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Evolution and the software Big Bang
The creatures, great and small, that exist today exist because they, and countless generations before them, each underwent tiny, microscopic changes that made each generation just a little better, stronger and more durable than the last. Each generation was a measured experiment, and every change was measured against the context of its environment. Those that…
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Simplicity
Human beings are naturally complicated creatures. We live complex lives and we interact daily with incredibly complex systems: office politics, personal relationships, government bureaucracy… we are surrounded by complexity. The reality is, though, that much of this complexity need not exist at all. When humans look at problems, we have a tendency to look for…
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Focus
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6 principles for a productive agile development team
“Being Agile” is more than following a checklist. It’s more than following the Scrum or Kanban handbook (in fact, it doesn’t even matter if you’re “doing” scrum or kanban at all!). Being an effective and productive agile software development team is about understanding and believing in a set of values, practices and principles. Starting with…
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A Scrum Master/Agile Coach job description
I’m often asked for help putting together a job description for a Scrum Master, so I thought I would post an extract of one we’ve used recently. We are a product team of developers, QA experts, user experience and visual designers and product owners who are looking for someone to help us get better at…
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Everyone’s a marketer now
It’s a question that every tech startup or product has to ask itself: when the budget is limited (and it nearly always is), where do you spend your cash? On improving the product, or on marketing and advertising campaigns? To me, the answer is clear: every dollar spent on advertising is a dollar not spent…
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Rallying the “troops”: how things can be misunderstood
I was reminded today of a story about managing people. About 8 years ago I was in my first management job, managing a team of about 15 web software designers and engineers. I saw a key challenge in bringing the team together, inspiring one vision and building a sense of identity and unity within the…
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Around Here Wiki: put your surroundings on the map
My second Windows 7 Phone app is here! I’ve recently been experimenting with developing small apps for the Windows Phone 7 ecosystem. My second app, now available in the Windows Phone 7 Marketplace, takes Wikipedia articles in the area around you and puts them on the map. Discover what’s around you with a tap. The…
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It’s ok to be second
Facebook was not the first social network. As early as the first dot com boom in the late 1990s companies like sixdegrees.com had launched with services similar in theme and purpose to what Facebook became. When Facebook launched in 2004 from a dorm room at Harvard there were already a number of competing products: Friendster…
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5 reasons Agile is like a cult
As readers of this blog will know I’m a big fan of agile and lean software development principles and practices, but have you ever noticed how cliquey the agile scene is becoming? How almost cultish? Here are five reasons the Agile scene is turning into a cult: You’re either one of us, or you’re not.…