Software Process And Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 516 features our interview with Nishi Grover Garg.  Nishi and I started by discussing the major differences in agile and non-agile testing and ended with a discussion of agile pods. This is a wonderfully idea-rich interview. Note:  I am recording part of this episode remotely from a hotel in Brazil! Nishi’s Bio: Nishi is a Consulting Agile and Software testing trainer. With a decade of experience working in an Agile environment in different product-based companies, she has had a chance to work in all stages of software testing life cycle from a White box, Black box to Automation testing and Usability testing. Having now extended it to her full-time job, Nishi is a coach, trainer, and mentor in areas of Agile and software testing, specializing in conducting QA Induction boot-camps, ISTQB workshops, DevOps Foundation and Selenium Automation courses. She is certified by Agile Testing Alliance (ATA) as a CP-DOF, CP-SAT, CP-AAT, CP-MAT and by ISTQB as a Foundation and Advanced Test Analyst and likes to ke

SPaMCAST 515 features our essay on transformation and agile metrics. Whether you like the word transformation or not, many in the process improvement and agile communities help to facilitate change. Involvement in any non-trivial change effort requires resources, people, support and the expenditure of political capital. Metrics are tools for getting the people and resources you need. We also feature a visit from the Software Sensi.  Mr. Pries weights in on defining “what is quality”.  Kim mixes theory and practice to make a profound statement. Anchoring the cast this week is Gene Hughson.  Gene writes at the Form Follows Function blog. This week we talk about a piece titled, Dependency Management – Anti-Patterns as Art from The Daily WTF.  It really is art --  but really a visualization of anti-patterns at the same time. Re-Read Saturday News This week we conclude our re-read of The Checklist Manifesto with a few final thoughts and notes and a restatement of a checklist for a checklist that Stephen Adams co

SPaMCAST 514 features our interview with John Clapham. John and I talked DevOps, people, agile, and how all those pieces fit together coherently or not. John even quoted Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. This is a big, fun, informative interview! John Clapham is an experienced coach, trainer, and consultant, specializing in DevOps and Agile.  He helps teams to build great products, creating environments and systems which are effective, productive and enjoyable to work in. Often this means introducing Scrum, or developing a deeper understanding of the method and it's principles.  John draws on broad experience as an engineer and lead, he has built web and enterprise applications in government, publishing, telecommunications, commerce, defense and public sector arenas. Twitter:  @johnC_bristol Web: http://www.cotelic.co.uk/   Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 9 of The Checklist Manifesto.  The Save is the final chapter in the book.  Next week we will discuss our final thoughts and decide on t

SPaMCAST 513 features a second essay on reciprocity.  One of the hardest lessons I have had to learn is that some people on a team are passengers and others play different, more involved, roles. Being a passenger long-term on a team or in an organization is a form of rent-seeking and is not valued highly by others. We also have columns from Susan Parente (I Am Not a Scrumdamentalist) and Jeremy Berriault (QA Corner).  Susan provides a spirited discussion of self-directed teams in agile.  It is a myth that agile teams just get to do what they want. One of the places to find Susan is at S3 Technologies, LLC. Rounding out the cast is this month’s installment of the QA Corner.   Jeremy discusses one of thorniest facts of life for a tester -- hard deadlines. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 8, titled The Hero In The Age of Checklists.  Heroes are a big deal; pick up any newspaper and you will see how much the cult of hero is celebrated.  Checklists and methods are viewed by many as diminishing the

SPaMCAST 512 marks the return of Jeff Dalton.  Jeff and I talked about the CMMI Version 2.0 and the Agile Performance Holarchy.  The CMMI is often maligned as promoting anti-agile behaviors. Jeff makes the case that Version 2.0 promotes agile.  We dive into the Agile Performance Holarchy during the second half of the interview. The Agile Performance Holarchy provides technology leaders with a model to guide agile adoption.   Jeff Dalton is Chief Evangelist at AgileCxO.org, a Research and Development organization that studies agile leadership. He is a technology executive with over 30 years of experience as a CTO, CIO, VP of Product Development, and for that past fifteen years has been CEO of Broadsword and AgileCxO. He is an executive agile coach, agile assessor, and instructor, a regular conference speaker, and author of both "The Agile Performance Holarchy: An Operating System for Agile Leaders" and "The Guide to Scrum and CMMI: Improving Agile Performance with CMMI." In his spare time, Jeff is an instrumen

SPaMCAST 511 features our essay on reciprocity.  Reciprocal agreements are part of working and playing well with others that we begin learning on the playground and then bring to the office with us. There are many types of reciprocal agreements in a typical agile project. Entries in the Reciprocity theme: Reciprocity and Reciprocal Agreements In Action - https://bit.ly/2MbxIP3 Five Reciprocal Agreements In Agile https://bit.ly/2MguslE Reciprocity or Manipulation? Seven Simple Questions - https://bit.ly/2CDotIa Negative and Unhealthy Reciprocity - https://bit.ly/2oZRp3v Our second column features Kim Pries, the Software Sensei.  Kim discusses the use and impact of domain-specific languages.  The Software Sensei provides sage advice! The final column this week introduces the Software Process and Measurement Cast listeners to Sandeep Koorse. Sandeep delivers advice on an innovative approach to ensure retrospectives deliver value.  Reach out to Sandeep at sandeep@koorse.com Re-Read Saturday News We have four or

We are doing something special in SPaMCAST 510.  Over the past couple of years we have talked to Steve Tendon and Wolfram Müller about their book, Hyper-Productive Knowledge Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban. Today as part of our conversation Steve and Wolfram shine a light on some of the finer points in the book! They also share how they became collaborations on the book.  Remember to buy a copy and support the authors and the podcast https://amzn.to/2MOxbXY .     Wolfram’s Bio Founder & Principal Consultant at Speed4Projects.net and VISTEM, Wolfram brings 25 years‘ experience as a Consulting Executive, IT Project Portfolio and Project Manager, Process Engineer, and Software Engineer. As head of the PMO at 1&1 Internet AG, he led 40 project managers in the delivery of 500 projects, innovating industry-leading methods, to drive unprecedented improvements in speed and reliability across the portfolio. He has published over 20 articles and books on ‘Critical

SPaMCAST 509 will feature our essay discussing if you can demonstrate incomplete work.  My knee-jerk reaction is no...or maybe heck no, but knee-jerk reactions are not always right. Blog entries in the what happens to incomplete work theme: Frequently Asked Questions: The Sprint Is Over, What Do I Do With Incomplete Stories? https://bit.ly/2P9mm09 Frequently Asked Questions: Can I Demo Work That Isn’t Done - https://bit.ly/2wfJzXv Frequently Asked Questions: Can I Resize A Story If It Is Harder Than We Thought? - https://bit.ly/2MvkB0a Frequently Asked Questions: When Can I Demo Work That Isn’t Done https://bit.ly/2PCs0Zz   We will also hear from Gene Hughson (Form Follows Function). Gene talks Architects!  Gene and I discussed his essay, So what exactly does an Architect do? Contact Gene on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/genehughson/ Bringing the cast home this week is Jon M. Quigley.  Jon brings his marvelous Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the cast this week in order to discuss the ro

SPaMCAST 508 features our interview with Vasco Duarte!  Vasco and I discuss vision and product owners. The product owner role is crucial. To be effective, the product owner must be able to articulate a vision for the product they champion. Vasco Duarte’s Bio in his own words: I want to transform product development organizations into product business organizations. I do that by focusing the work of the product development teams on the end-to-end life-cycle of their products. From Concept to Cash and Back! Currently a Managing Partner at Oikosofy. Product Manager, Scrum Master, Project Manager, Director, Agile Coach are only some of the roles that I've taken in software development organizations. Having worked in the software industry since 1997, and Agile practitioner since 2004. I've worked in small, medium and large software organizations as an Agile Coach or leader in agile adoption at those organizations. I was one of the leaders and catalysts of Agile methods and Agile culture adoption at Avira, Nokia, a

SPaMCAST 507 opens with our essay on consensus decision making. Consensus decision-making techniques are used by almost every team. The process of getting to a decision or solution that the whole team can at least live will make sure that everyone on the team has a seat at the table and that team builds both majority and minority views into the deliberation process. Want to read about consensus decision making?    6 Step Framework for Consensus Decision Making - https://bit.ly/2OZj5kF Consensus Decision-Making Revisited - https://bit.ly/2B2uJrT Life Cycle of Consensus Decision Making - https://bit.ly/2B3bgri Consensus Decision Making Forever – Sometimes - https://bit.ly/2OY21vk   In our second column, Susan Parente brings her I Am Not a Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast.  In this installment, Susan talks about the myths of agile and how falling into the traps that the myths create affect the delivery of value. Jeremy Berriault (QA Corner) anchors the cast this week with a discussion of what happens w

SPaMCAST 506 - Distributed Agile Teams, an Interview With Mark KilbySPaMCAST 506 features our interview with Mark Kilby.  Mark and I explored distributed agile teams. Agile in distributed environments is doable, but it isn’t easy. Mark provides guidance and advice. Mark recently co-authored From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams with Johanna Rothman (LeanPub). Mark’s bio and contact information: MARK KILBY has cultivated more distributed, dispersed, and virtual teams than colocated teams for more than two decades. Currently, Mark serves as an agile coach with Sonatype, a “remote first” software development company focusing on automation of software supply chains. Previously, Mark led agile transformations, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. Mark also cultivates dispersed communities, such as Agile Orlando, Agile Florida, VirtualTeamTalk.com, and the Agile Alliance Community Group Support initiative.  Mark’s book, From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams, is co-authored with Johanna Rot

SPaMCAST 505 features our recent essay titled, Coaching: Six Modes of Operation. On the surface, coaching is a fairly simple role. A coach has six basic modes of operation.  But…if you peel back the layers just a little bit you will find that coaching is part art and part science. In the second spot of this week's magazine have the penultimate session of our read of Steve Tendon and Wolfram Müller’s Hyper-Productive Knowledge Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach.   I have moved things around a bit and complete this edition of the SPaMCAST with an essay on servant leadership from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Regardless of how you define servant leadership, I think we would all agree that good leadership is critical. Re-Read Saturday News This week we begin the read of The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande (use the link and buy a copy so you can read along). The version of the book we are reading is published by Metropolitan Books, 2009 and is the 22nd printing. The book has nine chapters and with ack

SPaMCAST 504 features our interview with Gerie Owen.  Gerie and I discussed continuous testing, DevOps, and testing in an agile culture! We worked through big ideas that can have a big impact on how you work and deliver value immediately. Gerie Owen is the VP of Knowledge and Innovation at QualiTest. Gerie Owen represents the QualiTest team at the client site and manages the offshore team’s test activities including the development of an automated regression test suite. Gerie manages large, complex projects involving multiple applications, coordinates test teams across multiple time zones and delivers high-quality projects on time and within budget. Gerie is also a Certified Scrum Master, Conference Presenter and Author on Testing and Test management topics. She enjoys mentoring new QA Leads and brings a cohesive team approach to testing.  Gerie is the author of many articles on testing and is currently writing a series on the Brave New Worlds of testing. She chooses her presentation topics based on her testi

SPaMCAST 503 features our essay “Culture: The Knife’s Edge of Change.”  I have often heard the line, culture eats change for breakfast. Culture, culture, culture – the success of every change that is considered or implemented balances on the knife edge of culture. Aligning cultures so that change is possible requires seeing the differences and then minimizing enough of those differences to allow change to happen. We also have an installment of the Alpha and Omega of Product Development with Jon M Quigley.  In this installment of Jon’s wonderful column, we discuss the muda of underutilizing people.    We conclude with a visit with Gene Hughson.  We discuss an entry from his Form Follows Function Blog tilted,  “When asked for the time, don’t explain how your watch works”. Communication between the user and technical domains is fraught with difficulties. A problem? As Gene always says,  “exactly!” Re-Read Saturday News We will complete our re-read of Turn The Ship Around next week with a few final thoughts.  T

SPaMCAST 502 features our interview Marcus Hammarberg.  Marcus returns to talk about his new book Salvation: The Bungsu Story (https://amzn.to/2u1ndYs).  The story provides a real-life example of how agile can save the world — or at least part of it. This is one of the most important and inspirational interviews I have done.   Marcus’s bio: For 15 years Marcus Hammarberg has been doing agile and lean software development and helping others do it. He has worked in many different settings, from big banks and insurance companies to start-ups and within retail. At one big insurance company, the first agile team, started by Marcus, eventually spread to a lean initiative across the business. As a consultant, Marcus helps individuals, teams, and whole organizations improve their value delivery flow. Marcus is still a keen programmer and continues to practice and teach the concepts that helped him become a good programmer: TDD, Specification by example, functional programming and Node. Marcus is a keynote speaker an

SPaMCAST 501 features our essay on Agile Metrics. Progress is easy to visualize when we use the yardstick of calendar time. My wife and I spent 17 days in Europe. There are 177 shopping days until Christmas (as of July 1, 2018) — I expect presents this year. How long it takes to deliver a piece of work, in days, is something nearly every human can understand. Over the past few months, I have been cataloging questions I have heard. Well over 70% of work-related questions center on how long a piece of work will take and whether the answer to that question has value. Cycle time metrics are ways to generate answers to ‘how long’ questions in a manner that is valuable and predictable. Our second column features Jeremy Berriault.  In the QA Corner, Jeremy and I discussed the idea of self-reliance rather than using third-party testing organizations.  Or when you have to use third parties for testing, Jeremy provides advice on getting the most out of your third party. Anchoring the cast is Susan Parente. Susan discus

Show 500!  SPaMCAST 001 went live on Sunday January 28, 2007 at 9:28 PM - it has been a great journey from then to now!  The first interview was a two-parter with Will McKnight. Give it a listen at https://bit.ly/2lryNaC.    Show 500, SPaMCAST 500, Episode 500, #500  (I will probably say that 500 more times this week) features our interview with Marcus Blankenship.  Marcus and I talked teams and what makes a team good. We also discussed who owns the behaviors and values of a team. Team are core to most software development, enhancements, and maintenance. Understanding how teams work and how to make them work better makes ABSOLUTE sense.  Marcus provides great thoughts and advice on agile teams. I am thrilled that Marcus joined the SPaMCAST family on show 500! Marcus helps CTO’s fire-up their dev teams by creating an environment where everyone can fully participate in problem solving.  He helps great engineers become the great leader that their team deserves. Links: Join Marcus's list for articles on leading d

SPaMCAST 499 will feature our essay on trust and coaching. Coaches are among most effective tools used to help teams improve. In SPaMCAST 496 – Sam Laing I highlighted the need for trust between a coach and the team or person they are coaching. Without trust, a coach will not be very effective.  Two powerful and related tools! In the rocker as they call it stock car racing is Wolfram Müller. Wolfram co-authored Hyper-Productive Knowledge Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach with Steve Tendon.  We talk about Chapter 23 titled Reliable Scrum and Reliable Kanban. Wolfram can be found on LinkedIn at https://bit.ly/2qXvgnw Anchoring the cast is the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  Kim discusses software safety. Tools and software languages can have a major impact on software safety and all of our lives depend on software these days! Re-Read Saturday News In week 14 of our re-read of L. David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around!  we begin Part IV of Turn The Ship Around and tackle chapter 21. The first three parts of the

SPaMCAST 498 features our interview John Kordyback.  Agile is more than just Scrum or a bunch values. Agile has a technical side that can’t be ignored. This week, John and I have a wide-ranging conversation covering the technical side of agile, the impact of tools on principles, and the difference in agile approaches for systems of engagement and systems of record. Bio: John Kordyback is a Principal Consultant with ThoughtWorks leading technology transformations and applying lean principles within complex enterprises. He is a strong advocate for applying the lean delivery and operational practices found in the Devops and Evolutionary Architecture movements to gain more value from existing technology investments. John has worked in insurance, telecommunications, commodity and securities trading, high tech, energy, and the airline industries. Before his technology career, John worked as a researcher and practitioner for people with disabilities. Email: jkordyba@thoughtworks.com Twitter: @jkordyback Re-Read Sat

SPaMCAST 497 features our essay on micromanagement.  Micromanagement is a bane to employees that fall under a micromanager’s control. If you ask any manager if they think micromanagement is useful they will tell you no.  The problem is that many managers still do it and then rationalize the behavior. We also welcome back Dr. Susan Parente, with her “Not a Scrumdamentalist” column.  In this installment, Susan discusses using hybrid agile methods to deliver value. The message is that the development approach needs to meld with the organization's culture. Gene Hughson brings the cast home with another entry from his Form Follows Function blog.  In this installment Gene discusses his essay, Getting a handle on IT costs by eliminating chargebacks?  IT costs are a chronic problem. Ideas for getting a handle on costs are always useful. Re-Read Saturday News In week twelve of the re-read of L. David Marquet’s Turn the Ship Around!  (Buy your copy now).  This week we tackle Underway for San Diego and All Present and