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
Normally I’m very wary of “investigation” or “research” cards in a delivery team. Sometimes there are pieces of development work that are difficult, but I usually find that when a … Continue reading One good approach to development “research”
This week I was listening to a great podcast conversation between Ian Gill and Andy Bold, focusing on Andy’s area of expertise, which is devops. (Disclaimer: I am part of … Continue reading Team optimisations can have wider consequences
Many years ago I worked with a team that seemed to be delivering software only very slowly. There were multiple causes, as is usual in these situations, and part of … Continue reading Simplifying estimation
Every so often someone asks me, “So, have we got the green light for Project Blah?” There is always some project that’s particularly exciting, and anticipated by team members, and … Continue reading You don’t need just one green light for a project
