In a previous blog post, Brenda Peshak discussed the “Definition of Done”. As a team, we ran through an exercise to understand requirements and determine Minimal Viable Product (MVP). This got me thinking about real life examples of software and how decisions made by product owners and product managers directly...

Prerequisites This article builds on the prior article: Unit Testing. Shift Left DevOps Before we write code, we look at first principles. A key principle is: “shorten feedback loops”. We can acheive this by automating the steps leading up to validating what we’re building. This is one reason we focus...

I recently presented on the topic of Definition of Done at our Monday Meetup. The purpose of the game was to help our teammates understand what “done” means. As a product owner, I hear a lot of keywords thrown around in the Agile Development process; Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Minimum...

As an Agile coach, I am always reflecting on my experiences and looking for ways to help others improve. Recently I hired a contractor to complete a home improvement project. It didn’t go very well. Let me share what went wrong and how I think using Agile techniques would have...

Now that Agile has become mainstream, teams are looking to go beyond their Agile process to find ways to improve. There has even been recent use of the term “Antifr-Agile”, where process is secondary to product validation and customer learning (AgileDayChicago, 2016). Here are 7 ways that your team can...

In the software world, there are often new technologies coming to market, new fields to explore, new techniques to use, etc. Filtering through these in itself can be a challenge. Deciding when to move forward with one in practical applications can be even harder. Many times as developers, we will...

One of the tenets of the agile methodology is feedback. To provide value to your customer, you need to know that what you are delivering is correct. But as an agile coach, I often struggle with teams understanding the importance of getting feedback from the customer as soon as possible....

For years, like many of you, I have been comparing software development to construction. But ever since adopting the agile methodology a decade ago, I have been looking for a better analogy to help me explain agile software development. I recently came up with what I think is that analogy...

I find that in software development, and also in life, people learn best within the context of painful experiences. I’m not suggesting that software development mentors go out of their way to create painful experiences for their teams. On the contrary, just start listening. It doesn’t take very long to identify...

I facilitated my own rendition of the #NoEstimates Puzzle Experiment for the September 2013 Agile Iowa user group meeting. This experiment was created by Chris Chapman to generate critical thinking and conversation concerning whether estimates are necessary to produce quality software. The meeting had a great turnout, with around 40...