Category Archives: agile

Agile and the Analyst

Posted on by
Reply

I recently took the Scrum Master course and certification. If you work in software development in any capacity and you have the chance, I recommend you take this course, even if you aren’t a proponent of Scrum itself. Approach it with an open mind and you’ll come away thinking a little differently about managing people. I’m not saying you’ll be an Agile convert, but it will make you re-examine lot of the fundamental assumptions of traditional project management.

As a business requirement specialist, I was particularly interested to see how an experienced analyst might fit into Scrum. I had read a couple of books on Scrum, Kanban, and other Agile topics but I found them somewhat vague when it got to Continue reading →

Turning the tables

Posted on by
Reply

Test Driven Development (TDD) turns the process of writing code and designing systems around, having developers create an automated test or tests before making any changes to the system at all. If the system then fails the test, the developer makes only the changes necessary for it to pass the test, including possibly refactoring the code or addressing the design if necessary. Then the developer reruns the test.

There are many benefits to this practice. First, Continue reading →

What’s the difference between a user story and a requirement?

Posted on by
Reply

I am often asked this when delivering training on writing requirements. The most obvious difference is semantics. A user story is generally written as a statement of something a user wants to do with a system and for what purpose. For example:

I want to find clothing that is my size.

While a requirement statement is traditionally written in a more formal style, starting with “The system shall” Continue reading →

Honey, Vinegar, and Customer Participation

Posted on by
Reply

Recently I participated in a series of instructor-led online courses on Scrum/Agile. During the section on Sprint Planning, the instructor mentioned that shorter iterations provide more agility, and organizations should aim to achieve weekly sprints. This prompted one student to ask:

“The business people I need won’t attend my monthly meetings. How can I get them to attend a weekly planning meeting?”

This is one of the most common complaints or questions I receive, so it was no surprise that a student asked it here. However, what did surprise me was the instructor’s response:

“Tell them that if they don’t participate they can expect the software to be buggy and not meet their needs.”

I have witnessed this sort of approach before, but I was shocked at this answer from someone who claimed to be an expert in Agile. It contradicts the fundamental principals described in the Agile Manifesto: Continue reading →

Scrum, Agile, Complexity and Ants

Posted on by
Reply
(Originally posted here December 2, 2011)

I started re-reading Agile Project Management with Scrum by Ken Schwaber a few days ago, after not having looked at it in far too long. I was struck by the similarities between Schwaber’s view on the complexities of software development and the concepts of Complex Systems Theory I recently read while helping someone do research for a paper. I have to think that Schwaber and the other founders of Scrum were at least partly inspired by it.

Complex Systems Theory is, not surprisingly, difficult to describe in a nutshell. Continue reading →