As I've shown in my plea to Agile Tool Vendors: Please simplify my life, I currently see only Pivotal Tracker to be a tool which simplifies my life instead of managing complexity. Enterprise Class vs Opinionated Software Maybe the biggest differences between Mingle and Tracker are their core assumptions and target audience. While Mingle is … Continue reading Thoughtworks Mingle vs. Pivotal Labs Tracker
Category: Kanban & Agile
Recession Spells Doom for Gantt Charts
This week I had the pleasure of seeing an actual, honest-to-goodness Gantt chart clutched in our boss's emphatically gesticulating hand. I actually did a double take to verify what I was seeing and shook my head in disbelief. OK, so we've quite a way to go before we'll be able to call ourselves agile. But, … Continue reading Recession Spells Doom for Gantt Charts
Agile Tool Vendors: Please don’t try to manage complexity – simplify my life!
We've been using Mingle for over one year now and it serves us quite well. During the course of the year, we used it to manage over 2000 stories, issues and chores, and we currently only have around 90 open ones left. The only major shortcoming in my eyes is the lack of a real … Continue reading Agile Tool Vendors: Please don’t try to manage complexity – simplify my life!
Static Backlogs, Delivery Dates and “Done”
Getting to know our product manager over the last couple weeks, I got the impression he was a bit overwhelmed with all the favors, bugs and feature requests he was faced with every day. So, I asked him where he maintained all these different things and he pulled up a spreadsheet. When I asked him … Continue reading Static Backlogs, Delivery Dates and “Done”
Synergy Map: How To Map Out Your Current Strategy (Part 2 of 2)
In the first part of my how to map your current strategy using a synergy map, I showed you how to position your projects on a synergy map and how to add size, completion and feelings to it. In this post, I want to show you how to find synergies and conflicts between your goals … Continue reading Synergy Map: How To Map Out Your Current Strategy (Part 2 of 2)
New Job at NetDoktor
On Monday, I started my new job as CTO of NetDoktor.de GmbH. Its the #1 health portal over here in Germany (ala WebMD or Revolution Health in the States). One of my main tasks will be to bring a more agile approach to their software development. As they currently outsource the website development, I once … Continue reading New Job at NetDoktor
Synergy Map: How To Map Out Your Current Strategy (Part 1 of 2)
Are you sometimes overwhelmed by all the stuff going on in parallel? Especially when dealing with web operations, urgent tasks can blur your view on what's really important. In my last post about how to stop being busy and get productive instead, I showed a quick way of reconnecting with your goals. In this article, … Continue reading Synergy Map: How To Map Out Your Current Strategy (Part 1 of 2)
Stop Being Busy. Get Productive!
You are busy. Your task list is growing so fast that if you wanted to print it out you'd have to use old-fashioned, continuous listing paper just to keep up. Sometimes you get in the zone checking off task after task, and feeling tremendously productive. Other times, you just sit there immobilized by the sheer … Continue reading Stop Being Busy. Get Productive!
What do Sysadmins really think about Agile?
Every workplace has one, and even if you contract it out, you still have to interact with a System Administrator to get important IT work done. If you're introducing Agile methodologies at your company, you might have run into a brick wall of sorts back there in that corner room - the Ops guys. They … Continue reading What do Sysadmins really think about Agile?
The Curse Of Agile Project Management Tools
Index cards and a story wall are my preferred agile project management tools. They force you to keep things simple due to limited space on index cards and you get optimal visibility through the ubiquitous story wall. Software tools are usually inferior in terms of simplicity and visibility. Most agile project management tools provide you … Continue reading The Curse Of Agile Project Management Tools
