In a world with non-software Agile and Agile at scale, what is Agile? I think Alistair Cockburn has hit the nail right on the head with his recent HeartOfAgile.
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Author Archives: Steven Thomas
Quality is a choice: the case of the Next Generation Apps
Over the last year I’ve had the privilege of overseeing the development of the next generation of mobile apps (iOS and Android) for the major commercial radio brands in the UK. The most amazing thing about this experience was the priorities – UX&D was #1 priority – something I’ve never had before.
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Strong products are backed by “Three-market-forces”
Oren Klaff’s book is on how to “Pitch Anything” however it includes a lot of valuable insight into start ups and new product development. One idea I liked was the “Three-market-forces” pattern.
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What is the optimal number of manual testers in a development team? Zero?
To have manual testers, or not to have manual testers, that is the question. Typically I have one per team: Less than many teams but more than some organisations get away with.
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Lead time versus Cycle Time – Untangling the confusion
Despite being a fan of Lean and using Kanban I’ve stopped talking about “Cycle Time”. The problem is that there are two conflicting definitions of Cycle Time. And one of those definitions is identical to Lead Time. Given the competing definitions for Cycle Time, and that the variations have alternative unambiguous names, it is easier not to use the term at all. All I need is “Takt time”, “Order Lead Time” and “Production Lead Time”.
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Are you leading or just going for a walk?
If you fancy yourself as a leader, have a glance behind you … is anybody following? Are you leading or just going for a walk?
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Look for Product Owners in the Business
You cannot lead what you don’t understand so I often recruit product owners from the business.
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Make BlackOps development the Corporate Standard – Embrace Microservices
Contrary to how they are perceived in the media as lumbering dinosaurs, most large organisations have loads of clever people and good ideas.The trouble is these organisations can’t deliver against the ideas. The answer is not “Blue Sky” R&D departments or “BlackOps” teams. The answer is to make the BlackOps approach standard; create an innovation platform built from microservices with new services deployed swiftly into production.
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Employing too many ideas people leads to Zombie Projects
Employing too many ideas people leads to Zombie Projects. Resuscitate the Zombies or kill them off.
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“Mad, Relentless, Scary, Fun” – my year on Digital Growth
“Mad, Relentless, Scary, Fun” is how my programme director – Stuart Mays – described the initiative we’ve been running at at Global Media and Entertainment.
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