Agile Complexification Inverter

Thinking on Jay's suggestion at his presentation  ( DFW Scrum , AgileFest! ) to create an Agile Playbook ; I'm wondering why scrum masters don't do this more often.  Well, guess what?  It's very good advice.  The authors Chip and Dan Heath give this very advice in their new book Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work . Why do teams continually over estimate the number of stories they can complete (potentially shippable tested working software) in a sprint?  There are many reasons.  But what play would you run next sprint if you were the team? If your team already has an agile mindset, then the natural play will be to reduce the amount of work they are bringing into the sprint.  The result of this play is to return the team to a consistant delivery of value.  Resulting in a predictable velocity.  This predictable velocity will be used for projecting the release scope or date. The problem for many teams is they ...

I presented at the Results Oriented Web Conference in Dallas last week.  It was a very nice conference with lots of interesting people.  I had fun with my presentation,  The Marshmallow Design Challenge .  Turns out it was finger licking fun. Finger licking FUN! Marshmallow Design Challenge A winner - 26 inches tall. Wondering what this fun exercise teaches?  Watch the TED video to find out.   Spollier Alert - it's more fun to experience it and then watch the video. Next time I'm bring one of these: From Amazon See Also:   Agile Games Video of Marshmallow Challenge

One of the suggested improvements for our AgileFest! 2013 was a  "How-To" document for planning a conference.  So in the nature of an experiment in gathering some "validated learning" I'm going to post a rough draft of this future book here.  If it gets some interest, hits, comments, suggestions then I'll turn it into an eBook. Since this page will be an on going effort to create a draft, outline, sketch, etc. of the whole how-to guide, you may want to revisit this page in a week, and again in a month. First, creating a conference is an Agile project, so treat it like any other agile project.  Hold several visioning meetings and workshops.  Insure that you and the core group explore your vision of the conference, understand the explicit goals, and try to uncover the hidden agenda of the conference drivers.  Don't kid yourselves there are alterative motives - everyone has some, so get them out in the open. Define what a suc...

[Reprint of article in "The Current" a Sabre newsletter.] “Serious” Fun at AgileFest! More than 200 Sabre employees participated in the “sold out” AgileFest! event in Southlake on March 21. AgileFest! is a one-day conference covering all aspects of Agile software development and was created and sponsored by the Airline Solutions Development Agile Coaches. This year, eight industry experts from around the country hosted sessions to share their ideas about Agile – ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Luke Hohmann, founder and CEO of Innovation Games, kicked off the morning with the keynote speech in a packed cafeteria. Luke focused on how we can use serious games with our clients to have deeper conversations, unearth priorities, drive innovation and ultimately, deliver better results. The conference then split into sessions, to allow participants to choose the topic that interested them most.  Options included a session by Eric Nusbaum about creati...

Sabre's AgileFest! Lessons Learned Review A few people that attended  AgileFest! 2013  came together to solidify lessons learned at the event.  We created  mindmaps  of the sessions.  Shared key points the speakers shared in their presentation, and exercises.  Here's our mindmaps. It was April Fool's day - so we started with an example of how to draw a mindmap in real time.  Will played the Google Nose (beta) Video , and I mapped it as an example.  Darn - didn't get a picture of that map. The Mission for the Lessons Learned session was to create an artifact for sharing and reflecting. Mind Map example Here is the group still talking about the wonderful lessons from AgileFest! 2013. What's in Your Playbook -- Jay Packlick Distributed Teams Workshop -- Derek Wade Intro to LEGO Serious Play -- Steve Paro Navigating the Sea of Change -- Modesto Hernandez & Derek Lane Creating Positive Cul...

We were invited to Thomson Reuters for our AgileFest! 2013 planning retrospective.  Derek and Modesto did a wonderful job designing a metaphor board.  We had fun filling it in with concepts, ideas, feelings and reflecting on 3 months of work.  That work resulted in a great day of learning. Get Silverlight and view a PhotoSynth of the Retro board and space. Derek raises an eye at that comment Modesto can see with eyes shut AgileFest Lessons Learned Review

What metrics would a great Scrum team want to generate and track the trend? Is the  necessary and sufficient set of metrics just velocity?  No - I don't think that is enough.  Can you help me define a short list of metrics, and the reasons for tracking them? First let's lay out some ground rules.  Who is responsible for generating the metrics?  Are all metrics treated the same, e.g. should each metric have the same visibility?  I'll state the the team is responsible for generating the metrics.  This ensures that the metric has some minimun level of veracity.  When the team believes that the metric does not tell the truth, they should make that visible and change how it is generated.  This is process improvement.  However not all metrics need be treated the same.  Some should be published, some could stay internal to the team.  As the level of trust and autonomy of the team increases the visibility of me...

I am speaking at an upcoming conference on April 12 in Dallas, titled: ' The Marshmallow Design Challenge ' . The  2nd Annual  Results Oriented Web   Summit focuses on the core disciplines for online success - content, design & user experience (UX), marketing and project management. The conference is organized by community leaders bringing together top experts in their field. I want to personally invite you to this unique event by offering you a 50% off discount code that is good until Friday, March 15. Go to  http://resultsorientedweb.com/register   and use the code ROWFRIEND .

There are many processes that will help you achieve Agility. How will you select one that is best for you? Agile is not a process; it is a philosophy.  It's a philosophy that describes a comparative  value system and a set of 12 principles  designed to discover better ways of developing products. There are many agile embracing processes or process frameworks.  Which will you choose to use?  This will depend upon many factors that are context dependent.  One shoe will not fit all feet - and all feet do not need shoes. On a spectrum from 'prescriptive' to 'adaptive' where do various agile processes fall?  Henrik Kniberg did this analysis for us.  He bases his measurement on the number of 'rules' stated in the process descriptions. For example:  RUP 120 rules; XP 13 rules; Scrum 9 rules; Kanban 3 rules. by Henrik Kniberg This chart provides a high-level view of Agile frameworks on a scale of prescriptiveness to adaptiveness. H...

Here's my online collaboration tools list.  It is an ever growing and contracting list.  I'd love to collaborate with you on this list - leave a comment with your best tool. Tools for collaboration on documents: http://drive.google.com   Google Docs http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki http://sync.in/ http://icloud.com - Apple's Pages, Numbers, KeyNote etc. http://www.zoho.com/ http://codebunk.com   collaborative platform for online technology interviews (code & run) http://usecandor.com/  - a better form of brainstorming (removes first in list bias) http://jsfiddle.net  a JavaScript development (IDE) collaboration tool on the web https://www.hylighter.com/ enables intensive collaboration through a unique color-coding mechanism and linking capability. https://cocalc.com Collaborative Calculation -  a  sophisticated web service  for online computation;  batteries included. http://www.work-visual.com This App exist...

I'm working with Charlsi (coaches cat herder) on Sabre Airline Solutions' 2nd annual AgileFest .  It is going to be an awesome day of learning at Sabre HQ.  We have a really great line up of speakers coming in from all over the USA.  Some will come early to give private workshops,  so are staying late, and I hope we will contract with the others to come back and do full day training at Sabre's offices in Southlake, TX. Event Schedule (click to zoom in) AgileFest Quotes page #1 (click to zoom in) AgileFest Quotes - page 2 (click to zoom in) Individual Session Feedback (click to zoom in) Individual Session Feedback (click to zoom in) AgileFest! 2013 Lessons Learned Review AgileFest! 2013 Planning Group Retrospective Last year we did a great event ( AgilePalooza ) with the help of VersionOne .  This year should be just as fun, they are sponsoring the Mix and Mingle after party.  If there is one thing I've ...

CarreerBuilder and Yoh Consulting have release a study of the Agile developer market place.  They find a 5:1 ratio between agile job postings and developers seeking a new job. Agile Scout - Yoh - info graphic So given this skills gap - where will you find your next Agile developer?  Do you have a system in place to grow your own.  Are you nurturing the ones you have?  Is your attrition rate above acceptable limits because your project are stressful? Get the report   AgileTalentStudy.com

A study by the University of Chicago's Center for Elementary Mathematics and Science Education and the Urgan Education Institue of high school computer science teacher professional development appears to me to be lacking if we want to invest in our future.  Look at this infographic and tell me it looks like a bright future that we must all wear shades. The Landscape of Computer Science Professional Development The Landscape of Computer Science Professional Development infographic by KellyQDesign .

I'm not one for new years resolutions.  However, my smart and good-looking wife convenced me I need a learning plan.  Time to learn something new.  Time to become a beginner again, to struggle with a challenge, to wonder how I could ever know all this new knowledge.  So tonight my learning plan is due - or I pay her $100.  I'm not sure I remember making that part of the deal last week. So my plan is to learn a new programming language.  I use to know modern languages.  But time keeps falling through the hour glass.  A colleague shocked me when he said that Java was a dead language.  That it is stagnant and Oracle has killed it.  Ouch!  In 5 - 10 years I'm going to be one of the grey hairs that only knows dead languages (Basic, Fortran, C, Java).  Like those Cobol developers in the 80s & 90s.  Oh, sure they had a hey-day in 1999 with the Year-2000 bug. I'm selecting Ruby as a new language. ...

Perhaps you have heard of the S.O.L.I.D. software design principles of Object Oriented Design, but lack the motivation to practice the principles in every day coding.  If this is your problem, then here is the solution.  Six motivational posters to visualize and remember the principles.  Print them out and display then in your team room.  Watch the quality meter go up.     Single Responsibility Principle Liskov Substitution Principle Open / Closed Principle Interface Segregation Principle Dependency Inversion Principle SOLID Motivational Posters , by Derick Bailey , is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License . See Also:     The S.O.L.I.D. Principles in Pictures by Ugonna Thelma - illustrated via robots       Agile is an Integral Equation .       The Four Elements of Simple Design      ...