New to agile? Tools for distributed agile
I’ve been working the past several weeks with some highly distributed teams. Each team requires a way to track their project effectively (when you have…
Never start a sentence “We can’t be agile because…”
I recently started filling out a form which included a question regarding the training I’ve done. As I filled it out I realized that in…
Agile Pondering: Should an iteration ever be stopped?
It is accepted in the agile world that if an iteration or sprint is going extremely badly then it can be stopped – rebooted I…
Agile antipattern: Moving work from one iteration to the next
All agile teams start at something less than the completely proficient level. Nearly all of those teams do not successfully complete their very first iteration. …
Never have a PMP on an agile team
Now that I have your attention, let me be VERY clear I don’t believe the title of this post. However, many people do believe it, and…
New to Agile? Beware of the elephant in the room!
Like many other agile consultants I am often asked how agile adoptions could fail. This question has a myriad of answers. A search on Google…
Being agile is to releasing products, like fishing is to catching fish
I recently read this blog post from Chris Sterling and while funny, it made me wonder about the similarities between fishing and agile development. Since…
Agile antipattern: But the development lead said it would take way less time than that
I’d be rich if I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard this, or something very similar to it, in the past 30 years! Alright,…
Agile Antipattern: Everything is priority 1
I was just working on some Powerpoint slides for our Agile Product Management Boot Camp coming up on March 9 and 10 and I realized I should…
New to agile? Remember to eliminate waste
When I teach any agile course I start out with the principles of lean that Mary and Tom Poppendieck have written about in their books. …
New to agile? Remember one thing: Just enough, just in time
If you lived through the past few decades you have undoubtedly heard the time “Just in Time” (JIT) as applied to manufacturing. This is the…
When in Doubt Ask “How Will I Know I’ve Done That?”
Tired of not knowing exactly what to create or test? Get in the habit of asking the magic question “How will I know I’ve done…
Holistic vs. Dogmatic Agile Definition – Results Matter!
I originally wrote about this topic in our September email newsletter. In that article I was trying to explain the difference between two specific types…
Continuous Deployment
I’ve written before about the amazing financial impact of releasing more often. And I know from personal experience the positive impact that frequent releases have…
WatiN Patterns #2: One Assertion and a Name to Match
One way to keep your WatiN tests maintainable is to keep them small and focused. WatiN Pattern #2, then, is a way to do just…
Agile Leadership is Overrated – Isn’t It?
This is the topic of my next Mile Hi PMI Chapter Workshop to be presented on April 11, 2009. I do workshops on agile topics…
7 Tips for a More Effective Daily Scrum
The main purpose of the Daily Scrum is for team members to make and follow-up on commitments to one another that work towards the team’s…
WatiN Patterns #1: No Browser Left Behind
In my previous posts on WatiN, I lamented the shortage of online documentation and resolved to do something about it by documenting the patterns I’ve…
Real World Agile Testing with Fit and FitNesse
Another short blog entry. This time it is to announce that we’ll be hosting Rob Myers teaching a great agile testing course using Fit and…
Be Agile to Become More Agile!
I often get the question “How do we get better at agile?” I imagine a lot of agile consultants get this particular question because the answer is…