Software Process and Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 547 returns to our standard staggered approach with a discussion of work entry. The majority of work entry issues are caused by eight problems. The eight problems often occur in clusters and are a reflection of organizational culture. Knowing that there are eight problems is useful so that you can do something about them! Also this week, Kim Pries, the software sensei is back and goes ful...

SPaMCAST 546 features our interview with Michael Milutis. Michael and I talk about putting people back in charge of their careers. Michael provides advice that every listener can put to use immediately and in the long run. Michael's Bio: Michael Milutis is an INFP and IT generalist committed to human capital development and continuous learning within a shifting technology landscape. He works with...

SPaMCAST 545 we have an interview with Cheryl Hammond, Jenny Tarwater, Faye Thompson, and Linda Podder. We talk about Launching New Voices, Women in Agile, planned activities at Agile 2019 and more. There is a lot of good advice and ideas if you're new to speaking or if you are a seasoned speaker. There is a call to action at the end of the interview. 2019 Women in Agile Conference site https://ww...

SPaMCAST 544 features our interview with Jeppe Hedaa. Mr. Hedaa and I discuss his new book, Nucleon: The Missing Formula That Measures Your IT Development Team's Performance. Our discussion centers on the book but also touches on meritocracy and why you want top performers on a team. This is a wide-ranging interview with thought-provoking ideas as we talk about Nucleon! Jeppe's bio: Jeppe Hedaa ha...

SPaMCAST 543 features our essay on value chains. In this essay, we tackle the mixed up world of Value Chains, Values Streams and Process Maps. This isn't a vocabulary test but mixing the words up can cause a mess. Let's solve the problem. As a reminder - I am doing a workshop on value chains at QAI Quest 2019 (May 13 - 19 in Chicago). Do you need a discount? Register at www.qaiQuest2019 using the...

SPaMCAST 542 features our interview with Kevin Rush. Mr. Rush has developed an innovative approach to facilitate sprint/iteration planning. Kittens, exploding kittens, and fat cats are used to help teams probe whether the team understands the story and if the story is broken down well enough for the team to reduce the risk of failure. All change agents talk about making changes at the team level b...

In SPaMCAST 541 we discuss using guardrails in decision making. Guardrails are a tool to ensure alignment with the organization's goals and objectives and to keep people on the right path. Well-formed guardrails conform to five attributes that help teams and individuals make decisions. Our second segment features Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column. Jon discusses re...

SPaMCAST 540 features our interview Mark Kilby and Johanna Rothman. Johanna, Mark, and I discussed their new book, From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams, Collaborate to Deliver (Buy your copy here: https://amzn.to/2Omur23). Distributed agile teams are a fact of life; Johanna and Mark provide an extraordinary amount of wisdom for making distributed teams exceptional. Johanna's Bio Johann...

SPaMCAST 539 features our essay titled, Assessment and Continuous Process Improvement. Assessments and continuous process improvement are intertwined. Assessments being both a source of ideas and a tool to validate change and other experiments. Other essays that have appeared on the SPaMCAST blog on agile assessments include: Assessment and Continuous Process Improvement - https://bit.ly/2UU8mdI C...

SPaMCAST 538 features our interview with Ben Linders. Ben and I talk about his new agile assessment game. Ben's game and the book that supports the game provide teams and individuals with a tool for introspection and process improvement. This is not Ben's first visit to the podcast. Ben's last visit was in November 2017 (SPaMCAST 470) to discuss what drives quality in software development. Ben Lin...

SPaMCAST 537 features our essay on the use of assessments for agile efforts. Assessments come under a wide variety of names: appraisals, health checks, audits or even assessments. These terms are commonly conflated. Assessments are a tool to prove a point. The essay in the cast explores the myriad types and reasons for assessments. Rounding out the cast is the Software Sensei, Kim Pries. Kim tackl...

SPaMCAST 536 features our interview with Dave Sohmer. Dave is an executive that has led two separate major agile transformations. Mr. Sohmer provides an executive's perspective on the impact of adopting agile in two major financial institutions. The two very different companies took to two very different approaches to agile. Bio: Dave Sohmer is a technology and operations executive with over 25 ye...

SPaMCAST 535 features our essay spawned when I was asked to help a Scrum Master who said: "I messed up a scrum team, should I do kanban?" There is not a straightforward answer because regardless of the path forward there are people issues that need to be dealt with first. Also in this podcast, we have a visit from Susan Parente and her 'I am not a Scrumdamentalist' column. In this installment, Sus...

SPaMCAST 534 features our interview with Al Shalloway. Al returns to the SPaMCAST after far too long. This week we discuss the trials and tribulations of scaling agile, and his passion about getting knowledge transfer right! I hope you have as good of a time listening to this interview as I had creating it. Bio Al Shalloway is the founder and CEO of Net Objectives. With 45 years of experience, Al...

SPaMCAST 533 features our essay titled, Can Agile (SAFe) Be Interfaced With Waterfall? The long answer is yes, but the short answer is yes, but try to find a way to avoid the self-inflicted complexity. If you can't avoid mixing and matching frameworks, there are paths to success you can leverage. Other essays in our series on interfacing SAFe and waterfall efforts include: Can Agile (SAFe) Be Inte...

SPaMCAST features our interview with Julia Wester. Julia returns to the cast to discuss spectrum thinking. Specturn thinking is an important tool in system thinking and required to address complexity. Even though using binary thinking is rarely the most effective path, it is rare to use spectrum thinking to address problems. Julia provides a path to more effective decision making. Julia's Bio Juli...

SPaMCAST 531 features our essay on Balancing Control and Self-Organization to Avoid Heat Death. Control and self-organization represent a classic Goldilocks and the Three Bears problem. We discuss whether there is a solution. Interested in more on this topic? Other blog entries include: Balancing Control and Self-Organization to Avoid Heat Death -https://bit.ly/2UnzfGu Balancing of Autonomy with A...

On January 18, 2007 show zero was posted. Show zero established the RSS feed and let me get some of the bugs out of our workflow. We begin year 13 next week. Thank you for being part of the Software Process and Measurement Cast. SPaMCAST 530 features our interview with Justin McPherson. Justin and I talked about the role of the enterprise architect in agile. Organizations struggle with the role of...

SPaMCAST 529 features our essay titled Habit and Commitment. We are still early enough in the year to be pursuing new beginnings and the New Year resolutions you made a few weeks ago. Commitment and habits can be positively interrelated. Commitment is being dedicated to a cause or activity. Habits reflect a more or less fixed routine. We also have a visit from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries. Kim d...

SPaMCAST 528 features our interview with Allan Kelly. Allan makes his third appearance on the cast to talk about his book Continuous Digital (buy a copy!) and the state of agile. A great way to start the year! Allan's Bio: Allan Kelly helps companies large and small enhance their agility and boost their digital offering. Past clients include Virgin Atlantic, Qualcomm, The Bank of England, Reed Els...

SPaMCAST 527, is our last podcast of 2018. We say goodbye to 2018 by talking about user story maps. User story maps are both versatile and an underused tool. Perhaps something that we can address in 2019? We also have a visit from Susan Parente. Susan brings her Not a Scrumdamentalist column to the cast to discuss agile risk management. Risk management is a requirement for any form of work. Why do...

SPaMCAST 526 features an interview with Freddie Clark. Mr. Clark is a tester and Scrum Master by day and video game entrepreneur in the evening. We had an in-depth conversation about using Scrum and other agile techniques in a lean startup environment. It is not the same as the standard corporate environment. Freddie's Bio Freddie hails from Cleveland, Ohio where he discovered an enthusiasm for ga...

SPaMCAST 525 continues our conversation about story points. Many teams find that story points are only a partially useful tool to facilitate the flow of work within a team. Today we will highlight a behavioral fix and talk RATS. We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault with a discussion from the QA Corner. Jeremey and I talked about how the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) impacts...

SPaMCAST 524 features the return of Matt Heusser. Matt and I talk about the nuts and bolts of being a tester in today's software environment including agile testing. Matt and I had covered difficult areas that anyone that is interested in quality and risk needs to think about. Matt's bio: The Managing Director of Excelon Development and a member of the board of directors for the Association for So...

SPaMCAST 523 features our essay on story points. Story points were a tool designed to give teams a rough understanding of their flow of work. It was a great idea at the time, but that time has passed. Unfortunately, story points now are being used improperly creating more problems than they solve. In addition, Jon M Quigley brings his Alpha and Omega of Product Development to the cast. In this ins...