. But something funny happened on my way to the glue factory.  It turns out that in real-life, you can't just ...

Pop quiz:  as an agile project manager, how much attention do you pay to your communications plan? A:  Dude, see the Agile Manifesto !  We're all busy creating working software here, and if you want to know what's going on, come to our biweekly showcase, or just drop by and visit the team room. B:  Ho ho!  My group has "Communications Plan" language we can just re-use for all of the projects, so I don't have to spend a lot of time thinking about it--I just drop it into the charter and off we go!  C:  I think we're fine.  We're using application lifecycle management ( ALM ) software, and we keep it up to date for anyone who wants to check.  Plus we have some regular meetings and a distributed email list people can subscribe to, and that seems to get the job done. D:  [runs away screaming] E:  Ahem.  "Project Communications Management" is number 7 of the 9 Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Body Of Kn...