“You can’t put being in love on a scale. Either you are or you aren’t.” ― Jenny Han, We’ll Always Have Summer Respectfully adapted… “You can’t put being agile on a scale. Either you are or you aren’t.” The world exists as a set of patterns. These patterns tend to repeat themselves in various contexts. …
I Must ASK (Agile Scaling Knowledge) – Has It Really Come to This? Read More »
I’ve recently had the pleasure of working with 2 of the 3 authors (Si & Mark) and must say it has been a truly amazing experience. Agile (in the broad sense) has been a growing collection of knowledge, especially since 2001 when the Agile Manifesto was created. Prior to, and especially since then, a lot …
Book Review – Adopting and Sustaining the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) Read More »
For the second year in a row I was invited to present at IBM Innovate, which is a conference hosted by IBM and focused on concepts such as Continuous Engineering, DevOps and Agile. My topic was titled “SDLC Transformation: How Paychex Began Adopting Rational CLM (+Agile) and Adapted Along the Way”. In this session, …
Innovate 2014 Presentation: SDLC Transformation @ Paychex Read More »
I asked this question to 2 colleagues and received the following responses: Colleague #1: 60 Minutes ( (4) 15 Minute Quarters) Colleague #2: 3 Hours (Games start Sundays at 1 and ends by 4) So who is correct? The answer: both. Colleague #1 is correct because the actual time spent playing the game is 60 …
In my first blog post (How I Use Earned Value Management (EVM) to Track Agile Scrum Projects), I showed how I use some EVM concepts to track agile projects. One of the comments from that post criticized the model because it did not incorporate SPI and CPI. As a result, I expanded on the model …
How I Use Earned Value Management (EVM) to Track Agile Scrum Projects Part 2 Read More »
I first read Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit by Mary and Tom Poppendieck several years ago when I was introduced to lean. While attending a leadership training, the practitioner had us perform an activity involving building paper airplanes. She split the class into 3 groups, each with 7 people. She showed us how to build a …
Book Review: Lean Software Development – An Agile Toolkit Read More »
I am a big fan of NetObjectives training and their books. Their website offers a plethora of resources surrounding lean, agile, kanban and plenty of technical topics to support these frameworks and methodologies. I was introduced to this book through a 1 hour free webinar that they held – Essential Skills for the Agile Developer …
Book Review: Essential Skills for the Agile Developer Read More »
Earned Value Management (EVM) is a technique that can be used on project to monitor the performance and progress of projects. It is typically associated with traditional project management. According to PMP Project Management Professional Exam Study Guide, Earned Value Management “compares what you’ve received or produced to what you’ve spent… EVM looks at schedule, …
How I Use Earned Value Management (EVM) to Track Agile Scrum Projects Read More »
On many projects, the question I many times hear is “how much time have you spent?” Time tracking systems are often created to track time spent. This seems logical and often times people do not think twice about it, but it is one of the leading factors contributing to late projects. Let’s look at an …
Time Remaining is More Important Than Time Spent Read More »
One of the artifacts used to track work on an agile project is the release burndown chart. This chart plots functionality along the y-axis and time along the x-axis. A line is then drawn from the size of the desired functionality over to the correct time, labeled the “ideal” line. This is the line that …
Release Burndown + Cone of Uncertainty = Release Uncertainty Burndown? Read More »