A reader asked me this question: “How do I report on the 1000 (or so) defects in our system? I have 10 minutes on the status call.” If you are working on a legacy application where the team was not able—for any number of reasons—to maintain technical excellence, you might have a problem like this. So […]
Is your agile transition proceeding well? Or, is it stuck in places? Maybe the teams aren’t improving. Maybe no one knows “how to get it all done.” Maybe you’re tired and don’t know how you’ll find the energy to continue. Or, you can’t understand how to engage your management or their management in creating an
Plan, Plan, Plan Do you like planning? You might be one of those people who likes to make lists and plan in great detail. I love my lists. I’m not big on huge, ginormous plans, but I do like a list of what to do now and the picture of where I’m headed. You might
Marcus Blankenship and I are conducting a survey of technical managers. If you are or have been a technical manager, please take the survey here: . Oh, and I was so curious about how many female/male managers there were, we had to ask that question. Yes, I said to Marcus, “We have to ask!” He laughed
I spoke with a potential client last week. She said, “I’m waving the agile flag. But no one cares.” I wrote a Pragmatic Manager to sort through what I wanted to say to her. Read it at Feeling Alone on Your Agile Journey. If you feel stuck in the middle, or you’re alone, or you
Over on Techwell, my monthly column is Agile Does Not Equal Scrum: Know the Difference. I wrote the article because I am tired of people saying “Agile/Scrum” as if Scrum was the only way to do agile. I use iterations, kanban, and the XP technical practices when I work with teams. I am not religious about
Is your agile transition proceeding well? Or, is it stuck in places—maybe the teams aren’t improving, maybe the people are multitasking, maybe you are tired and don’t know how you’ll find the energy to continue. You are the kind of person who would benefit from the Influential Agile Leader workshop. Gil Broza and I co-facilitate.
Productive Vs. Busy I received some fascinating responses to Do You Want More Productivity? One correspondent told me that managers need to move people—especially testers—from one project where they are not busy to another project where they could help. His experience matches mine—many projects do not have enough testers. However, we do not share the
I’ve been traveling, teaching, speaking and consulting all over the world. I keep encountering managers who talk about the “resources.” They mean people, and they say “resources.” That makes me nuts. I blogged about that in People Are Not Resources. (I have other posts about this, too, but that’s a good one.) I finally determined what
Do You Want More Productivity? A senior manager asked me, “How do I get more productivity out of my people? We have cross-functional teams. Each team has their expertise. I just feel as if the teams could do more.” I asked, “What kind of expertise? Is it expertise as a team or are people experts