Software Process And Measurement Cast

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 206!   Software Process and Measurement Cast 206 features my interview with Kenny Rubin.  We disucssed is book Essential Scrum, A Practical Guide to the Most Popular Agile Process.  Help support the SPaMCAST by reviewing and rating the Software Process on ITunes!  It helps people find the cast.  Kenny Rubin provides Scrum and agile training and coaching to help companies develop products in an effective and economically sensible way. A Certified Scrum Trainer, Kenny has trained over 18,000 people on agile and Scrum, Smalltalk development, managing object-oriented projects, and transition management. He has coached over 200 companies, ranging from start-ups to Fortune 10. Kenny was the first Managing Director of the worldwide Scrum Alliance, a nonprofit organization focused on the successful adoption of Scrum. In addition to this book, Kenny is also the coauthor of the 1995 book Succeeding with Objects: Decision Frameworks for Project Management. He received

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 205!   Software Process and Measurement Cast 205 continues with the migration to an every other week magazine format.  I am extremely proud to re-introduce to SPaMCAST listeners Philippe Back.  THis cast will feature my essay on Agile Litmus Tests and Philippe's essay titled, How to structure our workflow when working in an Agile way for a significant project. Check out Philippe's blog entry! Also in SPaMCAST 205 I continue featuring elevator speaches for the upcoming AgileTrek and TesTrek Conferences. 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, neither for you or your team."  AVAILABLE IN CHINESE!  Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement Ca

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 204!   Software Process and Measurement Cast 204 features my interview with Jason Yip.  We visited the edges of lean and agile ideas.  During the visit we explored how we can all push our knowledge of how work is done! Jason Yip first encountered Extreme Programming in 1999 through discussions on comp.object, comp.software-engineering and Ward's wiki, http://c2.com.  He's been with ThoughtWorks since early 2001, experiencing engagements in operations, setting up builds and continuous integration, custom application development, Agile coaching, process improvement, and is currently a Principal Consultant focusing on organisation-level application of Agile, Lean, and Kanban. The best way to understand Jason's thoughts is to check out his blog (http://jchyip.blogspot.com), follow his Twitter feed (@jchyip), and browse his Slideshare presentations (http://www.slideshare.net/jchyip) The SPaMCAST 204 is sponsored by LeanKit Kanban.  By now, most of you in the Le

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 203!   Software Process and Measurement Cast 203 features my essay on Leadership and Agile (written version).  I discussed how a compliance culture can negatively impact an organization.   Bill Fox also delivers the first of his 5PI columns.  In this installment Bill shares some of the common threads he has mined from his interviews with process improvmenet leaders.  Read Bill's blog post supporting the column, click here! Also in SPaMCAST 203 I continue featuring elevator speaches for the upcoming AgileTrek and TesTrek Conferences. 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, neither for you or your team." NOW AVAILABLE IN CHINESE! Have you bought your copy? Contact information for the S

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 202!   Software Process and Measurement Cast 202 features my interview with David Marquet.  We discussed his book Turn the Ship Around!: How to Create Leadership at Every Level.  I have already begun to put his advice to work!  I think you will get a lot out of this interview. BIO:A U.S. Naval Academy graduate, David Marquet served in the U.S. submarine force. He commanded the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Santa Fe, stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Captain Marquet completely turned around Santa Fe, where the crew went from being "worst to first." Santa Fe continued to win awards after his departure and promoted a disproportionate number of officers and enlisted men to positions of increased responsibility, including 9 subsequent submarine captains. After riding USS Santa Fe, noted author Stephen R. Covey said it was the most empowering organization he'd ever seen and wrote about Captain Marquet's leadership practices in his book, The 8th Habit

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 201!   SPaMCAST 201 features my essay titled Why Size.  In the essay I discuss why sizing as part of estimating and planning makes sense.  Also in SPaMCAST 201 I will begin featuring elevator speaches for the upcominb AgileTrek and TesTrek Conferences. Shameless Ad for my book!  Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniquesco-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, neither for you or your team." Have you bought your copy? NOW AVAILABLE IN CHINESE! Contact information for the Software Process and Measurement CastEmail:  spamcastinfo@gmail.comVoicemail:  +1-206-888-6111Website: www.spamcast.netTwitter: www.twitter.com/tcagleyFacebook:  http://bit.ly/16fBWV Upcoming Conferecnes Conference season is coming.  I will be speaking at the following conferences and l

SPaMCAST 200 features my interview with Ellen Gottesdiener and and Mary Gorman.  We discussed their great new book Discover to Deliver: Agile Product Planning and Analysis.  If you think agile planning and analysis are topics that bear examination and discussion, we have you covered this week!   Ellen Gottesdiener, Founder and Principal with EBG Consulting, is an internationally recognized facilitator, coach, trainer, and speaker. She is an expert in Agile product and project management practices, product envisioning and roadmapping, business analysis and requirements, retrospectives, and collaboration. Ellen works with global clients and speaks at numerous industry conferences. She is a Certified Professional Facilitator and a Certified Scrum Master. In addition to co-authoring Discover to Deliver: Agile Product Planning and Analysis, with Mary Gorman, Ellen is author of two acclaimed books: Requirements by Collaboration and The Software Requirements Memory Jogger.  Mary Gorman, Vice President of Quality &a

Welcome to the Software PRocess and Measurement Cast 199!   SPaMCAST 199 features my essay I have titled "Brainstorming . . . Well Maybe Not."  The essay presses the case against brainstorming and a technique that I think is better. If you are interest in reviewing your favorate tool or book.  Please contact me at spamcastinfo@gmail.com.  I am looking for positive reviews and one major stipulation is that you can't work for the company that manufactures the tool, act as a primary re-seller of the tool being reviewed or in the case of a book . . . you can't be the author (that would be an 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, neither for you or your team." NOW AVAILABLE IN CHINESE! Have you bought your copy? Contact informa

Welcome to the Software PRocess and Measurement Cast 120!  120?  I am making sure that all of the boxes are check so today I have found the lost episode. In this episode Jeff Anderson has a review of LeanKit Kanban.  Jeff appeared in the SPaMCAST 196 discussing lean startup for process improvement and kanban.  At the end of his interview Jeff provided a review of LeanKit Kanban.   In the spirit of full transparency . . . LeanKit has been a sponsor of the SPaMCAST (not this episode) and I hope they are in the future.  I do not believe thier sponsorship influenced the SPaMCAST carrying the review.   If you are interest in reviewing your favorate tool or book.  Please contact me at spamcastinfo@gmail.com.  I am looking for positive reviews and one major stipulation is that you can't work for the company that manufactures the tool, act as a primary re-seller of the tool being reviewed or in the case of a book . . . you can't be the author (that would be an interview). Mastering Software Project Management: Best P

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 198! The Software Process and Measurement Cast 198 features my interview with Phillipe Back covering culture and organizational change.  Philippe is another long time listener that is bringing his phenomenal intellect to the podcast! Philippe started his career in ‘92, designing,  coding, and deploying interactive voice response systems. To exit the “one-man, one-project” syndrome that was the rule at the company, he moved the whole development team to an object oriented approach, leveraging C++ in the process. The need to explain the concepts properly to team mates, marketing, clients, and management kick started his journey into modeling and software engineering best practices. But software is only a bit of a success and that led him to investigate more areas of business. The best school being real practice where cold cash must change hands, he went solo in 2000. This led to exposure to interesting challenges, projects, and individuals. That’s also when h

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 197! The Software Process and Measurement Cast 197 has two parts!  The first part of the Cast features my essay "What do you do when inertia wins?" The second part introduces a new column written by my friend and listener, Bill Fox.  Bill is the creator of 5 Minutes to Process Improvement Success and will bring the lessons he has learned to the SPaMCAST! The SPaMCAST 197 is sponsored by LeanKit Kanban.  By now, most of you in the Lean-Agile community have heard of LeanKit, recognized by community leaders and practitioners alike as the most flexible and powerful tool available for implementing visual management. Since their launch in 2009, LeanKit has helped hundreds of companies around the world to quickly and easily model even very complex processes as vertical and horizontal lanes on a virtual whiteboard with cards representing work flowing from step to step. Well, LeanKit has now announced the launch of groundbreaking new features that allow even the lar

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 196! The Software Process and Measurement Cast 196 features my inteview with Jeff Anderson of Deloitte on topics that spanned lean, kanban and using the ideas from the work done on lean startups as a process improvement tool. Bio -  Jeff started his professional life as your typical IT development geek, creating software delivery joy through the use of things like patterns, agile methods, and overall object oriented goodness. For the most part he was disappointed in the way IT delivery projects were managed, the reason they were started, and how they ended up. This dissatisfaction with the status quo led him to gradually embrace a new mission in life, to help IT knowledge workers to become awesome at what they do. To that end he has created the Deloitte LEAN service offering, providing advisory, coaching, and change management services to IT departments. Jeff has built this capability within Deloitte to help IT clients truly transform the way they operate

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 195! The SPaMCAST 195 features my essay, Routines:  The Good and The Bad.  Routines are an important part of how we work. Like many other things routines can givith and can taketh away. The SPaMCAST 195 is sponsored by LeanKit Kanban.  By now, most of you in the Lean-Agile community have heard of LeanKit, recognized by community leaders and practitioners alike as the most flexible and powerful tool available for implementing visual management. Since their launch in 2009, LeanKit has helped hundreds of companies around the world to quickly and easily model even very complex processes as vertical and horizontal lanes on a virtual whiteboard with cards representing work flowing from step to step. Well, LeanKit has now announced the launch of groundbreaking new features that allow even the largest enterprise portfolio and projects to be managed using multiple levels of drill-down Kanban boards, detailed sub-taskboards, and roll-up Lean metrics - as well as a co

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 194! The SPaMCAST 194 features my interview with Peter Taylor.  We discussed his new book, The Lazy Project Manager and The Project From Hell. We all have had one . . . Peter's book provides a path to avoid your next project from heck! Simply put:  SPEAKER: AUTHOR: TRAINER: COACH: CONSULTANT In depth: Peter is a dynamic and commercially astute professional who has achieved notable success in business.His background is in project management and marketing across three major business areas over the last 28 years and with the last 8 years building and leading PMOs. He is an accomplished communicator, a professional speaker, workshop trainer and PM/PMO consultant. Peter is the author of ‘The Lazy Project Manager’, The Lazy Winner’ and ‘The Lazy Project Manager and the Project from Hell’ (Infinite Ideas), as well as ‘Leading Successful PMOs’ (Gower). More information can be found at www.thelazyprojectmanager.com and www.leadingsuccessfulpmos.com   and www.thelazy

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 193! The SPaMCAST 193 features my essay tilled Hyper-Conectivity and Illusions.  I sat in a meeting a few weeks ago and after about ten minutes I was brought up short.  Everyone was paying attention; not one laptop was open nor was anyone reading an email or text under the table (by the way you really can't hide by texting under the table).  People were taking notes "old school" on paper. The meeting ended on-time after 25 minutes meeting the objective and with the promise of minutes.  I was shocked by the seeming efficiency and effectiveness so I lingered after the meeting to discuss my observations with my sponsor. The SPaMCAST 193 is sponsored by LeanKit Kanban.  By now, most of you in the Lean-Agile community have heard of LeanKit, recognized by community leaders and practitioners alike as the most flexible and powerful tool available for implementing visual management. Since their launch in 2009, LeanKit has helped hundreds of companies around the worl

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 192! The SPaMCAST 192 features my interview with Mitch Lacey.  We discuss his new book, The Scrum Field Guide.  Mitch Lacey is an agile practitioner and consultant and is the founder of Mitch Lacey & Associates, Inc., a software consulting and training firm. Mitch specializes in helping companies realize gains in efficiency by adopting agile principles and practices such as Scrum and Extreme Programming. Mitch is a self-described “tech nerd” who started his technology career in 1991 at Accolade Software in San Jose, CA, a computer gaming company. After working as a software test engineer, a test manager, a developer, and a variety of other jobs in between, he settled on his true calling, project and program management. Mitch was a formally trained program manager before adding agile to his project tool belt. He began developing agile skills at Microsoft Corporation, where his team successfully released core enterprise services for Windows Live, where he

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 191! The SPaMCAST 191 features part 2 of my essay "Who Owns Estimation In Agile Projects?"  Haven't listened to Part 1?  Click the link! Part two begins:  What does ownership mean in terms of accountability and responsibility?  When something belongs to you or is directly related to your actions, accountability and responsibility are directly inferable.  Unfortunately, even though we are quick to assign ownership, responsibility and accountability we fail to ask, who really should own an estimate or whether they can be   accountable for the estimate if they can’t do the work or control those that do.  In corporate environments, ownership is generally not about ensuring the best flow of information but rather who can be pilloried when an estimate is missed.  Sound like hyperbole?  I recently heard a C level executive say “whose neck can I wring if we miss the date and the budget” when talking about a project, therefore a quick tour of the why estimates are c

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 190! The SPaMCAST 190 features my interview with Raja Bavani. We discussed distributed agile! Raja Bavani is Chief Architect of MindTree’s Product Engineering Services (PES) and IT Services (ITS) groups and plays the role of agile evangelist. He has more than 20 years of experience in the IT industry and has published papers at international conferences on topics related to Code Quality, Distributed Agile, Customer Value Management and Software Estimation.  His IT experience started during the early 90s, when he was involved in porting a leading ERP product across various UNIX platforms. Later he moved onto products that involved data mining and master data management. During early 2000, he worked with some of the niche independent software vendors in the hospitality and finance domains.  At MindTree, he has worked with some of the top vendors of virtualization platforms, business service management solutions and health care products.  His areas of interest

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 189! The Software Process and Measurement Cast 189 features my essay on the use of experiments to support process improvement programs.  The essay begins: Is the use of experiments part of your process improvement culture? When I’m at conferences or networking events, I get asked whether or not an idea or technique will work in a specific organization or situation.  In many cases the answer I give is that in reality, it depends. I know that sounds like common consultant speak but what “it depends” means is that to really understand if something could work, you need to determine how to balance organizational culture, people, skills and the assets that can be deployed (not all tools are good).  The only way to increase the knowledge needed to forecast success of any specific change is through experimentation in a real world environment. Shameless Ad for my book!  Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Mural

Welcome to the Software Process and Measurement Cast 188! The Software Process and Measurement Cast 188 features my interview with Siraj Sirajuddin.  We discussed agile, organizational change, listening, philosophy and a ton more! Siraj has provided excellent change management coaching and leadership to large and medium sized organizations like Extended Stay America, Ft. Huachuca AZ, DKB Household Brands, Railinc, Media Temple, EDF, Springfield TN Middle School, Ultimate Software, LabCorp, Elemica, Inc., ShoreTel, Winn Dixie Stores, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, NIH, CMS and Compaq Computers.  He has 20 years of experience with people and process improvement consulting and coaching. He has deep and varied domain (Social Media, SAAS, IT, Software, Healthcare, Retail, Transport, Education, Finance) and functional knowledge and process improvement experience using Lean, Kanban, Agile, CMMI, Six Sigma, PMBOK, SOX, BASEL and HIPAA. He is also an expert / student of Systems Thinking / Learning Organizations, People Dyna