Maybe you read it long ago, or it's been on your "to read" list for years. Or maybe you've never heard of it: The book "Good to Great" by James C. Collins. It describes how companies move from being average to great and how they can fail to make the transition. So, what does all … Continue reading How “Good to Great” applies to agile software development
Month: August 2011
Getting Lean with Weekly Sprints
In Scrum, sprints are time-boxed delivery cycles that help keep the team focused on the goal. If you don't know which goal I'm referring to, check out Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt's novel "The Goal" (hint: I think it's something about making money). For web development, I run weekly sprints and this surprises a lot of … Continue reading Getting Lean with Weekly Sprints
Meetings or Trust – Choose Your Weapons
Sitting in unnecessary meetings sucks. You know what I'm talking about: A lot of people crammed into one room, half of whom have no business with the discussion. The other half are responsible for the topic, but didn't bother preparing for the discussion. So why are all these people sitting together? Let's examine this from … Continue reading Meetings or Trust – Choose Your Weapons
Do Annual Budgets Hurt Agility?
Desktop application development is traditionally done in waterfall development mode. Specifications and requirements are gathered over a period of months before being unleashed upon a "pool" of developers for implementation. Development times run into thousands of man days after which a "beta" product is released to the QA team (or perhaps some very brave customers). … Continue reading Do Annual Budgets Hurt Agility?
