Software Process and Measurement Cast

The SPaMCAST 595 features our interview with Vladimir Khorikov. Vladimir and I geeked out on unit testing and his new book, Unit Testing Principles, Practices, and Patterns. Our conversations covered the gamut with a discussion of writing from first principles, understanding and tuning the signal-to-noise ratio in unit testing, and tests that are better at proving the negative than the positive. Vladimir Khorikov is a software engineer and author of several popular Pluralsight courses. He has been professionally involved in software development for over 15 years, including mentoring teams on the ins and outs of unit testing. He's also the founder of the Enterprise Craftsmanship blog, where he reaches 500 thousand software developers yearly. He started as an adviser on general programming topics, but lately shifted his focus to unit testing with a central message of teaching software developers how to make unit testing painless. The biggest advantage of his teaching style, and the one students often praise, is his tendency to have a strong theoretic background, which he then applies to practical examples. Web: https://painlessunittesting.com/ LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vladimir-khorikov-bb482653 Twitter: @vkhorikov Manning Publications has kindly supplied the SPaMCAST with a few ebook codes. If you are interested (and you should be) email the Software Process and Measurement Cast at spamcastinfo@gmail.com with your favorite quote from this interview and I will randomly draw winners on April 18th. Email not your style? Post your favorite quote on or post the quote on Twitter with #spamcast. Re-Read Saturday News We worked on getting ready to talk, now it is time to get into the meat of a dialogue. Chapter 7 of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler, is where the rubber hits the road. In many circumstances, this is actually where the wheels actually come off! The authors present five skills for talking when what you have to say could make others feel defensive. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp Week 3 – Chapter 2: The Power of Dialogue – http://bit.ly/3aO4cMa Week 4 - Chapter 3: Start With Heart - http://bit.ly/2UbJizK Week 5 - Learn To Look - https://bit.ly/3djnnPX Week 6 - Make It Safe - https://bit.ly/39p4Xu4 Week 7 - Master my Stories - https://bit.ly/2V1DJUZ Week 8 - State My Path - https://bit.ly/2XtqTSr If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Upcoming Events (ALL ONLINE) DevOps Online Summit 2020 April 20 - 24 Registration is open at https://www.devopsonlinesummit.com/2020 IdeaFest April 21 and 22, 2020 Registration is open at http://ideafest2020.org/ Listen to the Promo after the interview or standalone in the feed! Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 596 will feature our interview with Tom Henrickson. Tom brings the industry the DevOps and the Agile Online Summits and is an active thought leader in the agile community. We talked about learning and sharpening the saw. The idea of tuning your capabilities has never been more important as the economy struggles to get going again.

The DevOps Online Summit 2020 is an online event for DevOps professionals. We will have interviews with DevOps leaders and Ask Me Anything sessions. So wherever you are in the world you can attend these online sessions. It will start Monday, April 20, 2020, and run through Friday, April 24, 2020. I am looking forward to getting my DevOps geek on and hope to virtually see you at xx to the Summit. Check out Tom Henricksen's audio call to action. Then visit and register for this year's DevOps Online Summit at https://bit.ly/2UQaupf I am looking forward to getting my DevOps geek on and hope to virtually see you at the Summit. Check out Tom Henricksen's audio call to action. Then visit and register for this year's DevOps Online Summit at https://bit.ly/2UQaupf The SPaMCAST is proud to be a media sponsor.

The SPaMCAST 594 features our interview with Dennis Lewis. Mr. Lewis, author of Behold the Cryptopreneurs, and I talked about how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are changing all types of software development. Dennis provides great advice for technologists and entrepreneurs that is immediately actionable (without violating social distancing). Dennis is a seasoned digital storyteller and ICO marketing specialist with a proven track record in both Europe and the United States. He has successfully led to market and exited multiple startup companies, and prides himself on his ability to make complex projects easy to understand and relatable. In a marketing landscape increasingly obsessed with shiny objects and overly complicated sales funnels, Dennis still believes that the key to any successful marketing campaign are the words on the page. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dennishlewis/ Cryptoreneurs Club: https://cryptopreneurs.club/ Behold the Cryptopreneurs: https://amzn.to/3aM9hor Re-Read Saturday News While I was preparing for this week's installment of Re-read Saturday, I got into a "discussion" with my wife about people and organizations profiteering during the COVID-19 disaster. When I began to notice I was becoming heated, I realized that this week's chapter was an appropriate touchpoint to get the dialogue back on track. Chapter 6 of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler is about how to gain control of your emotions during crucial conversations and therefore gain control of the conversation. Keeping your emotions under control allows you to think and use all of the tools at your disposal to stay in a constructive dialogue. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp Week 3 – Chapter 2: The Power of Dialogue – http://bit.ly/3aO4cMa Week 4 - Chapter 3: Start With Heart - http://bit.ly/2UbJizK Week 5 - Learn To Look - https://bit.ly/3djnnPX Week 6 - Make It Safe - https://bit.ly/39p4Xu4 Week 7 - Master my Stories - https://bit.ly/2V1DJUZ If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Upcoming Events (ALL ONLINE) DevOps Online Summit 2020 April 20 - 24 Registration is open at https://www.devopsonlinesummit.com/2020 IdeaFest April 21 and 22, 2020 Registration is open at http://ideafest2020.org/ I will get more information to you on these two great events later this week. Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 595 will feature our interview with Vladimir Khorikov. Vladimir and I geeked out on unit testing and his new book, Unit Testing Principles, Practices, and Patterns. The concepts of unit testing are important for anyone who develops, tests or interacts with people who write code.

The SPaMCAST 593 features my interview with Scott Crabtree. Happiness at work might sound squishy, but happiness has rigorous science behind it. Simply put, happiness yields better outcomes both in terms of value delivered and our own perception of our value. Scott Crabtree helps people apply science to thrive at work. After earning a degree in cognitive science from Vassar College, he went on to lead the design and development of video games and other software. He discovered the science of thriving (positive psychology and other brain sciences) in 2003 and immediately became a passionate student and teacher of that research. He resigned his senior leadership position at Intel in 2011 to found Happy Brain Science. When not presenting the science of thriving at work, Scott enjoys playing music and getting into the Oregon wilderness, especially with his wife and two daughters. Contact Information LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sccrabtree/ Happy Brain Science: www.happybrainscience.com Re-Read Saturday News Today we tackle Chapter 5, Make It Safe - How to Make It Safe to Talk About Almost Anything, from Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. This is the next step in the journey to help the reader participate and guide crucial conversations into dialogues by ensuring that the interaction is safe. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp Week 3 – Chapter 2: The Power of Dialogue – http://bit.ly/3aO4cMa Week 4 - Chapter 3: Start With Heart - http://bit.ly/2UbJizK Week 5 - Learn To Look - https://bit.ly/3djnnPX Week 6 - Make It Safe - https://bit.ly/39p4Xu4 If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Book Club Starting Soon ** Only a few seats left *** Jon M Quigley and I are starting an online book club to read and discuss the classic books that underpin the lean, quality and agile movements. The name of the book club is "Quality, Agile, and Lean Classic Books: Greatness in the Workplace". The first book is Out Of The Crisis by Deming (don't have a copy — https://amzn.to/32XAH81) We are starting our dialog on Friday, April 10th and the event will run over 7 sessions (we will avoid as many religious and national holidays as possible). We are only opening 10 seats for each group of sessions. We are changing a one time fee of $3.13 which equates to 4.95 (ish) once Eventbrite factors in their fees to encourage people that sign up to show up. More information and sign up at http://bit.ly/2IsPPkf Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 594 will feature our interview with Daniel Lewis. Mr. Lewis, author of Behold the Cryptopreneurs, and I talked about how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are changing all types of software development. Also, I also have another panel discussion focusing on working from home that should air this week and special video content that should get into the feed over the next few weeks. A little lagniappe because we all deserve it right now.

The SPaMCAST 592 features my interview with Shelisa Bainbridge. We talked about human-centered design and the impact of design on the development process. This approach is core to understanding what the customer wants in a way that influences every line of code. We also talked about how organizations adopt agile and women in agile. Shelisa is a Senior Business Coach with more than 20 years of experience working with some of Canada's most notable brands. Through her various corporate experiences, Shelisa has come to understand the exponential power that 'human connection' has on a company's bottom line, and the support that businesses need to attain exceptional results through brand loyalty and unwavering internal team trust and collaboration. Shelisa is the Head of Human Centered Delivery (HCD) at one of Toronto's top Agile Consulting and Coaching groups, Agile by Design. HCD is a complete flow that combines Design Thinking, Agile, User Experience(UX), and validated learning. Shelisa B. helps to arm teams with the skills they need to shift the mindset, culture, and methods required to increase agility. LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shelisabainbridge Web: https://agilebydesign.com/about_us/ Re-Read Saturday News This week we focus on Chapter 4 of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. The chapter is titled, Learn to Look: How To Notice When Safety Is At Risk. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp Week 3 – Chapter 2: The Power of Dialogue – http://bit.ly/3aO4cMa Week 4 - Chapter 3: Start With Heart - http://bit.ly/2UbJizK Week 5 - Learn To Look - https://bit.ly/3djnnPX If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Book Club Starting Soon ** Only a few seats left *** Jon M Quigley and I are starting an online book club to read and discuss the classic books that underpin the lean, quality and agile movements. The name of the book club is "Quality, Agile, and Lean Classic Books: Greatness in the Workplace". The first book is Out Of The Crisis by Deming (don't have a copy — https://amzn.to/32XAH81) We are starting our dialog on Friday, April 10th and the event will run over 7 sessions (we will avoid as many religious and national holidays as possible). We are only opening 10 seats for each group of sessions. We are changing a one time fee of $3.13 which equates to 4.95 (ish) once Eventbrite factors in their fees to encourage people that sign up to show up. More information and sign up at http://bit.ly/2IsPPkf Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 593 will feature my interview with Scott Crabtree. Scott and I talked about the impact of being happy at work has on performance and outcomes. Perfect timing for this interview! Also, I may have some special content in the feed over the next few weeks. A little lagniappe because we all deserve it right now.

The SPaMCAST 591 is a very special podcast. On the 18th of March, I convened a panel of luminaries to discuss how they were supporting and working with remote teams. I recorded both the audio and video, today I am releasing the audio version. The panel for this show was Jeff Dalton jeff@broadswordsolutions.com Amy McDonough Amy.McDonough@spr.com Sandeep Koorse Sandeep@koorse.com Christopher Hurney Christopherhurney@gmail.com And myself! tcagley@tomcagley.com We kept the session short but full of practical advice! Next SPaMCAST We will be back with the video soon AND back on Sunday our interview with Shelisa Bainbridge.

The SPaMCAST 590 features my interview with Nancy Kastl. Nancy and I discussed testing and the future of the testing profession. The future of testing is not cut and dry; in the short run more automation and in the long-term more codeless testing and AI might replace entry-level testers. An eye-opening interview! Nancy's Bio: Nancy Kastl is an accomplished professional with over thirty-five years of experience as a consultant, facilitator, and instructor in software quality and testing. As an entrepreneur and consultant, she brings her expertise in strategic planning, quality management, software testing, process re-engineering, and measurement to every engagement. As the executive director of SPR's Testing Services, she provides thought leadership to clients, formulates solutions to their needs, and provides daily guidance and oversight to SPRs on-shore testing team in Chicago. She is the founder and President of the Chicago Quality Assurance Association. Nancy is a frequent conference speaker and served as the QUEST conference chairperson for twelve years. She loves photography, being surrounded by nature, and traveling. Reach out to Nancy on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/nancy-kastl-416170 And check out SPR at https://spr.com/work/ Re-Read Saturday News This week we continue our re-read of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler with Chapter 3, Start With Heart. This chapter begins to teach the reader "how" to dialog. Start with heart means that we have to establish our goal before getting involved in a dialog. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp Week 3 – Chapter 2: The Power of Dialogue – http://bit.ly/3aO4cMa Week 4 - Chapter 3: Start With Heart - http://bit.ly/2UbJizK If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Book Club Starting Soon Jon M Quigley and I are starting an online book club to read and discuss the classic books that underpin the lean, quality and agile movements. The name of the book club is "Quality, Agile, and Lean Classic Books: Greatness in the Workplace". The first book is Out Of The Crisis by Deming (don't have a copy — https://amzn.to/32XAH81) We are starting our dialog on Friday, April 10th and the event will run over 7 sessions (we will avoid as many religious and national holidays as possible). We are only opening 10 seats for each group of sessions. We are changing a one time fee of $3.13 which equates to 4.95 (ish) once Eventbrite factors in their fees to encourage people that sign up to show up. More information and sign up at http://bit.ly/2IsPPkf Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 591 will feature my interview with Shelisa Bainbridge. Shelisa is the Head of Human Centered Delivery (HCD) at Agile by Design. We talked about human-centered design, why design thinking is important, women in tech and agile, and more. This is a powerful interview with a ton of useful ideas. Also, I may have some special content in the feed over the next few weeks. A little lagniappe because we all deserve it right now.

The SPaMCAST 589 features our essay on using clean language to refine requirements. Clean Language's pedigree is from psychotherapy and has found a home in coaching. It is also a valuable tool for discovering information about work products. As product managers, product owners, and stakeholders interact with the world and then describe a set of wants and needs they use metaphors. Clean language helps us unpack those metaphors. We also have a visit from Susan Parente who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist Column to the podcast. Susan delivers thoughts and ideas about virtual agile. Reach out to Susan at parente@s3-tec.com. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 2 of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. Chapter 2, titled Mastering Crucial Conversations: The Power of Dialogue. The chapter begins with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that highlights the problem with staying silent. "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). New side venture! Jon M Quigley and I are starting an online book club to read and discuss the classic books that underpin the lean, quality and agile movements. The name is "Quality, Agile, and Lean Classic Books: Greatness in the Workplace". The first book is Out Of The Crisis by Deming (don't have a copy — https://amzn.to/32XAH81) We are starting our dialog on Friday, April 10th and the event will run over 7 sessions (we will avoid as many religious and national holidays as possible). We are only opening 10 seats for each group of sessions. We are changing a one time fee of $3.13 which equates to 4.95 (ish) once Eventbrite factors in their fees to encourage people that sign up to show up. Each session will be outlined in the supplemental material provided for the book club. The materials will include definitions of keywords and a series of questions to ponder for each chapter as you read through the book. We are limiting the book club to 10 participants to facilitate ease of discussion of the text and to allow interaction. Tom Cagley and Jon M Quigley will be your guides through the material, posing follow on questions that guide you through the exploration of the work. Note, we will record each of the sessions in case everyone will not be able to attend every week. Sign up at http://bit.ly/2IsPPkf Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 590 will feature my interview with Nancy Kastl. Nacy and I discussed testing and the future of the testing profession. Is the future of testing purely automation and machine learning? You will find out next Sunday!

The SPaMCAST 588 features our interview with Susie Palmer-Trew and Peter Taylor. We discussed their new book Project Management: It's All Bollocks! It was great to meet Susie and renew our conversation with Peter. We talked about the assumptions that the profession of project management makes and why we should challenge those assumptions. The episode has the subtitle (you will discover it ½ way through the interview) Susie Palmer-Trew is an award-winning project professional and Director of Change at The Open University, enabling others to get shit done in a world tied up in red tape. She is the co-creator of the #LetsChangeChange movement, avid risk-taker and professional trouble maker. Contact Susie on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/susie-palmer-trew-13108646) Peter Taylor is author of the Amazon number 1 bestselling project management book, The Lazy Project Manager, and professional speaker, having given 350 lectures around the world in over 25 countries. He has been described as 'perhaps the most entertaining and inspiring speaker in the project management world today'. Contact Peter at http://www.thelazyprojectmanager.com/peter-taylor Re-Read Saturday News This week we are at a family wedding and missed posting the next installment of our re-read of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. The essay is written but unedited. We will be back next week with Chapter 2 and possibly Chapter 3. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 589 will get us back into cadence with an essay on Clean Language. Clean Language is a technique for shaping a discussion. The questions at the heart of this approach are designed to discover and explore a person's personal metaphor. Clean language is a very useful tool for a wide range of roles from coaching to exploring requirements and needs. We will also have a conversation with Susan Parente. Susan brings here Not A Scrumdamentalist Column to the podcast next week!

For SPaMCAST 587 we are going to break cadence and feature another interview. Ryan Ripley, Todd Miller and I discussed their new book Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems. We discussed how to define broken scrum processes. Ryan and Todd make the point that Scrum is so much more than a checklist of practices to follow, yet that's exactly how many organizations practice it. Todd's Bio Todd is a Professional Scrum Trainer for Scrum.org and VP of the Agile Innovation Practice at Itero Group, LLC. He has professional experience as a Scrum Master, Product Owner, Developer, and Agile coach on a variety of technical and creative projects across a multitude of industries. He presently coaches and trains enterprises and teams across the United States on the Scrum framework, enterprise Agile transformation, and professional software development. Ryan's Bio: A professional Scrum trainer with Scrum.org, Ryan Ripley has experience as a software developer, manager, director, and ScrumMaster at various Fortune 500 companies in the medical device, wholesale, and financial services industries. The host of "Agile for Humans," the top agile podcast on iTunes, Ryan lives in Indiana with his wife, Kristin, and three children. He blogs at ryanripley.com and is on Twitter @ryanripley. Most recently, Ryan co-author of "Fixing Your Scrum: Practical Solutions to Common Scrum Problems" with Todd Miller. Ryan is also a noted keynote speaker and travels internationally to present on the Scrum and Agile topics. Business Agility Conference is sponsoring SPaMCAST! Dates: March 11-12, 2020 Location: New York City, 117 West 46th Street URL: http://bit.ly/2SmOJMS Use the special code "spamcast" to get a 20% discount. The Business Agility Conference is an intense 2-day event focusing on the future of business, focusing on customer centricity, employee engagement, organization design, product innovation, and next-gen leadership. The Conference is bringing together some of the greatest speakers and practitioners of business agility to share their experiences and the benefits their organizations have gained from exploring new and agile practices. This is the first, and original, Business Agility Conference. The goal is to bring the local and international business agility community together in a friendly, educational and fun environment to exchange and explore ways to create lasting change. This conference is unique, not only in the topic but also in structure. You will experience; 20-minute "Art of the Possible" stories from each speaker 20-minutes Panel Q/A with the audience for each theme 45-minute deep dives and facilitated peer conversations This year's speakers include current and prior executives from Zappos, Amazon, Pacific Life Insurance, Scrum Alliance, the Chair of the Board of CHOICE, as well as thought-leaders from Menlo Innovations, Freddie Mac, and AgilityHealth. URL: http://bit.ly/2SmOJMS Use the special code "spamcast" to get a 20% discount! Support the podcast and blog by visiting the link and adding the Business Agility Conference to your conference dance card in 2020! Re-Read Saturday News This week we continue our re-read of Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High, Second Edition by Patterson, Grenny, McMillan, Switzler. Chapter 1 of Crucial Conversations provides the reader with a definition of a crucial conversation for the book, hints to aid in recognizing this form of communication, and provides a rationale for why we should care. Week 1 - Logistics, Forewards, and Preface - http://bit.ly/2wls1Mq Week 2 - Chapter 1: What's a crucial conversation? And who cares? - http://bit.ly/3a7Kivp If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link https://amzn.to/34RuZ6V (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 588 features our interview with Susie Palmer-Trew and Peter Taylor. We discussed their new book Project Management: It's All Bollocks! It was great to meet Susie and renew our conversation with Peter. We talked about the assumptions that the profession of project management makes and why we should challenge those assumptions.