Finding a Good Agile Coach
Published September 17th, 2009 Under Quotes | Leave a Comment
“Agile is all about teams working together to produce great software. As an Agile coach, you can help your team go from first steps to running with Agile to unleashing their full Agile potential.”
“The art of Agile coaching is understanding the situation, the values underlying Agile software development, and how the two can combine. As an Agile coach, you don’t need to have all the answers; it takes time and a few experiments to hit on the right approach. We’ve worked with teams who’ve come up with great solutions, and we learn from every team we work with.”
“Don’t expect to get recognition for your work as an Agile coach. It’s a supporting role rather than one that delivers direct benefits. A good coach gives credit to the team. When you work on an idea with Frank, it’s Frank’s idea if it succeeds, and if it doesn’t, then commiserate together.”
Some good points to keep in mind the next time you will be looking for some help to transition to Agile.
Source: “Agile Coaching”, Rachel Davies and Liz Sedley, Pragmatic Bookshelf, 250 pages
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.com
Get more details on this book or buy it on amazon.co.uk
Why Tester Won’t Like Agile
Published September 3rd, 2009 Under Quotes | 3 Comments
Following my thinking about the fact that functional testing was the dividing barrier between specialized developer and tester roles, I found in the book “Agile Testing” by Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory an excellent list of fears that QA teams could express against agile adoption:
“Testers cling to the concept of an independent QA team for many reasons, but the main reason is fear, specifically:
* Fear that they will lose their QA identity
* Fear that if they report to a development manager, they will loose support and programmers will get priority
* Fear that they lack the skills to work in an agile team and will lose their jobs
* Fear that when they’re dispersed into development teams they won’t get the support they need
* Fear that they, and their managers, will get lost in the new organizations
We often hear of QA managers asking questions such as “My company is implementing agile development. How does my role fit in?”. This is directly related to the “loss of identity” fears.”
Source: “Agile Testing”, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, Addison-Wesley, 2009
What is an Agile Tester?
Published April 2nd, 2009 Under Quotes | Leave a Comment
Here is a good definition of the Agile Tester, from the book “Agile Testing” of Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory: “We define an agile tester this way: a professional tester who embraces change, collaborates well with both technical and business people, and understands the concept of using tests to document requirements and drive development. Agile testers tend to have good technical skills, know how to collaborate with others to automate tests, and are also experienced exploratory testers. They’re willing to learn what customers do so that they can better understand the customers’ software requirements.”
Source: “Agile Testing”, Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory, Addison-Wesley, 2009
Three Thinking Gems for Software Development Projects
Published February 5th, 2009 Under Quotes, Software Development | 2 Comments
I have just started reading the book “Scaling Lean & Agile Development – Thinking and Organizational Tools for Large-Scale Scrum” from Craig Larman and Bas Vodde. You will read the complete review later on this blog, but as the book is full of interesting wisdom from the beginning, I couldn’t resist to share some of them with you that you could apply quickly in you next project planning meeting.
“After working for some years in the domains of large, multisite, and offshore development, we have distilled our experience and advice down to the following: Don’t’ do it.”
“We regularly coach groups that ask, “How can we calculate how many people we will need?” Our suggestion is, “Start with a small group of great people, and only grow when it really starts to hurt.” That rarely happens.”
The last is taken from The Fifth Discipline: “Dividing an elephant in half does not produce two small elephants”
Sources:
“Scaling Lean & Agile Development – Thinking and Organizational Tools for Large-Scale Scrum”, Craig Larman & Bas Vodde, Addison -Wesley
“The Fifth Discipline”, Peter Senge, DoubleDay Business
Wise Iteration
Published March 20th, 2008 Under Quotes, Software Development | Comments Off
A you move ahead, keep in mind the following:
* Never confuse the map with the journey – The project plan is only an outline (and a guess at that), so you should believe the team’s results and not the plans. Remember, it is the achievement of the objectives that is important, not the production of artifacts or the completion of activities. Be careful not to confuse the ends (objectives) with the means (artifacts and activities).
* Adopt the attitude that continuous planning is a good thing – In every iteration, expect your plans to change (albeit in small ways if your planning is effective). Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that the plan is infallible.
* Mature your process alongside your team – Tune the working practices alongside the plans, adapt your team’s skills as necessary to improve over time.
* Be prepared to cut your losses – Canceling bad projects early is success because you save time, money and resources that can be applied to better opportunities.
* Be honest – Without objectivity and honesty, the project team is set up for failure, even if developing iteratively.
Transitioning from a traditional approach to iterative software development is more a change of mind than a schedule adjustment. So try to be honest… or at least as honest as you can be ;o)
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