Earlier this year someone used a lovely phrase in conversation which was new to me, even though I should have known it, and even though I am a long-time advocate … Continue reading Stop starting and start finishing

Earlier this year someone used a lovely phrase in conversation which was new to me, even though I should have known it, and even though I am a long-time advocate … Continue reading Stop starting and start finishing
The sprint review, the sprint demo, the show and tell… that thing that happens at the end of each short iteration where we demonstrate our most recent work. Whatever we … Continue reading The show and tell hierarchy of needs
I was speaking once to the CEO of a small company, saying how valuable I found it to have small user stories for teams to work through. Not only is … Continue reading Small user stories: The gift that keeps on giving
I was speaking to friend recently, who had just taken on a new role leading a large-scale organisational transformation (only part of which involved IT change). Along the way, she … Continue reading Uncertainty during transformation
I’ve often worked with teams that advocate “self-organisation”. If it can be done then it is wonderful thing—it brings together autonomy and motivation, and great results are very often achieved. … Continue reading Self-organising teams need the skills and the context
One of the frustrations I sometimes hear from people in tech teams is that they’re not included sufficiently in significant decisions, or that they know how to solve several of … Continue reading Earning a seat at the table
I’ve never been able to appreciate cricket as much as I’d like (I do feel affinity with the writer who described it as “sunbathing with rules”) but I do like … Continue reading Learning by doing… a cricket match
Some time ago I was in an organisation that was very keen to adopt agile ways of working. They had some basic training, but didn’t know how to fully embrace … Continue reading Agile meetings…?
It’s easy and necessary to make assumptions. If we didn’t make assumptions then we would never make any progress in our work; we would have to stop and check everything. … Continue reading Don’t assume – talk
Throughout almost all of my technology career I’ve been involved with making sure the requirements are specified and implemented well for the products and projects I’ve been responsible for. But … Continue reading Comparing requirements with needs