This is how I started off my New Year - merging the completely refactored code branch into the master. Test coverage was pitiful enough that there was no way we could do a release without a full regression test. Another term near and dear to my heart. I believe full regression testing was actually invented … Continue reading The Big-Bang Release Strikes Back
Category: Kanban & Agile
How Scrum Induced Sub-Optimization Kills Productivity (And How To Fix It With Kanban)
Quite often, IT managers see Scrum as the solution to increase the speed of software development. Indeed, you can speed up your software development processes dramatically by successfully using Scrum for organizing your engineering department. But, people often forget that they can only create value for their customers if they optimize the whole organization towards … Continue reading How Scrum Induced Sub-Optimization Kills Productivity (And How To Fix It With Kanban)
[Question] Big companies using Scrum?
Does anyone know, which big companies are using Scrum? And how broadly have they adopted it? Just for development? Find the answers below in the Comments
Stop Being So Busy Putting Out Fires That There’s No Time For Fire Prevention!
You're caught in a vicious cycle: The constant need to do fire fighting doesn't give you any time to avoid fires in the first place. This is a pretty typical scenario not only in operations, but in development as well. Even though you seem to be stuck in a downward spiral and your team is … Continue reading Stop Being So Busy Putting Out Fires That There’s No Time For Fire Prevention!
The State Of Agile
I've written a guest post over at "agilescout" discussing the evolution of agile and how we need to stop the turf wars between different process variants. Instead, we should place more focus on avoiding sub-optimization by using all agile tools available. Read the full story here: The State Of Agile
Bugfixes without Tests are Anti-fixes
We all make mistakes. But how we go about redressing those mistakes tells a lot about our personality, both our strengths as well as our shortcomings. Bugs are a natural part of software development. Testing not so much. I attribute this to, among other things, general developer laziness and the constant pressure of 'Getting Things … Continue reading Bugfixes without Tests are Anti-fixes
PivotalTracker: The Simple Steps To Start a New Project
PivotalTracker is a great tool for organizing your work. No matter whether you work mainly in software development, operations, or in a shared DevOps environment, PivotalTracker keeps you up to the task. Over the last couple of years using it, we've seen some patterns for setting up projects and organizing stories with tags. Start And … Continue reading PivotalTracker: The Simple Steps To Start a New Project
The Irresistable Pull To Self Organization
Every organization has to deal with a mix of ongoing and project oriented work. But, even if you structure your teams into departments to optimize ongoing work, they keep trying to self organize into project focused teams. Matrix Management vs Project Organization There are the regular tasks and chores, and there are the bigger undertakings … Continue reading The Irresistable Pull To Self Organization
Scrum alone won’t cut it
Scrum is a great framework for organizing projects. It defines exact roles and procedures to structure your work environment. You gain a lot of visibility and you empower your teams. All that is great. But in software development or operations it's not sufficient. You need an underlying set of values and practices which drive quality … Continue reading Scrum alone won’t cut it
Empower Your Team – You Won’t Regret It
It's hard to find the right structure for any organization. A lot of existing management wisdom comes from a time when you had to organize a physical work force. However, with today's "knowledge workers" those structures don't work as nicely anymore. Everyone needs to prioritize Every developer or devops has to prioritize the current work … Continue reading Empower Your Team – You Won’t Regret It
