Lean-Agile Straight Talk

 Avoiding Coupling and Using Mocks (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on September 02, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway discusses how, in Agile projects, neither full up-front designs nor no design proper. This webinar discusses some techniques for decoupling modules early on. In other words, although we may not know how things will change, we often know of dependencies between modules that will morph over time. He presents three case studies: Decoupling informational dependencies between components How to define the API for a component being built by one group and used by another Using mocks to never be blocked - avoiding delays caused by dependencies of different tiers The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Avoiding Coupling and Using Mocks (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on September 02, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway discusses how, in Agile projects, neither full up-front designs nor no design proper. This webinar discusses some techniques for decoupling modules early on. In other words, although we may not know how things will change, we often know of dependencies between modules that will morph over time. He presents three case studies: Decoupling informational dependencies between components How to define the API for a component being built by one group and used by another Using mocks to never be blocked - avoiding delays caused by dependencies of different tiers The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Understanding Why Scrum Works (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on September 02, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway discusses why Scrum works and how Lean's metaphor of Fast-Flexible-Flow can be used to modify standard Scrum practices as needed. Additionally, Scrum#'s enterprise view and Lean Management philosophy will be the basis for creating an Enterprise/Organization wide team to manage dependencies across teams without command and control. This webinar covers: Why Scrum works How Lean-Thinking can identify root cause of problems How to use Lean-Thinking to eliminate delays Breaking down the silos between development and Quality Assurance How to coordinate multiple development teams so that they work together - going beyond Scrum-of-Scrums The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Understanding Why Scrum Works (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on September 02, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway discusses why Scrum works and how Lean's metaphor of Fast-Flexible-Flow can be used to modify standard Scrum practices as needed. Additionally, Scrum#'s enterprise view and Lean Management philosophy will be the basis for creating an Enterprise/Organization wide team to manage dependencies across teams without command and control. This webinar covers: Why Scrum works How Lean-Thinking can identify root cause of problems How to use Lean-Thinking to eliminate delays Breaking down the silos between development and Quality Assurance How to coordinate multiple development teams so that they work together - going beyond Scrum-of-Scrums The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Database Agility Databases are central to almost any software development project of any size. Developers have been gaining big improvements as they adopt Agile approaches: higher quality, more satisfaction, delivering more value to customers. It seems time for database developers to begin to experience the same gains! But database development is special. It is not like just copying new bits into the environment. Databases need to retain their identity and the data that are in them. They have history and investment and must survive. Transitioning change is much harder and requires more care. Is it possible to use iterative, Agile approaches with databases? Yes it is. This podcast describes the landscape for doing so. Early adopters of this approach have learned the key principles involved and tools for testing and transition management are now available. Training is also available to equip teams with the new skills and ways of thinking that are required in order to be successful. This podcast features a conversation with Max Guernsey, an associate trainer with Net Objectives. He has been developing professionally for 10 years and been consulting in Agile database development for the last year. He has turned this expertise into a course - really an on-site, practical boot camp - to help teams successfully incorporate this approach into their development practice. It is called the TDD Database Boot Camp. As you might expect, Test-Driven Development (TDD) is going to be as central to this approach as it is to Agile development in general. The trick is to see what what this means in the database world. As Max touches on in this podcast, it goes beyond UAT and unit to focus on testing how the database is changing. "Transition Testing" is a major part of the course. This involves a new way of thinking about how databases are expressed: You want to design and develop based on transitions in the database. About the Boot Camp In this podcast, Max gives a quick overview of the TDD Database Boot Camp. Its goals are: Teach the principles of database agility Teach technologies that facilitate this approach. We help the team create the environment they will require including: Test suites, transition tests DataConstructor. Every team receives a 10 user license for DataConstructor, a tool by Hexagon Software. This tool works with NUnit, JUnit, TFS, etc to implement the suites of tests focused on transitions (see Features of DataConstructor). It makes it possible to have live data version control. Focus on problems that the team is facing now The boot camp is designed to be an on-site course so that conversations can be confidential and frank, (which is required with database work). It is best if the whole team takes the course - developers, QA, Scrum Master. Recommendations - Online Resources Scott Ambler's website: www.agiledata.org Max Guernsey's Rethinking Agility in Databases DataConstructor, a tool by Hexagon Software Recommendations - Training by Net Objectives TDD Database Boot Camp Design Patterns, Testing and Programming Skills for Developers   Music used in this podcast “Pizzaman” and “Chocolate” ©2006 William Cushman: ghostnotes.blogspot.com For more information, contact info@netobjectives.com or visit us at http://www.netobjectives.com/ Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Database Agility Databases are central to almost any software development project of any size. Developers have been gaining big improvements as they adopt Agile approaches: higher quality, more satisfaction, delivering more value to customers. It seems time for database developers to begin to experience the same gains! But database development is special. It is not like just copying new bits into the environment. Databases need to retain their identity and the data that are in them. They have history and investment and must survive. Transitioning change is much harder and requires more care. Is it possible to use iterative, Agile approaches with databases? Yes it is. This podcast describes the landscape for doing so. Early adopters of this approach have learned the key principles involved and tools for testing and transition management are now available. Training is also available to equip teams with the new skills and ways of thinking that are required in order to be successful. This podcast features a conversation with Max Guernsey, an associate trainer with Net Objectives. He has been developing professionally for 10 years and been consulting in Agile database development for the last year. He has turned this expertise into a course - really an on-site, practical boot camp - to help teams successfully incorporate this approach into their development practice. It is called the TDD Database Boot Camp. As you might expect, Test-Driven Development (TDD) is going to be as central to this approach as it is to Agile development in general. The trick is to see what what this means in the database world. As Max touches on in this podcast, it goes beyond UAT and unit to focus on testing how the database is changing. "Transition Testing" is a major part of the course. This involves a new way of thinking about how databases are expressed: You want to design and develop based on transitions in the database. About the Boot Camp In this podcast, Max gives a quick overview of the TDD Database Boot Camp. Its goals are: Teach the principles of database agility Teach technologies that facilitate this approach. We help the team create the environment they will require including: Test suites, transition tests DataConstructor. Every team receives a 10 user license for DataConstructor, a tool by Hexagon Software. This tool works with NUnit, JUnit, TFS, etc to implement the suites of tests focused on transitions (see Features of DataConstructor). It makes it possible to have live data version control. Focus on problems that the team is facing now The boot camp is designed to be an on-site course so that conversations can be confidential and frank, (which is required with database work). It is best if the whole team takes the course - developers, QA, Scrum Master. Recommendations - Online Resources Scott Ambler's website: www.agiledata.org Max Guernsey's Rethinking Agility in Databases DataConstructor, a tool by Hexagon Software Recommendations - Training by Net Objectives TDD Database Boot Camp Design Patterns, Testing and Programming Skills for Developers   Music used in this podcast “Pizzaman” and “Chocolate” ©2006 William Cushman: ghostnotes.blogspot.com For more information, contact info@netobjectives.com or visit us at https://www.netobjectives.com/ Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 The Present and the Possible There is a gap between what is possible and what is present - what is done - in the software industry. How much time and effort is wasted, how much re-inventing and re-discovery is done because we don't always understand the hard won insights from the past about what is required to create quality, sustainable product? How many companies have not realized the success of process improvements, like Agile, because they have not really understood its principles? This gap, and the pain and waste it causes, is frustrating. Closing the gap involves a little re-orientation, becoming intentional to learn and try and adjust, to improve continually. To become more professional. Professionals strive to build on the learnings of others. They avoid taking unnecessary shortcuts, especially when that could harm the product over the long term (imagine what would happen to the civil engineer who kludges together something for the last 2 feet of a bridge just to get it finished up or just to try some new, cool idea). They follow the best practices in how we develop and manage people, in the processes and methods we use, and in the proper way to use tools and technologies.  Laws of the Wood Professional carpenters know that there are certain "laws of the wood" that they must follow in order to build products that will endure and to build them efficiently and profitably. For example, cross-cutting across the grain give you one kind of cut and cutting with the grain is very different. They are basic laws or principles that must be followed to avoid wasted effort, wasted wood, designs that fail. We have our own "Laws of the Wood." For example, there are design principles such as the Dependency Inversion Principle, the Open-Closed Principle, the Liskov Substitution Principle (all things that we have written about in Design Patterns Explained). Failing to work within these laws, principles, forces, leads to wasted effort, products that cannot be maintained, designs that fail. Bob Martin has been advocating this for a long time, calling software developers to become "craftsmen." While Alan uses the term "professional" to describe this, he is in "violent agreement" with Bob and his intent. It is time for us to raise the bar in terms of how we are building software. But what about creativity? We don't like to be constrained as developers. Far from taking away creativity, cooperating with these laws and principles allows creativity to flourish. It helps reduce the complexity in what is surely one of the most complex of human endeavors so that what we do create has the greatest chance of succeeding. In the 1960's, NASA put a man on the moon. They cooperated with their "laws of the wood" (e.g. gravity) to create solutions to an amazing array of problems to create a thing of beauty. The laws give us parameters and boundaries within which to be innovative and get problems solved. If you don't follow the laws, principles, you just won't be as effective. The Long Journey Why don't people follow the laws of development? They don't understand the implications of not following the laws...  They feel time pressures: feel a need for a short cut now.   They fall back into old habits, Sadly, these short cuts don't always give longer term gain... and if they understood the principles better, the good practices approach is just as efficient as those "short cuts." It is natural. And change is going to involve taking what Gemba Panta Rei and Toyota calls the "long path". What this means is that we adopt a mindset to make progressive improvement, learning as we go and adjusting our thinking as we discover what does or does not work. Constantly, intentionally perfecting what we do, sometimes in small steps that take us down the right path. The good news is that, at some level, many developers do know - or almost know - many of these good practices. They may be buried in our intuition, but at least they are not foreign to us. Sometimes, it is ju

 The Present and the Possible There is a gap between what is possible and what is present - what is done - in the software industry. How much time and effort is wasted, how much re-inventing and re-discovery is done because we don't always understand the hard won insights from the past about what is required to create quality, sustainable product? How many companies have not realized the success of process improvements, like Agile, because they have not really understood its principles? This gap, and the pain and waste it causes, is frustrating. Closing the gap involves a little re-orientation, becoming intentional to learn and try and adjust, to improve continually. To become more professional. Professionals strive to build on the learnings of others. They avoid taking unnecessary shortcuts, especially when that could harm the product over the long term (imagine what would happen to the civil engineer who kludges together something for the last 2 feet of a bridge just to get it finished up or just to try some new, cool idea). They follow the best practices in how we develop and manage people, in the processes and methods we use, and in the proper way to use tools and technologies.  Laws of the Wood Professional carpenters know that there are certain "laws of the wood" that they must follow in order to build products that will endure and to build them efficiently and profitably. For example, cross-cutting across the grain give you one kind of cut and cutting with the grain is very different. They are basic laws or principles that must be followed to avoid wasted effort, wasted wood, designs that fail. We have our own "Laws of the Wood." For example, there are design principles such as the Dependency Inversion Principle, the Open-Closed Principle, the Liskov Substitution Principle (all things that we have written about in Design Patterns Explained). Failing to work within these laws, principles, forces, leads to wasted effort, products that cannot be maintained, designs that fail. Bob Martin has been advocating this for a long time, calling software developers to become "craftsmen." While Alan uses the term "professional" to describe this, he is in "violent agreement" with Bob and his intent. It is time for us to raise the bar in terms of how we are building software. But what about creativity? We don't like to be constrained as developers. Far from taking away creativity, cooperating with these laws and principles allows creativity to flourish. It helps reduce the complexity in what is surely one of the most complex of human endeavors so that what we do create has the greatest chance of succeeding. In the 1960's, NASA put a man on the moon. They cooperated with their "laws of the wood" (e.g. gravity) to create solutions to an amazing array of problems to create a thing of beauty. The laws give us parameters and boundaries within which to be innovative and get problems solved. If you don't follow the laws, principles, you just won't be as effective. The Long Journey Why don't people follow the laws of development? They don't understand the implications of not following the laws...  They feel time pressures: feel a need for a short cut now.   They fall back into old habits, Sadly, these short cuts don't always give longer term gain... and if they understood the principles better, the good practices approach is just as efficient as those "short cuts." It is natural. And change is going to involve taking what Gemba Panta Rei and Toyota calls the "long path". What this means is that we adopt a mindset to make progressive improvement, learning as we go and adjusting our thinking as we discover what does or does not work. Constantly, intentionally perfecting what we do, sometimes in small steps that take us down the right path. The good news is that, at some level, many developers do know - or almost know - many of these good practices. They may be buried in our intuition, but at least they are not foreign to us. Sometimes, it is ju

 Avoiding Over- and Under-Design in Agile Projects (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on August 18, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway focuses on what developers must attend to when building systems with Agile methods. It discusses an alternative to the choices of: Design for the future which often results in overdesign Not designing at all which often makes code difficult to change The mantra of the talk is “minimizing complexity and rework” and shows how to use the advice from Design Patterns, coupled with the attitude of not building what you don’t need from Agile. The talk is basically a compendium of the essential ideas Net Objectives believes that developers need to understand after learning the basics of Scrum or Agile process. At the end of the day, you are still writing code. This webinar is a first start in what you need to know in writing code in an Agile environment. Attendees will learn: How Design Patterns give an alternative design approach to the common approaches of over and under design How decoupling modules from the start can often be done in a simple manner without requiring pre-cognitive abilities How the understanding of components written by one group and used by another can be defined better The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Avoiding Over- and Under-Design in Agile Projects (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on August 18, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway focuses on what developers must attend to when building systems with Agile methods. It discusses an alternative to the choices of: Design for the future which often results in overdesign Not designing at all which often makes code difficult to change The mantra of the talk is “minimizing complexity and rework” and shows how to use the advice from Design Patterns, coupled with the attitude of not building what you don’t need from Agile. The talk is basically a compendium of the essential ideas Net Objectives believes that developers need to understand after learning the basics of Scrum or Agile process. At the end of the day, you are still writing code. This webinar is a first start in what you need to know in writing code in an Agile environment. Attendees will learn: How Design Patterns give an alternative design approach to the common approaches of over and under design How decoupling modules from the start can often be done in a simple manner without requiring pre-cognitive abilities How the understanding of components written by one group and used by another can be defined better The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Managing Requirements in Agile Projects with Scrum Sharp (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on August 18, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway discusses how Scrum#'s enterprise and product focus improves on the standard method of managing with Epics and User Stories. By stepping back to include product portfolio management, Scrum# facilitates working on the right product features across the enterprise, not just working on the right stories in a project. Topics discussed include: Product Portfolio Management with Minimum Marketable Features (MMF) How MMFs are more useful than Epics Going beyond user stories Managing stories from business value Handling time and team dependencies in your Sprint backlog The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Managing Requirements in Agile Projects with Scrum Sharp (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on August 18, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway discusses how Scrum#'s enterprise and product focus improves on the standard method of managing with Epics and User Stories. By stepping back to include product portfolio management, Scrum# facilitates working on the right product features across the enterprise, not just working on the right stories in a project. Topics discussed include: Product Portfolio Management with Minimum Marketable Features (MMF) How MMFs are more useful than Epics Going beyond user stories Managing stories from business value Handling time and team dependencies in your Sprint backlog The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Lean-Agile in Tough Times In times of economic slowdown, you have many choices to make about how to allocate scarce time and people and money. Is it at all relevant to invest in Lean-Agile software development? Why? What would you say? Alan Shalloway believes it is more important than ever. And it is why he places so much emphasis on Lean for those who need to become more Agile. Focusing on local team efficiency is good... teams become more able to create product with a minimum of wasted effort. But the more important objective - and even more so now - has to be ensuring that the organization is delivering true value to customers as quickly as possible. This requires the entire stream of product creation to working effectively.  The goal is not really to speed up software development. The goal is to speed up delivery of software that customers can use. To be faster now and faster in the future. Perhaps you would call this Enterprise Agility.   I ask Alan to comment on this and on a couple of related questions: In tough times, is it best to start with small pilot projects? Opinions are mixed. Where do assessments fit in the improvement mix? What lessons can we draw from successes and failures that we have seen in the transition to lean-agile? Recommendations - Online Resources The TOWS Matrix - Going beyond SWOT Analysis (MindTools) Recommendations - Training by Net Objectives Lean Software Development for Management Music used in this podcast “Pizzaman” and “Chocolate” ©2006 William Cushman: ghostnotes.blogspot.com For more information, contact info@netobjectives.com or visit us at http://www.netobjectives.com/ Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

 Lean-Agile in Tough Times In times of economic slowdown, you have many choices to make about how to allocate scarce time and people and money. Is it at all relevant to invest in Lean-Agile software development? Why? What would you say? Alan Shalloway believes it is more important than ever. And it is why he places so much emphasis on Lean for those who need to become more Agile. Focusing on local team efficiency is good... teams become more able to create product with a minimum of wasted effort. But the more important objective - and even more so now - has to be ensuring that the organization is delivering true value to customers as quickly as possible. This requires the entire stream of product creation to working effectively.  The goal is not really to speed up software development. The goal is to speed up delivery of software that customers can use. To be faster now and faster in the future. Perhaps you would call this Enterprise Agility.   I ask Alan to comment on this and on a couple of related questions: In tough times, is it best to start with small pilot projects? Opinions are mixed. Where do assessments fit in the improvement mix? What lessons can we draw from successes and failures that we have seen in the transition to lean-agile? Recommendations - Online Resources The TOWS Matrix - Going beyond SWOT Analysis (MindTools) Recommendations - Training by Net Objectives Lean Software Development for Management Music used in this podcast “Pizzaman” and “Chocolate” ©2006 William Cushman: ghostnotes.blogspot.com For more information, contact info@netobjectives.com or visit us at https://www.netobjectives.com/ Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments

Scaling Scrum to the Enterprise with Lean Software Development (audio of the webinar) Scrum# is an extension to Scrum that was developed by Net Objectives to solve challenges that were being encountered by many teams adopting Scrum. Read about more about the issues which Scrum# was created to solve. A webinar on July 21, 2008 presented by Alan Shalloway presents a broad stroke of Scrum#. It gives a high view of the process and analysis extensions of Scrum#. The webinar is available to registered users of the Net Objectives website for 30 days and to Net Objectives customers always. However, you can still download: The audio track of the presentation as a podcast A (lower resolution) iPod Video that you can watch on your iPod or in iTunes Note: This webinar is close to an hour long, so the files are large. Attend other sessions in the Scrum# Webinar series. The ideas and strategies introduced in this webinar are also being explored in a book which is currently being written by Alan Shalloway, Jim Trott with contributions from other Net Objectives consultants. Learn more about the book and read selected chapters. Blog Type: PodcastLog in or register to post comments