Software Process and Measurement Cast

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 438 features our essay on leveraging sizing in testing. Size can be a useful tool for budgeting and planning both at the portfolio level and the team level. Gene Hughson brings his Form Follows Function Blog to the cast this week to discuss his recent blog entry titled, Organizations as Systems and Innovation. One of the highlights of the conversation is whether emergence is a primary factor driving change in a complex system. Our third column is from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries. Kim discusses why blindly accepting canned solutions does not negate the need for active troubleshooting of for problems in software development. Re-Read Saturday News This week, we tackle chapter 1 of Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World by Brian J. Robertson published by Henry Holt and Company in 2015. Chapter 1 is titled, Evolving Organization. Holacracy is an approach to address shortcomings that have appeared as organizations evolve. Holacracy is not a silver bullet, but rather provides a stable platform for identifying and addressing problems efficiently. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our interview with Alex Yakyma. Our discussion focused on the industry's broken mindset that prevents it from being Lean and Agile. A powerful and possibly controversial interview. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 437 features a discussion of our recent re-read of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass, Copyright 2002, 33rd printing) with Steven Adams. Steve has participated on nearly all of the re-reads, providing his unique wisdom. It was a great talk that helped me understand why the book has (and continues to have) such a large impact on how I view Agile and software development. Steve also has some advice on how to get the most out of the re-read feature. Steve lives in the San Francisco Bay Area (a.k.a, Silicon Valley) where he has a successful career in software development. Steve has worked for Hewlett Packard, Access Systems Inc, Trilliant Inc., and Sony Mobile Communications; plus has consulted at Cisco Systems. Steve has a computer science degree from California State University at Chico, learned software project management at Hewlett-Packard and, in 2009, started his Agile journey with Sony Ericsson. Steve enjoys listening to technical podcasts, and SPaMCAST was one of the first and is a favorite! Steve is also an avid bicyclist (road) and is on track to log over 3,500 miles in 2016. Blog: https://sadams510.wordpress.com/ Twitter: @stevena510 Re-Read Saturday News This week we begin our read of Holacracy with a few logistics and a review of the introduction. We have a short entry this week that will give you time to buy a copy today and read along! If you have not listened to my interview with Jeff Dalton on Software Process and Measurement Cast 433, I would suggest a quick listen. Jeff has practical experience with using the concepts of holacracy in his company and as a tool in his consultancy. Holacracy: The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World by Brian J. Robertson was published by Henry Holt and Company in 2015. The book is comprised of a forward, 10 chapters in three parts, notes, acknowledgments, and an index. My plan is to read and review one chapter per week. We will move on to a new book in approximately 12 weeks. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our essay on leveraging sizing in testing. Size can be a useful tool for budgeting and planning both at the portfolio level and the team level. We will also have a new column from Gene Hughson who brings his Form Follows Function blog to the Cast and a new column from Kim Pries, the Software Sensei. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 436 features our essay titled, Change Fatigue, Tunnel Vision, and Watts Humphrey, in which we answer the question of whether the state and culture of the organization or team, can have a large impact on whether a Big Bang approach or an incremental approach makes sense to change. Our second column is from Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy discusses user acceptance testing and Agile. There are lots of different ways to accomplish user acceptance testing in an Agile environment. The only wrong way is not to do UAT in Agile. Jeremy blogs at https://jberria.wordpress.com/ Jon M Quigley brings his column, The Alpha and Omega of Product Development, to the Cast. This week Jon puts all the pieces together and discusses systems thinking. One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transformation LLC. Re-Read Saturday News This week we wrap-up our re-read of Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). In the wrap-up, we discuss overall impressions of the book and suggest a set of exercises to reinforce your growth mindset. The next book in the series will be Holacracy (Buy a copy today) by Brian J. Robertson. After my recent interview with Jeff Dalton on Software Process and Measurement Cast 433, I realized that I had only read extracts from Holacracy, therefore we will read the whole book together. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of both someone pursuing an organizational transformation and using the material when coaching teams. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our discussion with Steven Adams on our recent re-read of The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni (Jossey-Bass, Copyright 2002, 33rd printing). Steven provides insight and some ideas on how to get the most from the re-read feature! Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 435 features our interview with Allan Kelly. Our discussion touched on the concepts behind #NoProjects. Allan describes how the concept of a project leads to a number of unintended consequences. Those consequences aren't pretty. Allan makes digital development teams more effective and improves delivery with continuous agile approaches to reduce delay and risk while increasing value delivered. He helps teams and smaller companies - including start-ups and scale-ups - with advice, coaching and training. Managers, product and technical staff are all involved in his improvements. He is the originator of Retrospective Dialogue Sheets and Value Poker, the author of four books, including "Xanpan - team-centric Agile Software Development" and "Business Patterns for Software Developers". On Twitter he is @allankellynet. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 8 of Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). Chapter 8, titled "Changing Mindsets." The whole concept of mindsets would be an interesting footnote if we did not believe they could change. Chapter 8 drives home the point that has been made multiple times in the book, that mindsets are malleable with self-awareness and a lot of effort. The question of whether all people want to be that self-aware will be addressed next week as we wrap up our re-read. We are quickly closing in on the end of our re-read of Mindset. I anticipate one more week. The next book in the series will be Holacracy (Buy a copy today). After my recent interview with Jeff Dalton on Software Process and Measurement Cast 433, I realized that I had only read extracts from Holacracy by Brian J. Robertson, therefore we will read (first time for me) the whole book together. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of both someone pursuing an organizational transformation and using the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and start the re-read from the beginning! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our essay on incremental change approaches. We will also have columns from Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy blogs at https://jberria.wordpress.com/ and Jon M Quigley who brings his column, the Alpha and Omega of Product Development, to the Cast. One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transformation LLC.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 434 features our essay on Change Implementations - To Big Bang or Not To Big Bang? The knee jerk reaction amongst transformation leaders is usually a loud NO! However, the answer is not nearly that cut and dry. Big Bang approaches to change have a place in bag of tricks every transformation leader has at their fingertips. The second column this week is from Steve Tendon. Steve Tendon brings another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here) to the cast. In this installment, we talk about Chapter 16, The (Super)-Human Side of Flow. In Chapter 16 Steve and Wolfram go into detail on in Kotter's attributes of flow state. A good discussion and a good read. Our third column is from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries. Kim discusses Fermi Problems. Fermi problems or questions are a tool to teach approximation and estimation. These problems usually can be solved logically as a back-of-the-envelope calculation. The last time we talked about Fermi Problems was when we were re-reading How To Measure Anything (Hubbard). Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 7 of Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). Chapter 7, titled "Parents, Teachers, Coaches: Where Do Mindsets Come From? explores the impact of some of the most intimate and earliest relationships on our mindsets. Understanding how parents, teachers, and coaches affect mindsets helps us learn to lead change. We are quickly closing in on the end of our re-read of Mindset. I anticipate two more weeks (Chapter 8 and a round up). The next book in the series will be Holacracy (Buy a copy today). After my recent interview with Jeff Dalton on Software Process and Measurement Cast 433, I realized that I had only read extracts from Holacracy by Brian J. Robertson, therefore we will read (first time for me) the whole book together. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of both someone pursuing an organizational transformation and using the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and read along! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our interview with Allan Kelly. Our discussion touched on the concepts behind #NoProject. Allan describes how the concept of projects leads to a number of unintended consequences. Those consequences aren't pretty. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 433 features our interview with Jeff Dalton discussing holacracy. Holocracy.org defines holacracy as, "a complete, packaged system for self-management in organizations. Holacracy replaces the traditional management hierarchy with a new peer-to-peer "operating system" that increases transparency, accountability, and organizational agility." Jeff has implemented holacracy in his own firm and others and has a lot to share about this exciting form of management and leadership. Jeff Dalton is President of Broadsword, a Process Innovation firm, and Chief Evangelist at AgileCxO.org, an Agile Leadership Research and Development center that develops models for high-performing agile teams. Jeff is principle author of "A Guide to Scrum and CMMI," published by the CMMI Institute, and is a SCAMPI Lead Appraiser and Certified Agile Leadership Consultant that specializes in software product development, self-organizing teams, and performance modeling. His upcoming book, the "Agile Performance Holarchy: A New Model for Outrageously High Performance" will be released in September of 2017. Jeff's previous appearances on the Software Process and Measurement Cast include SPaMCAST 366 – Jeff Dalton, 12 Attributes of Great and Agile Organizations SPaMCAST 296 – Jeff Dalton, CMMI, Agile, Resiliency SPaMCAST 176 - Jeff Dalton, CMMI, Scrum and Agile Re-Read Saturday News We will pick up our re-read of Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along) next week. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of someone pursuing an organizational transformation and also how to use the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and read along! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST In the Software Process and Measurement Cast, will feature our essay on Change Implementations - To Big Bang or Not To Big Bang? We will also have great columns from Steve Tendon and Gene Hughson. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 432 begins with an essay on the impact of leadership types on adopting and sustaining Agile. Leadership style has a direct impact on an organization's ability to adopt and sustain Agile. Some leadership styles are more supportive, while others evoke more of a response that is epitomized by locking feral cats and dogs in a room (nobody wins). Next up, Jeremy Berriault brings his QA Corner to the cast to discuss surprises in QA testing. Visit Jeremy's blog at https://jberria.wordpress.com/ Next we will have a column from The Software Sensei, Kim Pries. Kim discusses the holy trinity of forethought, execution and follow through. Reach out to Kim on LinkedIn. Last, but not least, Jon M Quigley brings his column, the Alpha and Omega of Product Development, to the Cast. In this segment, Jon discusses on-boarding. On-boarding new people is critical even if the person is just joining from another team down the hall. One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transformation LLC. Re-Read Saturday News This week, we tackle Chapter 5 in Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). In Chapter 5, Dweck uses examples from the business world to illustrate and elaborate on fixed and growth mindsets. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of someone pursuing an organizational transformation and also how to use the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and read along! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Feedback on SPaMCAST 428 with Mark Bojeun. Dan Stafford wrote to Mark and said, " Great talk Mark, insightful as ever. Open and honest communication is such an important tenet." (Listen Now) Do you have thoughts and comments you would like to share? Email us at spamcastinfo@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In the Software Process and Measurement Cast, Jeff Dalton returns to discuss holacracy. Jeff has implemented holacracy in his own firm and others and has a lot to share about this exciting form of management and leadership. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 431 features our interview with Andrew Neitlich on leadership. We discussed whether leadership can be learned and if tech leadership is different than other kinds of leadership. Leadership is a core requirement for making all teams, Agile or not, effective! Andrew's bio: Andrew Neitlich is the founder and director of the Center for Executive Coaching (http://centerforexecutivecoaching.com), a leader in training and certifying executive and leadership coaches. He also leads his own executive coaching practice, with an emphasis on working technical leaders that sometimes get frustrated with engaging their teams and having more impact when they communicate. Andrew is the author of Coach!, Elegant Leadership, and Guerrilla Marketing for a Bulletproof Career. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School, and lives in Sarasota, Florida. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 4 in Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). In Chapter 4, Dweck hits a home run by reflecting on how mindsets translate into action in the sports arena (thus the sports allusions). Sports stories are one the most used metaphors in a business environment. I bet that you can't you to go to two meetings in any corporate environment without hearing a project likened to the exploits of sports teams or athletes. This an easy metaphor theme because most everyone has been exposed to some form of sports or at least a story about sports before they take a job. In Chapter 4, Dr. Dweck, scores (I can't help myself) by using the exploits of athletes and sports teams to further illustrate the differences and impact mindsets deliver. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of someone pursuing an organizational transformation and also how to use the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and read along! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Feedback on SPaMCAST 428 with Mark Bojeun. Dan Stafford wrote to Mark and said, " Great talk Mark, insightful as ever. Open and honest communication is such an important tenet." (Listen Now) Do you have thoughts and comments you would like to share? Email us at spamcastinfo@gmail.com Next SPaMCAST In the Software Process and Measurement Cast, we will feature an essay on the impact of leadership types on adopting and sustaining Agile. Leadership style has a direct impact on an organization's ability to adopt and sustain Agile. Some leadership styles are more supportive and others evoke more of a response that is epitomized by locking feral cats and dogs in a room (nobody wins). We will also have columns from Jeremy Berriault, who brings his QA Corner to the cast. Visit Jeremy's new blog at https://jberria.wordpress.com/ Next, we will have a column from The Software Sensei, Kim Pries. Reach out to Kim on LinkedIn. Last, but not least, Jon M Quigley brings his column, the Alpha and Omega of Product Development, to the cast. One of the places you can find Jon is at Value Transformation LLC. Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 430 features an essay on product owners. The product owner role is nuanced, always complicated and sometimes hard. The essay will help you sort things out. Steve Tendon brings another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here) to the cast. In this installment we talk about Chapter 15, Understanding the Impact of a Constraint. In our discussion Steve schooled me a bit on constraints. Gene Hughson brings his Form Follows Function Blog (the same Gene, that Ryan Ripley called out on last week's cast) to the cast this week to discuss the third in his series on leadership. This week we discussed the antipattern Gene calls The Thinker. Might sound good, but it isn't. Have you checked out Agile for Humans? If not please do. If you are an Agile for Humans listener visiting the Software Process and Measurement Cast for the first time, WELCOME. I hope you subscribe and make us part of your weekly ritual. Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 3 in Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). In Chapter 3 Dweck provides a deep dive into how mindsets affect learning and teaching. The impact of mindsets on how we learn or how we teach is useful knowledge for anyone involved in coaching or transformation. Every week we discuss a chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of someone pursuing an organizational transformation and also how to use the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and read along! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST In the Software Process and Measurement Cast we talk with Andrew Neitlich on leadership. We discussed whether leadership can be learned and if tech leadership is different than other kinds of leadership. Leadership is a core requirement for making Agile effective! Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 429 is a special event. Ryan Ripley (who appeared on SPaMCAST 404 and is the host of the Agile for Humans Podcast) and the I recently connected virtually to discuss the role and impact of certifications on the Agile movement. Certifications are an important gating tool in the job market and may provide evidence that people are keeping up to date with changes in the industry. Or certifications could represent the calcifying of boundaries that make the adage 'inspect and adapt' a thing of the past. We discuss! We are going to release the audio on both our podcasts serially, the SPaMCAST today and then Agile for Humans on the 13th! Make sure both Agile for Humans and the Software Process and Measurement Cast are part of your weekly rituals! Mr. Ryan Ripley has worked on agile teams for the past 10 years in development, scrum master and management roles. He's worked at various Fortune 1000 companies in the medical device, wholesale, and financial services industries. Ryan is great at taking tests and holds the PMI-ACP, PSM I, PSM II, PSE, PSPO I, PSD I, CSM, CSPO, and CSP agile certifications. He lives in Indiana with his wife Kristin and three children. Ryan blogs at ryanripley.com and hosts the Agile for Humans Podcast. You can also follow Ryan on Twitter: @ryanripley Re-Read Saturday News This week we tackle Chapter 2 in Carol Dweck's Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (buy your copy and read along). In Chapter 2 Dweck provides a deeper dive into fixed and growth mindsets. The chapter begins with Dweck's relating how the discovery that there were two meanings to the word 'ability' shaped the work. The first definition for ability is a fixed capability that needs to be proven (continually); the second definition is that an ability is a capability that can be developed through learning. The distinction between two definitions are at the heart of the behavioral differences between the growth and fixed mindsets. Those that believe that abilities can be developed will seek stretch goals and view failures as learning opportunities, while those with a fixed mindset will have a very different point of view. Every week we discuss the chapter then consider the implications of what we have "read" from the point of view of someone pursuing an organizational transformation and also how to use the material when coaching teams. Remember to buy a copy of Carol Dweck's Mindset and read along! Visit the Software Process and Measurement Cast blog to participate in this and previous re-reads. Next SPaMCAST The Software Process and Measurement Cast 430 will shift back to the magazine format with an essay on product owners. The product owner role is nuanced and sometimes hard. The essay will help you sort things out. We will also have columns from Steve Tendon with another chapter in his Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban, published by J Ross (buy a copy here) and an installment of Gene Hughson's Form Follows Function Blog (the same Gene, that Ryan called out on this week's cast). Shameless Ad for my book! Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: "This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team." Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.