chris clarke
software development that works…or something
Making the date
March 10, 2007 on 4:20 pm | In Uncategorized |Having asked the question “Do you have much buy-in to use Agile?” to several non-Agile places, the answer has always been pretty much along the lines of - “As long as we keep hitting the deadlines.” Ron Jeffries has a very good article called suprisingly Making the Date which covers management and developer responsiblities to making the date in an Agile environment, I have to reproduce this brilliant cartoon from Simon Baker because it’s too good not to share:
However, I want to talk more about developer responsibilities in non-Agile places who are looking to make the move for whatever reason (Often because they think it will make them go faster. Doh!).
The second question you might ask is “Where do the features/requirements come from?”. The answer to this is often quite scary - especially when they say “Don’t know.”. But this is where Agile and especially Scrum will help to make those dates - you need to track down the source of features, often there will be many competing sources - which is a problem in itself, and start to find the people who can prioritize and eliminate these features (Because half of them under investigation will add little or no value whatsoever). Quick guide:
- Have a minimum number of feature sources (ideally one Product Owner)
- Have feature sources who most accurately represent the real customer
This is where the “buy-in” question becomes important because you will probably need support to do alot of these things. You need to be brave and be able to say “No” to feature Z or “If you want to add the shiny buttons feature, please talk to our Product Owner”. It’s some peoples job to get their features in the release because they’ve been told to, not because it adds value or is the most important feature, and they will fight very hard to make sure it does get in. So make sure you have that support first, and be prepared for an interrogation along the lines of this.
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Making the date
March 10, 2007 on 4:20 pm | In Uncategorized |Having asked the question “Do you have much buy-in to use Agile?” to several non-Agile places, the answer has always been pretty much along the lines of - “As long as we keep hitting the deadlines.” Ron Jeffries has a very good article called suprisingly Making the Date which covers management and developer responsiblities to making the date in an Agile environment, I have to reproduce this brilliant cartoon from Simon Baker because it’s too good not to share:
However, I want to talk more about developer responsibilities in non-Agile places who are looking to make the move for whatever reason (Often because they think it will make them go faster. Doh!).
The second question you might ask is “Where do the features/requirements come from?”. The answer to this is often quite scary - especially when they say “Don’t know.”. But this is where Agile and especially Scrum will help to make those dates - you need to track down the source of features, often there will be many competing sources - which is a problem in itself, and start to find the people who can prioritize and eliminate these features (Because half of them under investigation will add little or no value whatsoever). Quick guide:
- Have a minimum number of feature sources (ideally one Product Owner)
- Have feature sources who most accurately represent the real customer
This is where the “buy-in” question becomes important because you will probably need support to do alot of these things. You need to be brave and be able to say “No” to feature Z or “If you want to add the shiny buttons feature, please talk to our Product Owner”. It’s some peoples job to get their features in the release because they’ve been told to, not because it adds value or is the most important feature, and they will fight very hard to make sure it does get in. So make sure you have that support first, and be prepared for an interrogation along the lines of this.
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