In my previous post, we defined technical debt and saw how not all technical debt is bad. Just like in the financial world, some type of debt is considered ok as long as it is paid back. Consider a house loan or a car loan for example. Those are generally considered acceptable types of debt in…
Check out the video below of Lisa Adkins presenting on "We are the Leaders we have been Waiting For" at Washington DC Scrum User Group (DCSUG). Lisa asks if we Agilists value individuals and interactions over processes and tools, why do processes and tools so often run the show? In this talk, Lyssa offers two good…
In my previous posts we looked at symptoms of bad code and reasons we write bad code. And bad code leads to technical debt. Ward Cunningham introduced the Technical Debt metaphor by stating: “Shipping first time code is like going into debt. A little debt speeds development so long as it is paid back promptly with…
In my previous post, I discussed symptoms of bad code. Here I’m going to look into some of the reasons we end up writing bad code: Deadlines - You’ll hear excuses like we have a deadline to meet so we don’t have time to test or to make the necessary design change.Broken Window Theory - Another…
Check out the video below of Jeff Gallimore presenting on "Decoding Culture: Beyond the Fluff and Back to Business" at Washington DC Scrum User Group (DCSUG). Jeff explores how culture connects to organizational performance, vocabulary for how to describe culture, research about the effects of culture, and tactics you can use to change your culture for…
Bad code tends to creep up on us over and over again. We’ve all been there. We kick off a project, things start a little slow, but then things quickly pick up and a lot of features are getting developed and delivered. We have an excited team and a happy customer. However, soon things start to…
Check out the video below of By Kent Hone and Mark Grove presenting on " Kanban in Action: Thoughtfully Observing Flow" at Washington DC Scrum User Group (DCSUG). Kent and Mark provide a detailed look at how to interpret and thoughtfully observe Kanban Boards to better understand the work of your teams. They start with an…
Check out the video below of William Strydom presenting on "Servant Leadership" at Washington DC Scrum User Group (DCSUG). William explores what servant leadership is and where servant leadership came from along with examples of servant leaders in our world and where to find more information about servant leadership. https://youtu.be/XqEqdZ56Xko Servant Leadership by William Strydom
At the 2017 Global Scrum Gathering in San Diego, CA, I presented on Fostering Self-Organizing Team. Below is the abstract of the talk, along with links to the Fostering Self-Organizing Team blog series and the presentation slides. 2017 San Diego Global Scrum Gathering Abstract: One of the 12 principles of the Agile manifesto states that “The…
Earlier when we discussed the ScrumMaster's role is fostering a self-organizing team, I mentioned that the ScrumMaster needs to be self aware of her individual skills development journey and understand at what level of expertise she is at and work on moving to the higher levels so she can effectively help the team as a whole.…