Software Process and Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 557 features our interview with Jorgen Hesselberg. We talked about his book Unlocking Agility, assessing agility, and whether leadership and structure lead culture when adopting an agile mindset. It is a thought-provoking and fun interview. Jorgen's irrepressible nature shines through even when tackling tough topics! Jorgens Bio: "Jorgen Hesselberg is the author of Unlocking Agility and co-founder of Comparative Agility, a leading agile assessment, and continuous improvement platform. A proven thought leader of numerous successful enterprise transformation efforts since 2009, Jorgen provides strategic guidance, executive counsel, and coaching to some of the world's most respected companies both as an internal change agent and an external consultant. He has trained thousands of people on agile and Scrum, disruptive innovation, and enterprise transformation strategy." Contact Information Email: jorgen@comparativeagility.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jhesselberg Comparative Agility: https://www.comparativeagility.com/product/ Re-Read Saturday News Chapter 14 continues the discussion of cognitive biases and heuristics. In Chapter 14 of Thinking, Fast and Slow we explore the representative heuristic. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Week 9: How Judgement Happens and Answering An Easier Question - http://bit.ly/2XBPaX3 Week 10: Law of Small Numbers - http://bit.ly/2JcjxtI Week 11: Anchors - http://bit.ly/30iMgUu Week 12: The Science of Availability - http://bit.ly/30tW6TN Week 13: Availability, Emotion, and Risk - http://bit.ly/2GmOkTT Week 14: Tom W's Speciality - http://bit.ly/2YxKSA8 Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 558 will feature our essay Story Points – Leave Them, Don't Love Them. I use them when needed but I am becoming less enamored with story points every day. We will also return to the QA Corner and spend some time with Jeremy Berriault.

SPaMCAST 556 features our essay on Socratic Questioning. Questions are a critical tool that every coach, mentor or leader uses to help shape and improve the performance of those they interact with — I don't think this statement should surprise anyone. That said, pushing past the concept of just asking questions, Socratic questioning is a formal and disciplined approach to getting the person answering the questions to synthesize and answer based on knowledge and logic. We also have a visit from Susan Parente. Susan brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the SPaMCAST. In this installment, Professor Parente discusses being agile in name only. Being agile in name only is not an enviable place to be! Re-Read Saturday News The availability heuristic, introduced in Chapter 12, states that we make judgments about an attribute based on how easy or hard it is to retrieve information about the attribute. In Chapter 13, Kahneman dives deeper into how the availability heuristic functions, and provides some hints on how it can be used. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Week 9: How Judgement Happens and Answering An Easier Question - http://bit.ly/2XBPaX3 Week 10: Law of Small Numbers - http://bit.ly/2JcjxtI Week 11: Anchors - http://bit.ly/30iMgUu Week 12: The Science of Availability - http://bit.ly/30tW6TN Week 13: Availability, Emotion, and Risk - http://bit.ly/2GmOkTT Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 557 will feature my interview with Jorgen Hesselberg. We talked about his book Unlocking Agility and assessing agility. A thought-provoking and fun interview. Jorgen's irrepressible nature shines through even when tackling tough topics!

SPaMCAST 555 features our essay applying a simple filter to determine whether an interaction or event is collaborative. In this essay we put the simple four attribute model we introduced in SPaMCAST 554 to use. Collaboration is an important tool, so let's recognize what is or isn't collaboration and stop calling everything collaboration. We will also have a visit from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries. In this installment, Kim returns to the topic of lean software development. In 2019, the concepts of lean and agile have become intertwined. Understanding concepts like waste is important for everyone involved in delivering value. Re-Read Saturday News This week we dive into the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is useful for understanding what people believe and how they will act. All leaders need to understand the impact of top of mind experiences on decision making and how to disrupt those biases; the availability heuristic is a tool for building that knowledge. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Week 9: How Judgement Happens and Answering An Easier Question - http://bit.ly/2XBPaX3 Week 10: Law of Small Numbers - http://bit.ly/2JcjxtI Week 11: Anchors - http://bit.ly/30iMgUu Week 12: The Science of Availability - http://bit.ly/30tW6TN Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 556 will continue our essay and discussion extravaganza. We will feature an essay on using questions to coach and teach. Asking questions is one way to get someone to own a change rather than use renting it from you. We will also have a visit from Susan Parente!

SPaMCAST 554 features our essay on the misuse of the word 'collaboration'. Collaboration is a hallmark of agile techniques, but people confuse collaboration with many other forms of interactions. When that happens everyone gets confused and disheartened. In order to stop the cycle, we identify four attributes to help recognize collaboration. We'll also hear from Gene Hughson who brings his Form Follows Function Column to the podcast. In the second part of a three-part series on architects, Gene discusses the role of the solutions architect. Part One can be found on SPaMCAST 543 - Value Chain, Solution Architects, Essays and Discussions Web Player and Show Notes: http://bit.ly/2L3tLku Re-Read Saturday News Today we dive into the concept of anchors and the impact of anchor bias. This is one of my favorite topics for understanding behaviors in negotiations. Negotiations are all around us whether you are discussing salary, buying a car, or wrestling with a request for an impossible due date. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Week 9: How Judgement Happens and Answering An Easier Question - http://bit.ly/2XBPaX3 Week 10: Law of Small Numbers - http://bit.ly/2JcjxtI Week 11: Anchors - http://bit.ly/30iMgUu Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 555 will complete our latest set of essays on collaboration. In this essay, we apply the four attribute model we introduced this week. Having a model is great and it is even better if it can be applied in the real world! We will also have a visit from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.

SPaMCAST 553 features our interview with Jim Benson. Jim and I focused on prioritization and how prioritization can be a reflection of more deep-seated problems. One of the ideas Jim shares is that processes are the social contract for getting work done. I really enjoy talking with Jim and think you will enjoy the conversation. During the close of the interview, Jim talks about Modus Cooperandi's class on prioritization. Jim has extended a discount code for listeners of the podcast for all of the MI classes. The code is SPAMCAST20 or you can use the link: https://modusinstitute.com/p/me-what-do-i-do-next/?coupon_code=SPAMCAST20 Jim's Bio: Jim's career path has taken him through government agencies, Fortune 10 corporations, and start-ups. Through them all, his passion has remained consistent – applying new technologies to workgroups. In each case asking how they can be leveraged to collaborate and cooperate more effectively. Jim loves ideas, creation, and building opportunities. He loves working with teams who are passionate about the future, pushing boundaries, and inclusion. His goal with all technologies is to increase beneficial contact between people and reduce the bureaucratic noise which so often tends to increase costs and destroy creativity. Jim is the author of the Shingo Research Award-winning book Personal Kanban (use the link to buy a copy and support the podcast). He is a noted expert in business process, personal work management, and the application of Lean to personal work and life. Jim believes that the best process is the least process necessary to achieve goals. He has zero tolerance for process waste. All said, Jim enjoys helping people and teams work out sticky problems, an advocate of people actually seeing their work, and inventing new ways to work at the intersection of Lean thinking, brain science, and leadership. Contact Jim Twitter: https://twitter.com/ourfounder LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbenson Personal Kanban: http://www.personalkanban.com/pk/#sthash.MtOA96sV.dpbs Modus Cooperandi: http://moduscooperandi.com/ Re-Read Saturday News Today we dive into the concept of the Law of Small Numbers, chapter 10 in our re-read of Thinking, Fast and Slow. I found this chapter particularly useful because I see the results in the process improvement world nearly every day. It is great to experiment but make sure you get enough observations so that when you draw a conclusion it will be correct. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Week 9: How Judgement Happens and Answering An Easier Question - http://bit.ly/2XBPaX3 Week 10: Law of Small Numbers - http://bit.ly/2JcjxtI Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 554 will feature our essay on the misuse of the word 'collaboration', and how to recognize when are talking about something else (like a lecture). We will also hear from Gene Hughson!

SPaMCAST 552 features our essay on the idea of "fit for purpose" and its impact on the definition of quality. Even if you don't deliver any defects, not being fit for purpose wipes quality off the board. BOOM! (Rather read the essay? http://bit.ly/2wZxkxX) In the second spot this week, Jon M Quigley delivers with his Alpha and Omega of Product Development! In this installment, Jon discusses the need to say no. A simple straight forward word that is nearly impossible to use in polite company. Re-Read Saturday News Today, two stories…ops, the wrong column…today we take on two chapters in our re-read of Thinking, Fast and Slow, chapters 8 and 9: How Judgment Happens and Answering An Easier Question. I would be interested in your feedback on the depth in this entry compared to previous entries. Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Week 9: How Judgement Happens and Answering An Easier Question - http://bit.ly/2XBPaX3 Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 553 will feature our interview with Jim Benson. We will discuss prioritization and how prioritization can be a reflection of more deep-seated problems. Life changing ideas in a powerful interview.

SPaMCAST 551 features our interview with Michael (Mike) Lynn. Mike and I talked about leadership and agile. Leadership is important any time two or more people get together to pursue a goal. Mike shares his expertise, experience, and wisdom to help shine a light on the relationship between agile and leadership. Mike's Bio Mike Lynn is a seasoned learning/leadership/organizational development professional with close to 30 years experience, including nine years with McKinsey and Company. He provides executive coaching and custom consulting services, and is a principal of thoughtLEADERS, a global leadership development training firm offering a full menu of programs to help leaders think, communicate and succeed. Mike has deep expertise and passion in structured executive thinking and decision-making as well as interpersonal success strategies (e.g., meeting leadership, tough conversations, coaching and feedback, presentation delivery, upward management, etc.) His learning specialties are in the areas of executive coaching, team facilitation, training design and delivery (classroom and online). For individual clients, Mike's coaching approach is rooted in strategic focus and deep understanding of how leaders' unique individual preferences and approaches drive priorities, successes, challenges, and stresses across multiple leadership dimensions. Contact Mike at lynnlearningcollaborations@gmail.com. Learn more about thoughtLEADERS training programs at www.thoughtleadersllc.com Re-Read Saturday News And we are back! This week we re-read Chapter 7 of Thinking, Fast and Slow, A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions.. Logistics note: every time I think I can get to a two chapters a week cadence with this book, I find that hit a chapter that I really think is full of ideas that will be useful for thinking about how people behave and how change can be facilitated and feel that I need to spend more time with it. Maybe next week! Remember, if you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story – http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort – http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller – http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine – http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease – http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes – http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Week 8: A Machine for Jumping to Conclusions - http://bit.ly/2XOjOcx Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 552 will feature our essay on quality. We will tackle ideas like "fit for purpose", cost and timing. Messing up on any of these categories can (and often does) mess up quality. We will also have a visit from Jon Quigley!

SPaMCAST 550 features our essay titled, Intertwining Conway's Law And Agile. Conway's Law trains a spotlight on how an organization's structure impacts the product they ship. The "Law" states that the structure of a software product will mimic the structure of the organization that produces the software. It can (and has) been said that you are shipping the "org structure." How you are structured therefore is going to impact just how much agile you can achieve. We also visit the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy discusses the differences between test engineers and testers. We also tackle whether every person with the word test in their title should have the ability to code or script. Jeremy's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeremy-berriault-mba/ I know this is not the show I promoted last week but my guest, Mike Lynn, is out of pocket this week and wanted to around when the show went live. Not only am I agile, but I am also flexible therefore we are rearranging the lineup! Re-Read Saturday News I am celebrating my birthday this weekend instead of working on the re-read of Thinking, Fast and Slow. We will be back next week, so in the interim, I decided to reprise and revise an entry from 2014 titled Teams and Overly Self-interested Behavior ( http://bit.ly/2I5pPvS) I hope you will enjoy and reflect on the piece! Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 551 will feature our interview with Michael (Mike) Lynn (I promise). Mike and I talked about leadership and agile. Leadership is important any time two or more people get together to pursue a goal. Mike shares his expertise, experience, and wisdom to help shine a light on the relationship between agile and leadership.

SPaMCAST 549 features our essay Seven Issues Testers Experience Being Agile. Recently I attended the QAI Quest Conference in Chicago, during the conference I got to talk with lots of people from across the development spectrum. From the conversations and workshops, I identified seven common threads that test and quality focused personal experience being or trying to be agile. In order to be agile, not just do agile, we need to tackle these seven issues We also have the completion of Susan Parente's three-installment discussion of distributed agile. In this installment of Not a Scrumdamentalist, Susan discusses tools and whether they are the hurdle some people make them out to be. Re-Read Saturday News This week we re-read Chapter 6 of Thinking, Fast and Slow, Norms, Surprises, and Causes. The chapter continues the deep dive into System 1 thinking. As noted before, System 1 thinking continually is active nearly all of the time making snap decisions based on associated that it has constructed. In Chapter 6 Kahneman asserts that the main role of system one "is to maintain and update a model of your personal world, which represents what is normal in it." The Associative Machine (Chapter 5) defines one mechanism the brain uses to construct a model of the world around us. If you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story - http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort - http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller - http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine - http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease - http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Week 7: Norms, Surprises, and Causes - http://bit.ly/2Molok2 Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 550 will feature our interview with Michael (Mike) Lynn. Mike and I talked about leadership and agile. Leadership is important any time two or more people get together to pursue a goal. Mike shares his expertise, experience, and wisdom to help shine a light on the relationship between agile and leadership. We will also be halfway to show 1100 next week!

SPaMCAST 548 features our interview with Heidi Helfand. Heidi and I discussed teams and her book Dynamic Reteaming: The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams. Heidi challenges the conventional wisdom that in agile (or any walk of life) that you need to keep your teams "the same" in order to be successful. In short, there are no absolutes except for change. Heidi's Bio Heidi Helfand is Director of Engineering Excellence at Procore Technologies, creators of cloud-based construction software. She is the author of the book Dynamic Reteaming: The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams which challenges the notion that you need to keep your teams "the same" in order to be successful. Heidi was on the first team at two highly successful startups ñ ExpertCity, Inc. (acquired by Citrix) where she was on the teams that invented GoToMyPC, GoToMeeting and GoToWebinar and AppFolio, Inc., a SAAS property management software company. She is a co-active coach certified by the International Coach Federation (ICF). Buy the book! https://leanpub.com/dynamicreteaming Twitter: https://twitter.com/heidihelfand LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/heidihelfand Re-Read Saturday News This week we are re-reading Chapter 5 of Thinking, Fast and Slow, Cognitive Ease. This chapter is full of tactical considerations for how to present information or to influence how teams work. If you do not have a favorite, dog-eared copy of Thinking, Fast and Slow, please buy a copy. Using the links in this blog entry helps support the blog and its alter-ego, The Software Process and Measurement Cast. Buy a copy on Amazon, It's time to get reading! The installments: Week 1: Logistics and Introduction - http://bit.ly/2UL4D6h Week 2: The Characters Of The Story - http://bit.ly/2PwItyX Week 3: Attention and Effort - http://bit.ly/2H45x5A Week 4: The Lazy Controller - http://bit.ly/2LE3MQQ Week 5: The Associative Machine - http://bit.ly/2JQgp8I Week 6: Cognitive Ease - http://bit.ly/2VTuqVu Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 549 will feature our essay Seven Issues Testers Experience Being Agile. Recently I attended the QAI Quest Conference in Chicago, during the conference I got to talk with lots of people from across the development spectrum. From the conversations and workshops, I identified seven common threads that test and quality focused personal experience being or trying to be agile. We will also have a column from Susan Parente who brings her Not a Scrumdamentalist column to the cast!