SPaMCAST 395 – Productivity, Accidental Innovation, Assimilation and Accommodation

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 395 features our essay on productivity. While productivity might not be the coolest subject, understanding the concept is critical to every company’s and every worker’s financial well-being. Gene Hughson brings another entry from his Form Follows Function blog to the Software Process and Measurement Cast. Gene discusses the idea of accidental innovation. Gene suggests that innovation is not a happy accident, but is a result of a process, structure, and technology that can enhance innovation. However, it can just as easily get in the way. In our third column this week, Kim Pries, the Software Sensei, brings us a discussion of how software developers leverage assimilation and accommodation in the acquisition of knowledge. Re-Read Saturday News We continue the read of Commitment – Novel About Managing Project Risk by Maassen, Matts, and Geary. Buy your copy today and read along (use the link to support the podcast). This week we tackle chapter 5. It is a relatively short chapter, but it exposes one of the critical mechanisms for how Agile teams are able to self-organize and self-manage. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Blog to catch up on past installments of Re-Read Saturday. Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast begins the final approach to Episode 400 with our interview of with Mike Burrows. Mike and I talked about his game changing idea of Agenda Shift . Agenda Shift Identifies opportunities for positive change by exploring an organization’s alignment to the values of transparency, balance, collaboration, customer focus, flow, and leadership. Along the way, we also revisited parts of our first interview on the podcast covering Mike’s book, Kanban From The Inside. Shameless Ad for my book! co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.