Sharpen Your Knives
You’ve heard the old adage about the lumberjack who—in order to cut a tree in an hour—will take 45 minutes to sharpen the saw? This…
Category: Newsletter
Good Design, part IV: The Role of Tests
We’ve seen how refactoring becomes the primary design activity on an Agile team. Diligent, confident refactoring is possible to the degree that the code is…
The Framework That Changes Everything
Scrum changes the way everyone in your company interacts and will likely influence your organizational structure. When an organization considers “moving to” Scrum, it’s easy…
Rethinking New Year’s Resolutions for 2018
“This year,” says your friend (who’s never run a 5K), “I’m going to do a marathon.” “Yeah? How are you going to do that?” you…
Good Design, Part II: Code Smells
Last month we talked about good software design and introduced the notion of code smells. Code smells are names given to those instinctual thoughts you…
Good Design
I’ve learned not to assume a team has experienced a variety of software design skills. Some are writing elegant functional-paradigm code in archaic, challenging languages.…
Stop settling. Collaborate instead of cooperate.
“We need you to help this team. They are struggling to deliver. But don’t worry; you’ll love this team. There is no conflict and they…
An Agile Lesson from the Movie “City Slickers”
As an Agile trainer and coach, I have worked with hundreds of companies over the past 10 years. After reflecting back on my interactions with…
How TDD is More Than Simply Unit Testing
I was recently asked about the difference between unit-testing and Test-Driven Development (TDD). Specifically, why—if the end results are the same—would I recommend TDD over…
Leading an Engaged Organization
“Engagement doesn’t really matter in the workforce today” That’s not a real quote. I’ve never heard a leader say that. But something doesn’t add up.
What Do We Mean By Welcoming Complexity?
Subscribe To The Welcoming Complexity Newsletter In this inaugural issue, we explain the newsletter’s title and provide a few thoughts on relevant Agile For All blog…