Author Archives: Paul Heidema

About Paul Heidema

Paul has had many years of web development, marketing, and consulting. Paul has been running his own web development and search engine optimization company since 2000. He has earned a Diploma of Education in Perth, Australia. He has helped develop the overall marketing strategy for Berteig Consulting. He is also a Certified ScrumMaster.

Crystal Clear – A Book on Small Teams

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I have just started reading Crystal Clear: A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams by Alistair Cockburn. I was not too sure what this book would provide for me in the way of relevant learning.

I am intrigued that this work came out of years of experience by Alistair. This quote from the book “Crystal Clear does not aspire to be a “best” methodology; it aspires to be “sufficient,” in order that your team will shape it to itself and then actually use it.” gave me hope. I work on a small team and I wonder about which practices will best suit our situation. I also wonder how our team can use tools and processes then reflect on their usefulness to decide if we will continue their implementation.

I am interested in reading the whole book, but a little concerned that there will be too much techno-words used throughout. I have a background in business, marketing, and the web but not to the degree of the some of the other books that I have read.

What learning have you gained from working on small teams? Have any of you read this book? If so, did you gain any insights that would help my team to develop?

Agile Tools vs. Agile Books

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Agile Tools vs Agile Books

I have been working with Agile for a few months. At Berteig Consulting we are using OpenAgile to run our small business. As such we try to use various tools to make our life easier. I have already mentioned that we use CardMeeting for our cycles and tasks. I have tried using PlanningPoker for online estimation. It seems useful, but maybe our team is too small to make great use of it. I am also looking for other ways to manage the reflections and learning from each cycle.

I have received an email from David Wolrich of CardMeeting that states: “Anyways, I rely on the trickle of news from legitimate organizations like yours to let users know that CardMeeting is still around, that I am still adding features, and to generate interest; thanks again.” So maybe some of you could try it and give him a shout. Much like other free applications on the net such as Drupal and Neo Office this one could become more robust and useful.

I am wondering if I am spending too much time on tools and not enough reading and researching Agile methods. I am enjoying reading about Agile success stories. Anybody know of small businesses that have documented or written about achieving success in Agile? Is there an Agile bible or maybe a book about the best ways to succeed using Agile?

So this is the question that I am wondering: Are tools better than books when it comes to Agile?

Agile Project Management with Scrum – A Tough Read at Times

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I have been reading a book entitled “Agile Project Management with Scrum” by Ken Schwaber. It is an interesting read. The examples and stories that he shares of companies who have struggled with Scrum and those that have succeeded are fantastic. The way Schwaber breaks up the book and explains all the roles then gives example makes it a great learning tool. It is also really funny and clever.

One complaint I have with the book is that it is very technical, it seems that the reader is assumed to have many years of software development experience. It is interesting that the projects that Schwaber discusses that have the most trouble with Scrum are those that are “stuck” in their old ways of working. It’s almost as if the old saying of “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing” is true for Scrum implementations. “Scrum means doing things in small cycles – so I will do everything the same except in shorter cycles.” Anybody ever heard of that type of reasoning?

I definitely recommend this book for those who have considerable experience in the technology field. For those who don’t this book might be challenging at times, espcially with the computer language words that are used.

I want to continually learn for my own personal and professional growth. So I  would like to know which books do you suggest? Are there any books that share examples and stories that are not focused on software development? If you disagree which my review of the book please comment.

First Try with Agile in my Home

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I have been practicing Agile for the last few months for my job. With Mishkin we have been following many of the Agile rules as a small team. It has been very successful, and the learning is tremendous.

So, like Mishkin, I wondered if I could use the same practices at home. A few days ago I asked my wife, Laila, if we could try using cards, a work queue, and cycles. She thought it would be great idea to put all our tasks on post-its and not have to remember them.

Yesterday we made the work queue, did some estimation, and decided what we would commit to for our first cycle. We consulting and decided that one week cycles would make the most sense for our schedules.

Cycle 1

Right away I noticed a relaxation that came over Laila. I guess that it is very tough to maintain a work queue in your head day-in and day-out. I will continue to post my thoughts on our progress.

Cycle 1(Work Queue)

Has anybody else used agile practices outside of your work? How did it work? What did you learn? Maybe my wife and I can learn from you and avoid those challenges.

Agile becomes Easier with Useful Tools

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For the last 3 months I have been lucky to work with tools and in an environment that is agile. My job requires lots of small projects and tasks and my job title is clear but my work is every changing. I like new challenges and creative tasks.

Recently our small team has been using http://cardmeeting.com/ an online tool to add ideas, set up tasks, and keep track of what the whole is doing and what still needs to be done.

I am looking for more tools to make our agile practices more streamlined and efficient. Any suggestions or ideas?

3-Day Scrum & Agile Course Announcement (Toronto)

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This course offers ScrumMaster Certification in Toronto. The training is hands on, interactive and highly effective. By the end of the course participants will receive a professional certification in Agile Software Project Management. The dates of the course are January 16 – 18, 2008.

Click here to sign up!

The complete winter and spring course list is available here.