Agile Complexification Inverter

Retrospective at GameStop based upon Corinna Baldaug's Retromat. Retro process phases: Set the Stage, Gather Data, Generate Insight, Decide what to Do, Close the Retro REF: http://plans-for-retrospectives.com Set the Stage: give time to “arrive” and get into the right mood and focus upon the goal Gather Data: reflect upon what happened, create a shared pool of information Generate Insight: why did things happen this way? What patterns can we observe? Decide What to Do: Pick what to work on, plan concrete steps of action Close the Retro: reflect upon the retrospective, how could it improve? What shall we follow-up upon? Activities for this Retro: Quick Questions  In ONE word – what do you need from the retro? In ONE word – what is on your mind? In ONE word – what is you current mindset in regards to your project: are you a: Explorer – eager to dive in and research what worked Shopper – Positive, happy if 1 good thing come out Vacationer – Reluc...

A wish list of books I'd like to read... Large-Scale Scrum - more with LeSS  by Craig Larman & Bas Vodde It describes how we did scrum 10 years ago without the need to think about scaling on a VoIP project at SpeakEasy.  Four teams of around 40 developers (programmers, testers, UI, UX, BA, system engineers, etc.), one backlog, one awesome Product Owner (with a team of help), one deliver of working tested software, on time and on budget. My current goto resource for how to do Scrum at any scale. Team Genius: The New Science of High-Performing Organizations by Rich Karlgaard , Michael S. Malone "Throughout, Rich Karlgaard and Michael S. Malone share insights and real-life examples gleaned from their careers as journalists, analysts, investors, and globetrotting entrepreneurs, meeting successful teams and team leaders to reveal some "new truths": The right team size is usually one fewer person than what managers think they need. The greatest que...

Do you believe that what you measure you will get?  If so you want to start to measure team happiness.  So what techniques do we have to measure something so ephemeral? This TED Talk by Dominic Price lays out a simple and insightful guide to assess your happiness. The health care industry has studied measuring pain and have very good data on their ability to measure and administer pain drugs upon a subjective self report.  Maybe we could do the same in knowledge worker teams and work groups. Team Happiness Net Promoter Score sheet Here's a riff upon the classic Net Promoter Score for measuring team happiness.   "How likely is it that you would recommend our team to a trusted friend that is looking for a job?" To calculate the NPS - the continuum is divided into 3 groups; the detractors (1 - 6), the passive (7 & 8), the promoters (9 & 10).  The passive are ignored - they do not promote your objective.  The NET promoter score is the pe...

What does the value of Transparency really mean? Nextgov: How do you define transparency? Fung: My definition is quite a bit different from the conventional wisdom about transparency. A transparency system is designed to allow people to improve the quality of decisions they make in some way, shape or form, and it enables them to improve their decisions to reduce the risks they face or to protect their interests. Some of those decisions are about political accountability but some are in private life, like what food to buy or what doctor to go to. --  Archon Fung , professor at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government who studies government transparency. Does your company practice fair pay?  Here's what one worker brought to Google and made a difference in transparency at the search giant. Tell Your Co-Workers How Much You Make!     There's no law against it and it increases the chances you'll be paid fairly. Does the Agile Manifesto im...

Here's a overview of a Scrum Immersion workshop done at GameStop this month. A case study example. Normally these workshops start with the leadership (the stakeholders or shareholders) which have a vision for a product (or project). This time we skipped this activity. The purpose of the Workshop is to ensure alignment between the leadership team and the Agile Coaches with regards to the upcoming scrum workshop for the team(s). Set expectations for a transition from current (ad-hoc) practices to Scrum. Explain and educate on the role of the Product Owner. Expected Outcomes: Create a transition plan/schedule Set realistic expectations for transition and next release Overview of Scrum & leadership in an Agile environment Identify a Scrum Product Owner – review role expectations Alignment on Project/Program purpose or vision Release goal (within context of Project/Program & Scrum transition) Once we have alignment on the Product Owner role and the Project V...

Yesterday (July, 2015) we did a lunch-n-learn at GameStop HQ on pair programming.  I think it was a great success, largely because we serve food, and I've been told that everything goes better when people are sharing a meal together (and even better with adult beverages). Are you interested in Pair Programming?  I'll confess, the term is a bit misleading.  I was asked by multiple people if the topic was just for programmers.  No - no it's not just a programming technique. It is also for any kind of knowledge work.  Such as testing, or analysis, or writing stories, or ... yes coding, scripting, excel spreadsheets, etc. The Agenda: Pair Programming Simulation Start with a warm up exercise (totally non-related to the topic).  This allows all the late arrivals to find a seat and not miss out on the real start of the session.  I've found this technique (soft start) to be a required technique for companies that have not adopted basic meeting protoc...

Which form of industry growth would you prefer - why? Which path leads toward the culture you desire in a software development organization? This is a wonderful article on the topic - read it and discuss with your colleagues. Programmers don’t need a union. We need a profession.    BY   MICHAELOCHURCH "Unions work best for commodity labor, and I use that term non-pejoratively. Commodity work is easily measurable and people can often be individually evaluated for performance. For example, a fishing boat operator is measured according to the quantity of fish she procures. A lot of very important work is commodity labor, so I don’t intend to disparage anyone by using that term. Commodity work can be unionized because there aren’t large and often intangible discrepancies in quality of output, and collective bargaining is often the best way to ensure that the workers are fairly compensated for the value they produce. Software is not commodity work, however. It...

The new and revised edition of Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs for the 21st Century. See Also: The Starbuck's Test

Brainstorming a list of topics for a Scrum/Agile lunch-N-learn session. Pair Programming - simulation using Tangrams & Face Drawing  Practices for Daily Standup - review and discuss: It's Not Just Standing Up: Patterns for Daily Standup Meetings Slicing Stories – resources to slice vertical stories of value  Story Writing techniques: w/ Q & A based upon participants real stories  Estimation techniques: Affinity Estimation; T-shirt sizing -> converting to numbers; Planning Poker (the rule book)  Team building tools: Infinite Loops; Helium Stick; Warp Speed; Pair Drawing, etc.  Pair Programming - an introduction via puzzel solving Definition of Done/Ready exercise  Release Planning How to derive duration with a complicated backlog  Agile Library Initiation Bring books, make the rules, get funding, 1,2,3, GO!  Management 3.0 Book Club - join a group reading the best Agile book written.  Making Visual Inform...

How does the brain process visual clues to the environment and synthesize meaning about an ever changing landscape?   Tom Wujec explains the creation of mental models and why AutoDesk invest in visual management techniques to plan their strategic roadmaps. Also in one of Tom Wujec's talks on How to Make Toast , he explains another important point of visual management - system's thinking and group work. Don't worry... the mind will do all the work.  It will fill in the missing details, and abstract the patterns into the concept.  Here's an exercise, Squiggle Birds by David Gray , to experience this. On a similar topic - Your view of Time Do you know where you perception of time comes from... it's not the same all over the earth.  It's a cultural construct.  If you are like me (English speaking/writing) you have a perception that time flows from left to right (the direction of reading written words).  Ponder that a moment... time flow is...

For many years one example of process thinking, resource gathering, requirements, implementation and acceptance criteria has been the exercise - make PB&J sandwiches .  I've done this with groups to discuss the simple task that we typically overlook as "experts" in sandwich making, that perhaps a 5 year old will find difficulty glossing over the - get bread - instruction. Here's a TED Talk by Tom Wujec who has analyzed a similar exercise and draws some powerful conclusions from many iterations.  Watch it and then rethink the simple acts in your life. So tell me again why group collaboration is important when you are solving wicked problems? I was out walking my dog, Malibu and we stopped at a tree with lights wrapped around it's trunk.  They didn't go too far up the trunk, and I wondered if the humans ran out of effort... then I imagined the lights wrapping themselves around the tree.  What kind of motions would a set of lights on a wire learn?...

When asked, many people wish to get better at estimation by tracking actuals and then assuming that some form of reflection upon those actuals will lead to better estimation.  I've long held a belief that it doesn't happen quite so simply in reality.  There are many assumptions in that proposal that are just glossed over.   Let's list a few (just for fun):  Actuals are accurate and precise representations, time will be allotted to reflections and learning,  people (teams of people) will all arrive at similar conclusions and learn from the reflection of estimate not equal to actual, future behavior will change significantly and quickly, among other assumptions. Well finally science has something to say about this.  A study: " How unrealistic optimism is maintained in the face of reality " by  Tali Sharot , Christoph W Korn & Raymond J Dolan  published in Nature Neuroscience (2011) has some fMRI proof that these behaviors are hard to...

In a few minutes how do you explain the benefits of multiple incremental releases to someone new to this agile mindset?  I'm convinced that if I try to use words (which is typically the case when caught in a hallway conversation) or even words and a few quick sketches - I will not do justice to the complex concept.  Why?  Because this concept deals with multiple what if scenarios that play out in long timeframes with little feedback. So needing to have this conversation today, I had the time to do a search for some help.  And I found this wonderful article and video with a voice over explanation. Business Benefits of Software Release in Multiple Increments And there is an interactive Wolfram graphic you can play with yourself. http://demonstrations.wolfram.com/BusinessBenefitsOfReleasingSoftwareInMultipleIncrements/ Now with this link and the video explanation (done with a german accent I think, gives it real authority) - I can solve the problem of comi...

My progress in The Impossible Room - iOS app puzzle game by Maruf Nebil. “Only one room  Only one way  Key is alive  Leave or stay" Spoiler Alert --- some puzzles are solved below. Day 1. Collected Items  ———— paper scrap lamp shade screwdriver tesla book USB cord Book Shelf  - opens Screwdriver ------------------------------------- Aristotle  384 BCE Roger Bacon  1214 - 1292 Leonardo Da Vinci  1452 - 1519 Copernicus  1473 - 1543 Galileo  1564 - 1642 Newton  1642 - 1727 Faraday  1791 - 1867 Tesla  1856- 1943 Alan Turing  1912 - 1954 Stephen Hawking  1942  3 Stars - 5 points; ball on one point - 1 missing star;  color of stars & books may signify the overlap of authors lives shark - pinguen - robot   - got a  USB cord in drawer (^^^)   <(“)   :|] Bird - Dog - Elephant - Dolphin   (...

Ricardo Semler discusses the broken education system and his re-imaged school and how the children are making the same old rules - but now also enforcing them. He founded The Ralston-Semler Foundation and the Lumiar School, a democratic school where children engage in projects of their own interest. There are three such schools; one in São Paulo and two in Campos do Jordão. Ricardo Semler: How to run a company with (almost) no rules TED Talk Bruce Feiler - Agile programming for your Family Agile in Education It appears that our education system is ripe for disruption and many people are using the software techniques to inject a bit of self-organization into the education system. AGILE IN EDUCATION COMPASS Together, we are discoverers of the world and ourselves. The world is no longer predictable and learning needs to be more adaptive, connected, and interdependent. Education can respond to this constantly changing landscape with agility. Through our journe...