The Latest from Retrium
HOW TO ENCOURAGE YOUR TEAM TO SPEAK UP IN MEETINGS
Have awkward silences become the rule of thumb in your meetings? Any facilitator knows the feeling — that sense of frustration when even the free coffee and snacks you brought as bribes aren’t working to boost team participation. And it’s even more awkward if you’re on a remote team. A lack of participation in any meeting while everyone is on a video or conference call can make everyone wonder if the internet went out.
Business Agility
Your Request to Improve is Denied! | Agile Alliance
A few weeks back, I was at the Agile Testing Days conference in Germany, and I had a great conversation with one of the attendees about what they learned. This included things like how to do automation, exploratory testing, driving transformation, and many other ways to improve as an engineer. The person said they could not wait to go back to work and ask their manager for approval to try some of the things they learned. I was shocked to hear this–approval?
Agile Outside of IT
How NASA upended internal processes to prepare for its next lunar mission
When NASA sent the first humans to the moon 50 years ago this year, the development of computers was in a nascent stage. The Apollo 11 spacecraft touted one of its own on board: just over 70 pounds and 24 by 12.5 by 6 inches.
Agile holds the key to competition and growth in financial services | LinkedIn
The pace of change in the financial services sector is such that traditional business models are no longer viable, and firms that have stood the test of time must adapt in order to survive.
Industry News & Analysis
A4: Avoid Arguments About Agile
It’s time to A4. Call it an early New Year’s resolution. As the title indicates, it stands for “Avoiding Arguments About Agile.” Here’s why I advocate this. Arguing about Agile is like trying to run in quicksand. You can’t. You’ll just get sucked down into the bog.
How the British Army’s operations went agile | McKinsey
Much has been written over the years about parallels between the military and large corporations. But what insights are most relevant for senior executives today in an age of agile organizations? With his long experience in the Army and then in business, Justin Maciejewski is unusually well placed to reflect on the lessons for business, as a former commander of the British Army’s 800-strong 2nd Battalion, The Rifles, during its vital peacekeeping mission in Basra, Iraq, from 2007 to 2008.
Tips & Tricks
Agile And Reporting - 101 - Wouter Nivelle — Ordina JWorks Tech Blog
Three years ago, Ordina presented me the opportunity to start with a new team for a new project, as team lead. Up until then, I was a programmer who participated in Scrum teams. Of course, I accepted the proposition and at the time of writing this article, our project is entering its last phase and approaching the production deadline.
Teams, Coaching & Facilitation
How to do effective Sprint Planning as a Product Owner?
I recently wrote an article called ‘ 6 common mistakes when doing Sprint Planning’. Instead of pointing out all the things that can go wrong, I will explain how you actually should do Sprint Planning.
Technical Agility
Technical Debt
I think I’d like to share some thoughts on “technical debt”. I’ll try to say things that I mostly believe. I believe that the term “technical debt” originated with Ward Cunningham, who described how a system grows in complexity as it grows in capability.
Managing Programmer Productivity - Industrial Logic
Several decades ago, the software industry was obsessed with counting lines of code per programmer per month. That metric practice famously drove teams to create bloated, defect-ridden software products. After only a few years, the practice was abandoned as detrimental.
In Case You Missed It
The Art of the Strategic Product Roadmap
Products live within markets that are constantly changing, making planning a difficult process. Something happens that the plan didn’t account for and we are suddenly fighting to survive.