Daniel Vacanti on ActionableAgile - Episode 103

Aug 24, 2020

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In today’s episode, Jeffrey Palermo sits down virtually with Daniel Vacanti, the co-founder and CEO of ActionableAgile.

Daniel is a 20-year software industry veteran who got his start as a Java Developer/Architect. He has spent most of the last 15 years focusing on Lean and Agile Practices. In 2007, he helped develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work. He even managed the world’s first project implementation of Kanban that year and, ever since, has been conducting Kanban training, coaching, and consulting. As the co-founder and CEO of ActionableAgile, Daniel provides industry-leading predictive analytics tools and services for any Lean-Agile process.

Daniel Vacanti shares all about how teams can optimize their software process through better forecasting and predictability. He highlights some of the major recurring lessons that he advises teams about, his recommendations for getting started with the forecasting and predicting, and tips for managers struggling to get the right results with the software process. He also shares some general advice for management and teams starting from scratch on how to get more stuff done, mitigate risk, and more!

Topics of Discussion:

[:38] Be sure to visit AzureDevOps.Show for past episodes and show notes.

[:46] About The Azure DevOps Podcast and Jeffrey’s offer to speak at virtual user groups.

[1:42] About today’s episode with Daniel Vacanti!

[1:55] Jeffrey welcomes Daniel to the podcast.

[2:07] Daniel shares some of the backstory of how Kanban began.

[3:29] How Daniel views DevOps and why Kanban is a great fit for it.

[4:17] Daniel highlights some of the major recurring lessons that he advises teams about the software process, specifically forecastability, and predictability.

[8:02] For new project teams being put together, Daniel gives some recommendations with regards to getting started with the forecastability and predictability in the software process.

[13:02] Daniel’s tips for managers struggling to get the right results with the software process.

[15:15] A word from Azure DevOps Podcast’s sponsor: Clear Measure.

[15:46] The fundamental problem with every software organization being that they have more work to do than the capacity will ever be on their team, does that mean that unless there is an intentional governor, that it’s almost guaranteed to be development gridlock? Daniel provides some recommendations on how to tackle many items/tasks through the software process.

[18:57] Lessons from Kanban (especially for development managers).

[21:32] Daniel’s advice for management, getting more stuff done, and mitigating risk.

[25:03] Tips from wise managers.

[26:48] Daniel shares his favorite start-up tips and key strategies for teams starting from scratch.

[31:24] What does Daniel do to quickly determine the age of items (i.e. how long they have been in progress)? Are there tools that monitor aging for you?

[33:53] Daniel speaks about how he likes to get teams started (prior to coding) with Kanban.

[35:49] Jeffrey thanks Daniel for joining the podcast.

[36:26] Where to find Daniel online.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor)

.NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer's Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon!

bit.ly/dotnetdevopsebook — Click here to download the .NET DevOps for Azure ebook!

Jeffrey Palermo’s Youtube

Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events!

The Azure DevOps Podcast’s Twitter: @AzureDevOpsShow

Daniel Vacanti