I saw an interesting blog today by Bill Wake called "Scrum is a Silver WHAT and you want to put it WHERE?" where he makes the pithy statement that "Scrum is not a silver bullet – it's a silver mirror." Now I definitely think this is a good blog and recommend you read it. However, I must admit to having had two simultaneous reactions to it – and realized it epitomized my...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Dale Emery wrote an excellent article on Writing Maintainable Automated Acceptance Tests. It's at http://dhemery.com/pdf/writing_maintainable_automated_acceptance_tests.pdf. He showed how tfo do the testing in Robot. Bob Martin gave an alternative way to do the tests in Fit at http://blog.objectmentor.com/articles/2009/12/07/writing-maintainable-automated-acceptance-tests. I'd like to...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

This blog is the first in a two-part blog post. This one deals with the differences between Kanban and Scrum. The next one deals with what you can do with this knowledge. There are a lot of people who don't want to talk about the differences between Kanban and Scrum. Some say you can't compare them because they are like apples and oranges – different things. Many (almost all from the...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

One of the Linked In Scrum groups has had a long-running conversation about whether one should start with a "purist" model of Scrum. It reminds me of past conversations about the "Nokia Test" for Scrum. Both conversations are focused on whether one should do Scrum practices "properly." As if there is such a thing as "proper" Scrum! Now, I often hear...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

I've had an interesting last 5 weeks – 3 conferences and a week of vacation! I keynoted at Agile Japan in Tokyo alongside Professor Nonaka (co-creator of the general Scrum product development method from which Jeff Sutherland created the Scrum Software Development process). I gave two talks at the Lean Software and Systems Consortium (LeanSSC) conference in Atlanta and I just sponsored and...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

 Notes from LeanSSC Atlanta 2010 In this show, Alan Shalloway shares his impressions from the inaugural conference of the LeanSSC which was held in Atlanta, Georgia. LeanSSC stands for the Lean Software and Systems Consortium. This is a consortium of practitioners and experts from many organizations who are committed to assisting enterprises that depend on software – from start-ups to those that...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Israel Gat, of the Agile Executive , was kind enough to invite me to write a guest blog for him. I have long thought the Agile manifesto was an over-reaction and needsd balance. Here are some thoughts on this - Balancing Agile .

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it – even if I have said it – unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. – The Buddha People who know me know I like to build models of how things work. I have found this to be incredibly valuable in my work. However, as useful as these models have been for me, I never really think of them as reality. I had an...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

We're coming back from Agile Japan and we decided to stay at Turtle Bay Resort on the north end of the island. I just took a great walk along the beach and realized it made a great metaphor for flow based development. I've never been out on this end of the island – and must say I love it. We'd stayed in the Marriott Ihilani, which is also nice, but isn't as Hawaiian so to speak....

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Well, it depends. J Depends on what you are trying to do. Are you trying to explain Lean or are you trying to get someone to be able to take advantage of its principles and apply them in their own work? I'm much more interested in the second. My own experience is that people can best apply Lean-Thinking by understanding Deming's System of Profound Knowledge and adding Taiichi...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

I have been doing a lot of seminars and webinars in the last few weeks. People are always asking me to contrast Scrum and Kanban. There are several salient points that come to mind. But one is particularly relevant and I thought I'd just post this quick blog to state it. Scrum requires a particular structure for it to work. You need cross-functional teams focused on working on one project...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

I recently tweeted that I was sometimes irritated that when I've stated something about Scrum that I consider a shortcoming, I usually get called a "Scrum Basher". I would much prefer people engage me on what I have designated as a short-coming of Scrum. If, in fact, my assessment is right, I would be helping those who would be running into a problem. If, in fact, my assessment...

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]