Agile
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It’s Not Software – Can I Use Agile?
Yes. And no. It depends on how you define agile. In the broadest sense, agile methods work by splitting your delivery into small batches and working on one batch at a time. The team or organization finishes and delivers a batch before moving on to the next set of work. Each time the team completes a
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The Agile Fluency Game
Last week, I attended an excellent workshop given by James Shore, Diana Larsen, and Adam Light to learn how to use the Agile Fluency Game. The Agile Fluency Game simulates the adoption of agile by a single team. The Agile Fluency Game does discuss the Agile Fluency Model, but the model itself isn’t the focus of the game. The simulation
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What is the Rapid Learning Cycles Framework?
The Rapid Learning Cycles Framework* is a synthesis of the best ideas from Agile Development for software and from Lean Product Development methods used in hardware. The framework is tailored for teams working on physical, chemical, and biological products – which includes mixed hardware/software projects. In these domains, Rapid Learning Cycles speed up the long,
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Why Limit Work-in-Process?
“Work-in-Process” is a fancy name for jobs which are started but not finished. You may have a collection of half-finished projects on your desk, or in your garage, or your sewing area. These are all Work-in-Process or WIP. At home, we usually realize that it’s not a great idea to have a dozen carpentry projects
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Seven Wastes of Software Development – or Not
The seven wastes of Lean were originally used by Taiichi Ohno to categorize common sources of waste in a manufacturing process. A manufacturing process involves regular, fairly predictable chunks of work arriving in a fairly homogenous way. In this sort of system, the seven wastes proposed by Ohno are common sources of waste. Software development, however,
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Cadence – Why Rhythm is Good for You
One of the fundamental tools in Agile and Lean is cadence. A cadence is a regular, predictable rhythm within a process. For instance, your staff meeting is held every Monday at 10am, or your website is refreshed every 4th Tuesday. Agile sprints are another example of cadence. A regular, predictable cadence saves time by reducing time
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Best Practices – Not!
There are lots of good practices for software development and testing, and I recommend practices all the time. However, I’m very reluctant to call anything a “best practice” (except perhaps “Do unto others…”). Here’s why. Practices are context-dependent. They work when they fit the particular product, the starting point, the resources available, and the people. We bake some dishes,