Agile Otter Blog

Yeah, I know that title is going to be a bit inflammatory, and everyone knows what they expect when they see it up there. But that's okay. My topic is really about such things. I want you to consider: Saying hurtful things Not being politically correct Telling the truth What I want you to consider is that these are three entirely orthogonal concepts. One can make statements which are any one of the above, without being the others.   One may easily say offensive things which are entirely politically correct. It's a common event on the internet to see people shaming others in the name of Political Correctness (which should be all about being fair and kind to others, but outrage is virtue these days). Some of the shaming statements could be true, and some could not be true.  One can certainly state truths in kind ways, full of compassion and empathy. Even ugly truths can be delivered in considerate ways.  One can say things that are true and not ...

At the end of dsmAgile, we had a session full of "lean coffee" style meetings in a big noisy room with an open bar (so it wasn't so much coffee people were sipping as much as wine or highballs). I was one of the selected/volunteered Lean Coffee hosts, so I was given a table and asked to choose a theme. I chose the theme of "Unconventional Agility" (a throwback to the talk Brandon Carlson and I gave at Agile2016). I'm so sad that I didn't keep a full roster of guests at my table. Here is the roster-in-progress (incomplete until we say otherwise). Melissa Perri Aaron Hoffman Keith Dahlby I apologize to all for this, but let's just say that it was a little conference-speaker-heavy, and there was tremendous intelligence (emotional and intellectual), kindness, and passion at this table.  I believe some of my cohorts tried to record the discussions and if they provide me with the recordings I'll try to get a transcript posted here. The...

I stumbled across a document describing the government's approach to agile software development. I didn't read it really closely, because I was just looking for some of these bullet lists at the time.  However, I think that they may have nailed it with the 14 Challenges. GAO identified 14 challenges with adapting and applying Agile in the federal environment: Teams had difficulty collaborating closely. Procurement practices may not support Agile projects. Teams had difficulty transitioning to self-directed work. Customers did not trust iterative solutions. Staff had difficulty committing to more timely and frequent input. Teams had difficulty managing iterative requirements. Agencies had trouble committing staff. Compliance reviews were difficult to execute within an iteration time frame. Timely adoption of new tools was difficult. Federal reporting practices do not align with Agile. Technical environments were difficult to establish and maintain. Traditi...