article

The Hidden Cost of Deadlines

Every day, my kids tell me about a new homework assignment. They always finish the description with “and it’s due on…”; school is habituating them to think about deadlines. My wife and I have deadlines of our own, such as applying to high school for said kids, and filing taxes.

At work, deadlines are everywhere. Almost every nontrivial undertaking has some date attached to it by which it ought to be completed, released, delivered.READ MORE

How Do You Learn Agile?

If you’re picking up a new skill, method, or tool, how do you learn to apply it?

Perhaps you like to read instructions and follow them. Or maybe you prefer to have an expert teach you. Another option is trial-and-error. There are multiple learning styles.

What if you’re learning something as deep and impactful as an overall approach to work, such as Agile?

READ MORE

Agile Is not Always the Answer

All over the world, Agile is the new darling. This approach to work has caught the attention of most IT and product development managers, who are now rethinking their teams, tools, practices, programs, measurements, reporting, and so on. Few of those managers, however, question Agile’s fit to their situation, or begin projects with the question, “Which approach should we use here?”

READ MORE

Lead Your Agile Team Through the Storm

All Agile methods are predicated on strong teamwork. It’s not an Agile invention; bringing diverse skills and viewpoints to bear may indeed increase aggregate performance.

From an Agile standpoint, teams are also useful because human beings make mistakes.READ MORE

Gil Broza Interviewed by Selena Delesie (48-min audio)

How do you lead with both heart and mind? Why would you care do to that? And how do you overcome the organizational barriers to a people-first culture? Selena Delesie, host of the Lead With Love Virtual Conference, held a deep-dive interview on these matters with Gil in January 2017.READ MORE

What’s in a Word?

Imagine yourself in a planning meeting. The team is considering options when someone says, “How can we fail fast with this one?”

What’s going through your mind?

READ MORE

The Little Word that Impedes Collaboration

Collaboration is a key principle of Agile. Yet, I believe that most Agile teams don’t collaborate nearly as much as they could, and as a result, their performance falls far short of its potential.READ MORE

How “The Three Questions” Hurt Teamwork

One process element that all new Agile teams adopt easily is the daily standup meeting. Even without receiving Agile training, it’s the one thing everyone seems to know about Scrum. And you know what I’m realizing more and more? In its popular, standard form, it hurts teamwork.

READ MORE

Rigid Agility

Being in the business of helping development teams and organizations become more effective, I get to see very diverse starting points. The clients of the last few months, however, had a lot in common.

READ MORE

Could You Use Software Development Insurance?

Like most people, I carry various kinds of disaster insurance. If I crash my car, I’ll get paid back its worth. If my house burns down, I will lose lots of personal effects and time, but not my financial investment.

Even if the law or mortgage lenders didn’t require car/home/life insurance, I would still buy them. They are a large expense but they have a huge benefit: They allow me to live my life without fear of financial ruin.

If you could buy a policy on your software development efforts, guaranteeing some quick recovery if anything goes horribly wrong, would you?

READ MORE