One of my favorite little management blurbs, seen on the door of an SVP at a major financial services company: “Processes don’t write software, people do!” And of course, the Agile Manifesto states: “… we have come to value: Individuals and Interactions over Processes and Tools…” Here’s an interesting little writeup about people and process. My own take is quite similar: a process can be more or less helpful, but only if people are willing to learn and change can true progress be made.
Monthly Archives: January 2006
The Pros and Cons of Short Iterations
My first experience with any process that was similar to an Agile approach was in a startup ten years ago. We did 3-day-long iterations on a software project with a three person development team. That experience, followed by its antithesis, shaped the rest of my life. And yet, short iterations aren’t always the best way to go.
The One True Metric
Agile Work requires that we align our perception of reality in order to understand each other and do work that is considered valuable by everyone. One very blunt and seemingly simple way to do this is with metrics. But metrics need to be in context and that is the part that is hard to get right. Does your organization get it right?
New Carnival of the Agilists
The latest Carnival of the Agilists has two references beck to Agile Advice… and of course lots of other great reading. Have fun!
Lovely Poem Related to Agile and Coaching
Tobias Mayer has written a brief comment about the poem “Cutting Up an Ox“. I haven’t encountered this poem previously so here’s a “Thanks!” to Tobias. I’ll also throw in my own two bits…
Scrum Saves the Day For Media Student
Scrum is one of the Agile Methods that can be applied in many different fields of work. Last year, I was able to present the basic Scrum framework in a two hour session to a class of media students at Keyano College in northern Alberta. They used Scrum for their class project – a documentary video. One of the students really took to Scrum, and used it in his next class to save another group project… and get the best mark in the class! Full story follows…