We often have good ideas about things to improve and how to improve them—introducing a new tool, changing the way we do something, adjusting a procedure, and so on. But … Continue reading State the problem for any solution
Category: Planning
Don’t assume – talk
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
Know when your plan will fail
The other day I was listening to a talk by Russ Vane about how to effectively design public policy. I last attended a talk by him several years ago, and … Continue reading Know when your plan will fail
Comparing requirements with needs
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
One good approach to development “research”
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”
For real innovation, take your second best idea
Recently I was speaking to a friend about choosing business ideas for innovation. He described an exercise in which three teams in the same organisation were tasked with brainstorming and … Continue reading For real innovation, take your second best idea
“Definition of enough” for discovery work
In many development teams I work with there is a “definition of done”. This a checklist (explicit or implicit) of things that need to have happened before we can say … Continue reading “Definition of enough” for discovery work
Input goals and output goals
The other week someone introduced me to the idea of “input goals” and “output goals”, by Oz Chen. Oz writes about “personal development and content strategy”, so his purpose in … Continue reading Input goals and output goals
Impact estimation tables (roughly)
Last week, two days in succession, I had cause to solve a problem using impact estimation tables. Unfortunately this technique is not widely known, so I thought I’d have a … Continue reading Impact estimation tables (roughly)
A bad time to estimate
The other day a friend and I were discussing a project which had notably overrun its original expected delivery date. “The problem is,” he said to me, “You estimate a … Continue reading A bad time to estimate
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