tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.comments2023-07-29T09:15:17.416+01:00allan's blog - Agile & Digital Businessallan kellyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06262139490250478379noreply@blogger.comBlogger568125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-27521875465735032402014-09-30T17:08:54.256+01:002014-09-30T17:08:54.256+01:00I've used Agile estimating techniques as you d...I've used Agile estimating techniques as you described myself with my own team, and also with many teams I coached. I agree with your list of conditions where it applies. It took some work with managers first in order to get those conditions in place. <br /><br />I always advise to estimate the size of the work, rather than the duration. That's because the developers' time might not be fully applied to the agile project, or managers may pull them away (despite promises) - leave that open to get discussed.<br /><br />Exactly what you described has worked well to create trust where none existed between the tech and biz sides. More importantly - by doing the thinking work that is needed anyway, and making the estimate, teams new to Agile *Surprised themselves by how much more they could do*. <br /><br />What I would like to see is teams growing beyond this point to not need estimates at all. At least not in order to be trusted. Estimates are needed for coordinating with other groups, though. I take Woody's comments in the spirit of "let's find new ways to coordinate". There are so many places where estimation is the excuse for blame games, etc. It's not even really about estimating - it's about finding ways out of the poison politics. <br /> <br />- Nancy Van Schooenderwoert, @vanschoooNancy Van Schooenderwoerthttp://www.leanagilepartners.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-91453269477940403122014-09-30T16:21:30.045+01:002014-09-30T16:21:30.045+01:00Hi Alan - Earlier this year I started something re...Hi Alan - Earlier this year I started something related to #AOSW - it's the Agile Engineering program thru Agile Alliance. Its web page is here. <br />http://www.agilealliance.org/programs/agile-engineering-program/<br /><br />This offers a simple way for people to share their engineering techniques that serve Agile principles. They can just create a brief description which we review for clarity (and to keep out spam), and it's that simple. I tweet about it using #AgileEngineering. <br />- Nancy Van Schooenderwoert, @vanschooNancy Van Schooenderwoerthttp://www.leanagilepartners.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-46617907660793767152014-09-30T10:45:56.740+01:002014-09-30T10:45:56.740+01:00Credibility: I think this is also an argument for ...Credibility: I think this is also an argument for not estimating, enshrined in your Dear Customer letter - "we don’t know how much time and effort it will take to complete" (http://www.agileconnection.com/article/dear-customer-truth-about-it-projects)<br /><br />Analysis: Teams do need to analyse the requirements (or elicit, or elaborate, or whatever), but estimation is not the only, nor IMO the best, way to force this.Sebhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04730257560880188186noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-3569224242307462242014-09-29T16:57:36.951+01:002014-09-29T16:57:36.951+01:00You say:
9.Estimates made in units of time (hours...You say: <br />9.Estimates made in units of time (hours, days, etc.) are not reliable<br /><br />what units do you expect estimates to be in?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-72304679902905694862014-09-29T15:52:10.679+01:002014-09-29T15:52:10.679+01:00I've yet to work anywhere where we could get a...I've yet to work anywhere where we could get away from estimation, for two reasons: first, the business couldn't let go of the need for the feeling of predictability that the estimate brought, and second, my team couldn't execute efficiently unless they had first done the work analysis that the estimation process forces. So I persist with estimation. Jim Greyhttp://softwaresaltmines.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-19056968534827856292014-09-26T13:35:56.879+01:002014-09-26T13:35:56.879+01:00Thanks Luke,
Right now I'm after as many case...Thanks Luke, <br />Right now I'm after as many case studies as I can get - so WikiSpeed definitely counts.<br /><br />allanallan kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06262139490250478379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-54497726805865686642014-09-26T13:32:41.622+01:002014-09-26T13:32:41.622+01:00Allan,
The big one which springs to mind for me i...Allan,<br /><br />The big one which springs to mind for me is WikiSpeed. Here's Joe Justice's talk on the subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8jdx-lf2Dw<br /><br />I used that example to talk about "process debt" in the auto industry, where processes are byzantine and held up by unnecessary dependencies...similar to technical debt. http://www.infoq.com/articles/no-process-best. The more I see agile being applied in practice, the more I'm convinced that it's just as much about mentality & principles as it is about the observable practices. It's not that hard to completely miss the point with Agile.<br /><br />Not sure if that's what you have in mind with Agile outside of software, but hopefully that's useful for you.Lukehttp://www.launchtomorrow.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-40685095391049155732014-08-30T22:25:06.622+01:002014-08-30T22:25:06.622+01:00Allan, thanks so much for your thoughtful review. ...Allan, thanks so much for your thoughtful review. We are especially with you on the tensions and trade-offs between "Buddhist" and "Catholic" approaches and are about to start a paper that digs more into navigating that continuum. Bob Suttonhttp://www.bobsutton.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-19731997588666949532014-08-22T16:00:47.050+01:002014-08-22T16:00:47.050+01:00I suggest going back to the foundations in Descart...I suggest going back to the foundations in Descartes' original writings. There is some really good foundational stuff in there about the place of separation of concerns, inductive and deductive reasoning, an overall audit of reason, and many other nuggets. Most of what has come down from Descartes to modern-day method loses many of his original ideas in part because it's grounded only in his earlier writings. In his later writings he became much more like his nemesis Pascal (as Pascal became much more like Descartes as well).<br /><br />Anyhow, to me, scientific method is something much deeper than can be caricatured in a a six-rule summary. And it's only common sense to discover when people take ridiculous and inhumane courses of action even in the name of science, and you don't need such a definition of science to achieve progress. Go the extra mile and discover the richness of the ideas in its origins, starting with <i>Discours sur la Methode</i> and then graduating to his essays from later in life.Copehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18248195484232775172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-13107866149233886682014-08-14T23:56:20.014+01:002014-08-14T23:56:20.014+01:00Check TDD is Dead (DHH). Just google it. It is abo...Check TDD is Dead (DHH). Just google it. It is about time the a prominent figure comes out. Even with best intentions good people and good developers become zealots due to radical or extreme methods. A few years ago there was a method called 'Extreme Programming' which saw programming as a pair activity. Unfortunately, it ended up with witch hunting about non social developers (sometime the 'best' of them). <br /><br />So live and let live - the world is full of good developers from different cultures and styles of work. <br /><br />Lastly, development skills are also a result of hard earned experience. Telling a developer that he should change is like telling him to question reality - what he does actually works but he needs to change. <br /><br />The loss will be of the industry. Maybe it will need to 'first test' it in order to wake up and let go.<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-91342044609011260782014-08-11T22:50:05.324+01:002014-08-11T22:50:05.324+01:00One of the biggest bottlenecks in software testing...One of the biggest bottlenecks in software testing is gaining access to complete test environments. Service Virtualization, which uses simulated test environments, allows developers and testers to exercise end-to-end transactions whenever they want, as extensively as they want. With the freedom to test early and often, the team exposes defects when they are fastest, easiest, and least costly to fix.<br /><br />Research firm voke published a survey on Service Virtualization revealing that those who implemented it saw a 23% reduction in total software cycles, 58% decrease in length of overall test cycles and 24% faster time to market. <br /><br />Definitely worth considering at the enterprise level.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01580521351401091797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-56617374059953571322014-07-31T13:27:27.268+01:002014-07-31T13:27:27.268+01:00Truly brilliant stuff, Alan.
I wish I didn't ...Truly brilliant stuff, Alan.<br /><br />I wish I didn't recognise it quite so well.<br /><br />As cog biases go I suppose this one is "group think", aka, "enron" :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11814427622734560530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-11311861259664141712014-07-14T12:30:53.609+01:002014-07-14T12:30:53.609+01:00I would also question how feasible it would be to ...I would also question how feasible it would be to perform a real experiment. For instance to do it properly, we would need to isolate the experiment from external influence. For instance...<br /><br />Introduce a control group. i.e. A team which is not permitted to change any of its practices for the next 6 months.<br /><br />Block all other changes to working practices. i.e. Ignore all improvements proposed in retrospectives for the next 6 months.<br /><br />Prevent changes to the working environment. i.e. No office moves. No management restructuring. No new team members. Nobody permitted to leave the team, go off sick or take vacation.<br /><br />Nobody permitted to learn anything for 6 months. Because that could have a serious impact on productivity!<br /><br />Otherwise, any results are clearly inconclusive. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05927671225574988584noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-51316235310355748152014-06-30T16:05:35.782+01:002014-06-30T16:05:35.782+01:00Allan - I just saw this post as a link from one of...Allan - I just saw this post as a link from one of your other posts, so I am late to the game. I come from a hardware test automation background so I am probably not a typical tester example you are citing. About ten years ago, I was called in to help a team testing a Java enterprise application, where the middle tier and client communication tier were not accessible, so they had to do GUI testing. They already had purchased a QC/QTP suite license with LoadRunner to do the testing (before they had a plan). I ended up using QTP and threw away the 90% that tied to the mothership (QC). I used spreadsheets for recording results and wrote a GUI search algorithm to make the automation robust to changes. Then used that same algorithm to test a web application using QTP and then another Java enterprise application using TestComplete (much less expensive). In each case, I found it nearly impossible to pass on my accomplishments to others - either the testers didn't have the the proper coding skills or the developers were only interested in unit test automation. <br /><br />BTW, instead of using loadrunner I teamed with a developer and set up the open source Grinder load test tools, which worked superbly in the Java enterprise environment.<br /><br />As a result of these experiences, I now believe that the best role of automation is to help the exploratory testers as much as possible, but the test skills based on exploration should always come first.Jeff Lucashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12503533139694410842noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-16984112489175791702014-06-27T10:48:12.540+01:002014-06-27T10:48:12.540+01:00Hi Allan
I agree with much of the above, particul...Hi Allan<br /><br />I agree with much of the above, particularly the emphasis upon increasing test automation and co-located testers working with developers on the same product increment. <br /><br />However, I disagree with the notion that more testing environments will help. In my experience adding more test environments will lengthen lead times, and unless those environments are virtualised Infrastructure As Code then it is likely that more environment rework will creep into the value stream.<br /><br />I've had clients with a) 3 test teams and 10 test environments and b) 5 test teams with 5 environments, and in both cases they mistakenly believed more hardware was the key. Nobody ever sat down and mapped out an effective test strategy and identified the amount of dupllicate and/or redundant testing in each environment. <br /><br />Ultimately, testing checks needs to be automated so that testers can perform exploratory testing off the critical path. That will break testers out of the Release Testing antipattern (http://www.alwaysagileconsulting.com/articles/release-testing-is-risk-management-theatre/) and improve product quality while decreasing lead times.<br /><br />Cheers<br /><br />SteveSteve Smtihhttp://www.alwaysagileconsulting.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-54139803046618252932014-06-23T16:46:42.248+01:002014-06-23T16:46:42.248+01:00Fantastic!Fantastic!allan kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06262139490250478379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-61850233033867153552014-06-23T15:54:45.434+01:002014-06-23T15:54:45.434+01:00I hired a motorhome last year and stayed at the Pe...I hired a motorhome last year and stayed at the Pennance Mill Campsite, just a few miles south of the campus, and cycled up to the conference both days. My wife just chilled on the beach and stayed on until Sunday. So staying in a campervan or in a tent's another option: http://van-voyage.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/life-beach.html. So if you have a partner, persuade them to go along with you - they'll also enjoy the break.Paul Jacksonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04483100788984249728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-27418999470256409622014-05-13T06:04:50.246+01:002014-05-13T06:04:50.246+01:00Very Nice post!Very Nice post!mikehttp://www.pmstudy.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-4034223419266414902014-05-12T09:43:49.368+01:002014-05-12T09:43:49.368+01:00I am agree with you allen what your conclusion ove...I am agree with you allen what your conclusion ove here.This is gonna help me a lot.Stephnihttp://www.scrumstudy.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-62971435140256929952014-05-05T16:23:42.248+01:002014-05-05T16:23:42.248+01:00Yes! Hadn't thought of that one, XF for short ...Yes! Hadn't thought of that one, XF for short :)allan kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06262139490250478379noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-39173681562479152972014-05-05T09:32:03.824+01:002014-05-05T09:32:03.824+01:00Congrats, Allan!
Although I really think you shou...Congrats, Allan!<br /><br />Although I really think you should have called it "eXtreme Flow" :-)Phil Nashhttp://levelofindirection.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-47002590972895361442014-05-03T03:29:26.648+01:002014-05-03T03:29:26.648+01:00By 2022 I'll be the employer!By 2022 I'll be the employer!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09340167158930362305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-42684638325036232882014-04-23T20:06:09.977+01:002014-04-23T20:06:09.977+01:00Yes keep going Allan! Add in microservices and you...Yes keep going Allan! Add in microservices and your idea of Minimum Viable Teams and we could really be onto something. Steve Smithhttp://www.alwaysagileconsulting.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-90576398538526705832014-04-09T17:59:50.095+01:002014-04-09T17:59:50.095+01:00The next question would then be. When is functiona...The next question would then be. When is functional programming going to be commonplace? And once there what will happen to TDD?Arturo Hernandezhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07181691728621375942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12948038.post-470236781422285562014-04-03T11:12:50.349+01:002014-04-03T11:12:50.349+01:00Yes I normally just do these charts in Excel. You ...Yes I normally just do these charts in Excel. You have to hunt around for the "use two Y-axis" option on the chart. MS have put it somewhere so obvious I normally take an hour to find it. Of course once it is set up you don't need to use it again for a while.allan kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06262139490250478379noreply@blogger.com