In his recent IEEE Software column, “Ship Effortlessly” J.B. Rainsberger has a gem: I start each project with two rules: all source files must be in a version control repository, and the build must be fully automated at all times. Does your project follow these rules? If not, what would you have to do? […]
There are several questioning comments on my post Testing is Not a Service: What do I mean by testing and how do I reconcile my statement with the context-driven school of testing? Let me clarify what I mean by service first. The way the participants were discussing testing as a service, they meant a common
I taught a one-day workshop at StarEast yesterday with Esther. I was astonished at the number of test managers who think testing is a service. Effective testing is not a service. Effective testing is an integral part of development. When people–especially senior management–consider testing a service, there are inevitable consequences: Testers multitask between several
From 1974-2002, Jerry Weinberg, taught Problem Solving Leadership. Jerry thought he was done teaching in 2002, but is co-teaching PSL again with Esther and me June 24-29, 2007 in Albuquerque, NM. Want more information? Send me an email.
I am happy to report that Manage It! is at the printer, both the book and the cover. We’re looking sometime in June as a ship date. Just thought you’d want to know 🙂 Labels: Manage It, project management
George Dinwiddie pointed me to this great column, Fired With Enthusiasm. I have a talk that I’ve given at a bunch of Software Development conferences, called “Successful Software Management: X Lessons Learned,” where X started at 8, and is now up to 16. Lesson # 11 is “Fire People Who Can’t Do the Work.” I
As part of some recent consulting and training, one of the project managers asked, “How do you make time for innovation in timeboxes? If everyone’s busy all the time, how can you allow people time to think for real innovation?” Good question. I asked how people had time for innovation now. The PM wasn’t
I’ve taught several workshops where people wanted to learn how to start adopting some agile approaches. They knew about timeboxing, but didn’t quite see how to make it work. The part they were missing was having working valuable product at the end of each timebox. I explain that to the participants, and they nod sagely.
I taught a workshop about transitioning to Agile earlier this week. One of the things that’s difficult for many project managers to recognize is that milestones must be deliverables–otherwise, it’s too hard to know when something is done. One of the participants had a slightly puzzled look on his face when I said that,
After speaking with Mary Poppendieck at the Software Development conference a few weeks ago, I instigated a name change for Successful Project Management with Andy and Dave. Mary said the name was boring, and I had a number of cutesy suggestions. Luckily, Dave cut through the cute, and we decided on “Manage It!: Your Guide