You have to make that release date. You need more time to get the structure of your modules right, but you don't have it. Hitting the release date is more important than cleaning your code, so you defer the cleanup to make the deadline. You agree to take on technical debt which you'll have to … Continue reading Technical Debt
Category: Kanban & Agile
Kanban vs Scrum vs Agile
When inflexible and wasteful software development processes are making your organization inefficient, it's time to introduce an agile methodology. Kanban vs Scrum then becomes an essential question: Which agile software development methodology is better suited for my own situation? And is Kanban agile? What about Scrum vs agile? Confusion is spreading... Let's have a look … Continue reading Kanban vs Scrum vs Agile
3 Reasons Why Your Team Needs Rituals
It's the same every morning: you get up and grab your morning coffee. No matter whether you brew it at home or fetch it on the road, your morning coffee is a ritual you never want to miss. A ritual is a practice everyone knows how to do. It's conducted regularly or on well defined … Continue reading 3 Reasons Why Your Team Needs Rituals
Why you need to customize your agile methods
You're starting off with a new laptop. The OS is installed, but using it feels awkward. Nothing looks like it used to on your previous one. You're really frustrated how slow you move around just because you're missing your beloved customizations. A few days later you feel the flow again. You've tweaked your OS and … Continue reading Why you need to customize your agile methods
Leadership In the Online Age: A Reflection On Team-Building
In the last decade of my career, I've been extremely fortunate to have worked with some of the best people I've ever known. A big contributing factor to this is the tech-savvy, expatriate culture that exists here in Munich as well as the type of people you typically find abroad who have left their home … Continue reading Leadership In the Online Age: A Reflection On Team-Building
Why Teaching Developers To Test Is A Good Investment
Test a developer's software and you'll find bugs. Teach a developer to test and they can release their software. A bit of a twist on the old fish and eating maxim, but the same idea: teaching a skill enables self-reliance and self-confidence. And, while it's harder than quickly doing someone a big favor, teaching is … Continue reading Why Teaching Developers To Test Is A Good Investment
How Value Stream Mapping can speed up your cycle time from years to weeks
When switching on the oxygen pumps, there was an explosion on board of the Apollo 13 space craft. A short circuit in a small module led to an explosion rendering most of the space craft useless. For days, the crew frantically worked in cramped quarters trying to return to Earth. Tensions ran high, but, instead … Continue reading How Value Stream Mapping can speed up your cycle time from years to weeks
Stop Scaring Your Customers and Speed Up Releases
"But our customers don't want 10 new versions a year. The last release alone had over 600 bugs!" retorts the hotline manager. "How about a small update with just a handful of bugs?" Your big-bang release is scary. It's full of issues and weird, new features that nobody understands. It requires documentation and training and … Continue reading Stop Scaring Your Customers and Speed Up Releases
Do Code Improvements Add Value?
Investing into code improvement is a dual edged sword: on the one hand you know that if you don't improve your code you'll get slower over time. On the other hand improving your code does not deliver tangible value to your users. So how do you know whether you're on track? Track the time a … Continue reading Do Code Improvements Add Value?
Where Agile Starts
In most enterprises, employees are referred to as resources. Heck, it's even worse. There's a whole department dealing with human resources. This, my friend, is bad. It's bad because it kills the most basic ingredient for agile success: Respect. Respect for your employees. Let's have a look and see how respect builds the foundation for … Continue reading Where Agile Starts
Agile Web Operations 