Don’t start until you know when you’ll be finished!

One of the best articles on project management I’ve come across over the last couple of years is this one from CIO magazine.   The author makes some great points about making sure you understand what the project sponsor will measure success by.   He makes the distinction between a project that builds…
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Agile (note the big A) versus agile (note the small a)

I picked this one up several years at one of Software Education’s  Software Development Conferences.   I think it might have been Steve Mellor who said the worst thing to happen to agile was when it was re-spelt Agile.   I think that “agile” (note the small a) is the application of the commonsense…
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Testing is NOT Quality Assurance!

Time after time we see testing referred to as Quality Assurance – indeed I read an article lately that said that the ISTQB definition of testing is essentially quality assurance (IEEE Software July/August 2009 – Reach for Standards, Good Ones by B. Meyer). I find this fascinating as it is one of…
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More on Agile and “failure”

I agree wholeheartedly with the points raised by several people about the definition of project failure.   I think it is commonsense to cancel a project once it is realised that the business case is poor or unrealisable.   A significant question to ask is, “How often is the business case expressed in…
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With freedom comes great responsibility

Whatever life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words: “With great power comes great responsibility. ” This is my gift, my curse. Who am I?  I’m Spiderman.   As with Peter Parker, I see the same holding true with Agile testing. I was recently delivered a course on Agile testing and I…
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The importance of WHAT not HOW when stating Scope and Requirements

Have a look at following two references from CIO magazine.   They support my arguments about the importance of using scoping techniques like the Context Diagram and the B5 technique. We should use these techniques, of course as part of understanding the “as is” business, but more importantly as a…
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Cultural change is not easy

Ken Schwaber (of Scrum fame) reckons that 75% of Scrum implementations will fail to deliver the anticipated benefit.   This will most likely be because of the extent of cultural change needed for the organisation to adopt the new way of working.   I put an InfoQ news item that summarises the thoughts…
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More on “failure”

CIO Magazine has an article on the Chaos survey results in which they identify that many of the “failed” projects have been cancelled because of recession-related factors (funding removed, staff gone etc).   It says “Johnson [Standish Group chairman] estimates that 20 to 25 percent of the failures…
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What is failure?

For me one of the key questions about the Standish Group survey is their definition of “failure”.   I feel that cancelling a bad project early is actually a good thing, and this is one of the most valuable aspects of the Agile (big A) approach – all of the methods require of the team that they…
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Betsy Kauffman to join SoftEd Group

Software Education (SoftEd) are pleased to announce the appointment of Betsy Kauffman as Vice President of Software Education USA, LLC.    Ms Kauffman is the co-founder and principal of Agile Pi Inc.   She brings to the role extensive experience in the information technology sector in senior…
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Career Insurance: Protecting Your Future in a Volatile Work Environment

By David Mantica  In today's constantly evolving work landscape, it's more important than ever for individuals to take control of their careers and plan for disruptions. Workers need to be proactive in developing their personal brands, acquiring skills, and building relationships to become…
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