I only write software recreationally, but I write documents as part of my professional work. This can be time-consuming—too much so—and I’ve often thought about “agile writing”. If such a … Continue reading Agile writing
Category: Working practices
Product teams, feature teams, and responsibility
Marty Cagan introduced the distinction between feature teams and product teams, and over the last few months I’ve had quite a few conversations with people about this—how their teams compare, … Continue reading Product teams, feature teams, and responsibility
Two rules for productive conversations
I was speaking to an eBay seller the other week, and she told me a story. She had sold an item in an auction, and before sending it off the … Continue reading Two rules for productive conversations
Thinking beyond our jobs
One trait I admire and respect in people is thinking and acting beyond their job. Everyone has to demonstrate they can basically do their job—that’s a foundation before they can … Continue reading Thinking beyond our jobs
Open conversations lead to more thoughtful language
A long time ago, when working in a single physical space was more common, the company I was with moved office. They put a lot of thought into the new … Continue reading Open conversations lead to more thoughtful language
Everyone thinks they’re special (and they’re usually wrong)
There are many times when I’ve been involved in introducing an internal system to an organisation, and one of the user representatives has pushed for changes to the default setup … Continue reading Everyone thinks they’re special (and they’re usually wrong)
Quality up and down the stack
The other day I heard someone use that well-worn phrase, “Quality is not negotiable.” They were talking about the reliability of the software their teams write, and were keen to … Continue reading Quality up and down the stack
Structuring ourselves for the right workload
One of the constant challenges software engineering organisations face is not just how to prioritise the work, but how to prioritise the different kinds of work. That is to say, … Continue reading Structuring ourselves for the right workload
The value of an improvement team
Most software teams—at least among those I’ve worked with—are product delivery teams. They add value by making the product, or by making the product more useful to people. But there … Continue reading The value of an improvement team
Dealing with difficult conversations
I’ve written before about how online, text-based conversations can easily get tense, stressful, and often escalate into unpleasantness—Slack, Teams, and so on are great in some ways, and terrible in … Continue reading Dealing with difficult conversations
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