Saturday, 30 September 2006
Friday, 29 September 2006
Presentation introducing agile thinking and Scrum
Posted by Simon Baker
Here's a presentation I gave yesterday at my current client that introduces agile thinking and Scrum .
Comments: 2
Saturday, 16 September 2006
Command and control? I don't think so
Posted by Simon Baker
Command and control elicits compliance to enforced processes through management by policy. Focusing on process fixates management on the means rather than the result. Emphasis is placed on building hierarchies, formalizing roles, and people are viewed as resources. All this amounts to bureaucracy and adds no value. Hierarchies introduce protracted decision-making. Decisions made up the hierarchy typically don't involve the people who will be tasked with fulfilling the decisions. And consequently, the support from these people for the decisions is absent. These decisions aren't easily reversed. All this nonsense doesn't exactly set the project up for success. I can't think of a better way to demotivate people and reduce productivity.
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Friday, 15 September 2006
Agile governance games
Posted by Simon Baker
I recently attended Jason Gorman's session on Agile Governance, which explores the mathematical dimensions of planning techniques. I enjoyed it immensely because it's a particularly interesting topic and Jason's clear command of the subject matter coupled with his engaging presentation style provokes thought and debate. I invited Jason to come in and run the games with the team I'm working with. It was lot's of fun.
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Relating to the dangers when adopting an agile approach
Posted by Simon Baker
After 6 months I'm still really enjoying my current contract. However, I can relate to Siddharta Govindaraj's 5 dangers when adopting Agile. I'm contracted by a department in a large organization and I'm working on a project that is part of a much larger program of work. Like any work, it has its ups and downs. The ups generally relate to the project, the people I'm working with and not having to compromise on our team's use of Extreme Programming, Scrum and Lean thinking. The downs are moments of annoying frustration when we encounter the wider program and its organization, bureaucracy and dysfunction.
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Wednesday, 13 September 2006
Agile pick-and-mix
Posted by Simon Baker
I don't like the pick-and-mix approach to agile practices (I'm talking about Extreme Programming and Scrum), especially in the name of pragmatism. What about the values and principles?
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Comments: 2
Friday, 8 September 2006
The 5 dysfunctions of a team
Posted by Simon Baker
I read Patrick Lencioni's book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, today. The whole thing. I started reading it on the train into work and I finished it on the train home. And it was difficult to not pick it up during work.
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Wednesday, 6 September 2006
Retrospective: Action begets action
Posted by Simon Baker
We've been doing a heartbeat retrospective at the end of every iteration to reflect on our team, our methods and our interactions. Our showcase concludes at 5pm on a Tuesday and the last thing we do is the retrospective. They've been taking around 30 minutes and have basically been a facilitated group discussion focusing on what we did well and areas for improvement. From the retrospective, we took no more than 2 action items (sometimes stories, targeting a specific thing to improve on, into the next iteration. This perhaps sounds good enough, and we do continue to improve, but I don't believe we've been getting the most out of our retrospectives. What's worried me for some time is how frustrating these retrospectives have become for everyone involved.
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Tuesday, 5 September 2006
Amusement at work playing the XP Game
Posted by Simon Baker
Sometimes it's amusing working where I'm working. People in the office seem to be genuinely intrigued by how we work, although they often look on perplexed. They ask lot's of questions, they survey our informative workspace and take the time to read our information radiators as they pass by. Occasionally, one person comes and stands outside our bullpen and gazes upon the hustle occurring within. It's great. I don't think they get Agile yet but they're interest encourages and motivates us. And what's gratifying is that they tell us how happy and impressed they are with the work we do. It's wonderful to feel valued and appreciated. And it's great that they see the business value being delivered.
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Change has to come from within
Posted by Simon Baker
I believe a lasting change has to come from within. For change to happen, you've got to want it and you've got to take action to bring it about. If you don't want to change, it probably isn't going to happen.
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