IT Transformation
Agile is often the subject of an entire IT transformation within an organisation. But what is IT transformation? Transformation means different things for different organisations and what it is depends entirely on each organisation's own unique situation, and what they are trying to achieve. It's also something that keeps changing, as the organisation, customers and the market continues to change,...
Work In Process Limits, Revisited
I am noticing a troubling trend with many of the organizations I interact with. The project teams have a release date, a relatively fixed team size, and somewhere between 5 to 10 times more work in the backlog than they are ever actually going to get finished....
Agile Haiku Poem
Someone sent me a Haiku poem earlier today. It was nothing to do with agile, but it inspired me to write a Haiku poem of my own. I don't know why. I guess I was just having a creative moment! Here it is: Mostly, more or less, less is more. Simple. I hope...
Does your Grocery Store Limit Work in Progress?
Shopping in our local Grocery Store (Farm Boy) on a recent Saturday made me realize what a good job they do Limiting Work in Progress (WIP) and Self Organizing. Driving into the parking lot with my 4yr old, I was dreading the busyness of the store. When I got in...
Lean or Kanban or Agile
This post originally published by Mike Cottmeyer for Agile Chronicles, May 2009. Here I am.. Sunday afternoon.. Mother's day. Just got back from taking the family out for a low key Mother's day celebration and now I've got a little quiet time before the week begins....
Limiting Work in Process… Are There Any Other Options?
One of the big wins of any agile method you pick… Scrum, Kanban, Extreme Programming, AUP… is that you get a built-in ability to balance capacity against demand. This natural throttling of work helps us better manage expectations between the customer and the...
Lean Principle #7 – Optimise The Whole
The last of the 7 Key Principles of Lean Software Development is 'Optimise The Whole'. In their popular book, 'Implementing Lean Software Development', Mary and Tom Poppendieck explain that the software industry is legendary for its tendency to suboptimise....
Lean Principle #6 – Respect People
Principle number 6 of the 7 key principles of lean software development is Respect People. It's yet another principle that should really be common sense. But unfortunately too many people sometimes forget this basic human courtesy, especially in the workplace....
Lean Principle #5 – Deliver Fast
Deliver Fast. In a way, that's a funny principle to have. I would have thought that's stating the blinking obvious! But the reality is that it isn't. All too often in software development, things seem to take ages. It is common for people to think too...
Lean Principle #4 – Defer Commitment
Continuing with my series about the 7 key principles of lean software development, here are my comments on Lean Principle #4 - Defer Commitment. I'm not sure I really like the name of this one. It could easily be misunderstood. It doesn't mean you should put...
Lean Principle #3 – Create Knowledge
The third principle of lean software development is Create Knowledge. This one seems a bit strange to me, as it almost seems obvious and common sense. But then I guess we all know that common sense isn't that common! Thinking about the fact that the origins...
Lean Principle #2 – Build Quality In
In my previous post about lean software development, I explained Lean Principle #1 - Eliminate Waste. Quality issues result in all sorts of waste. That's a fact. There's waste in testing the code more than once. Waste in logging defects. And waste in fixing...
If You Chase Two Rabbits, You Won’t Catch Either
Need I say more? No, thought not :) Kelly.
