Software Process and Measurement Cast

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 665 features our essay on the organizational aspects that impact teams. Teams don’t live in a vacuum, so when the word organization gets used it reflects the influence of all sorts of organizations. Organizations facilitate teams to a greater or lesser extent. In the workplace, the employer’s organization will have the most significant impact on how teams form and perform but it is not the totality. Other influences can affect the structure and performance of teams.  We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who will bring his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast. In this installment, Jon and I discussed the idea of making decisions at the last responsible moment. We decided on the topic just before we began recording (just kidding).  The SPaMCAST will be on summer holiday for the next two weeks. We will be re-releasing two favorite episodes from the archives to tide you over.  Re-Read Saturday News  This week concluded our re-read of  g with the Afterword and some final thoughts. This book received my highest accolade for non-fiction books, “Very Useful.” I will have to read the book again in a year or so to see what nuances I missed. I think putting the ideas in the book to use every week drove the ideas home and exposed where I had misinterpreted the book during my first read.    In this week’s experiment, I was able to move the phone further from the bed (I need to buy an alarm clock to move it outside of the room). Did I sleep more? I am not sure, but I am sure I was able not to look at the phone until I got up for the day which is a step.  I also was able to make sure I used my standing desk more which helped my energy level near the end of the day (and made my feet sore -- shoes maybe?).     The poll for the next book in the series has begun! Note there are two books in the list I have not read yet that I am going to read and have been highly recommended. Therefore I would be happy to read them with you rather than re-read them with you. I will close the poll when I leave radio silence on August 28th’ish.    Mik Kersten - Project to Product Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit Tony Bouzón - The Mind Map Book Chris Voss - Never Split The Difference Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick - Agile Conversations Karin Tenelius and Lisa Gill - Moose Heads on the Table This week’s Re-read entry:  Week 10 - -    Previous Entries in  Week 1 – –   Week 2 – –   Week 3 – –   Week 4 – –   Week 5 – –   Week 6 – –    Week 7 – –   Week 8 – –   Week 9 - -     Upcoming Events The Agile Online Summit!  The Premier Agile Online Conference! October 25th to 27th, 2021, Live and recorded Next SPaMCAST  Next week, the SPaMCAST will be on summer holiday.  In lieu of new content, we will present an interview released on December 27, 2015, with  Gerald (Jerry) M. Weinberg. We discussed quality and how quality is related to value.  A talk with Jerry is always profound; however, I must admit that Jerry’s humor caused me to laugh more times than I can count during our conversation. Mr. Weinberg died on August 7, 2018, I wish I had interviewed him more times for the podcast.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 664 features our interview with Sunny Han, CEO and Founder of Fulcrum.  Sunny and I talked about motivation, we talked agile development, and we talked about what it takes to see a vision through to reality. The ideas about engineering a communication architecture are phenomenal.   Sunny Han is the CEO and Founder of Fulcrum, a manufacturing ERP platform dedicated to helping manufacturers build a better future. He led Fulcrum to raise a $3.1M seed round of venture capital in 2020. Sunny is dedicated to delivering a connected future where frictionless manufacturing production and supply chains lead to faster and better product innovations. “There’s no future of innovation that doesn’t include innovation in manufacturing.” LinkedIn: Website: Email: Twitter: Re-Read Saturday News  This week we focus on Chapter 7 of  g.  This chapter is titled “Recharge Creative Thinking.” This chapter really is about the self-care needed to be both effective and creative. There are a number of ideas in this chapter that if you’re not familiar with them are frankly just really good ideas. Many of the ideas in this chapter I have been using for years and some of the inferred issues I am still working on. As my experiment for this week, I would love to say that I am going to sleep more. What I will do is to move my phone away from the bed so I can’t get to it easily after I lay down.  I will also work to have an equal mix of sitting and standing. Next week we will complete our re-read of Monotasking covering the Afterword from the book and some closing notes from me. We’ll also start the poll to pick the next book in the series. The entries for the weeks of August 28th and September 5th will feature reprints. I am going backpacking and turning off all communication devices.  As we prepare for the next book, is there a book you think we should “re-read”?  If you have ideas please let me know and I will add them to the list of current possibles:   Mik Kersten - Project to Product Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit Tony Bouzón - The Mind Map Book Chris Voss - Never Split The Difference Douglas Squirrel and Jeffrey Fredrick - Agile Conversations   This week’s Re-read entry:  Week 9 - Recharge Creative Thinking -  Previous Entries in  Week 1 – –   Week 2 – –   Week 3 – –   Week 4 – –   Week 5 – –   Week 6 – –    Week 7 – –   Week 8 – –   Next SPaMCAST  Next week we dive into one of the aspects of the attributes of Teams. Teams don’t live in a vacuum. Every team is an intersection of boundaries of all sorts of organizations. Organizations facilitate teams to a greater or lesser extent. In the workplace, the employer’s organization will have the most significant impact on how teams form and perform but it is not the totality. Other influences can affect the structure and performance of teams. We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley who will bring his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column to the podcast.

This week we explore the impact of process (it really isn’t a bad word) problems in prioritization. Prioritization requires a steady hand and consistency. The process for prioritization should have more in common with a well-oiled basketball or futbol team than five-year-olds playing soccer in the schoolyard. How the moving parts work together is a process We also have a visit from Tony Timbol discussing freestyling user story formats in his To Tell A Story column. Re-Read Saturday News  This week we focus on Chapter 6 of  g.  This chapter is titled “Simplify Cooperation.” Cooperation requires communication. Messing communication up is a problem, a problem that is the responsibility of every person involved in trying to communicate.  Last week’s experiment focused on evaluating each task as I put it on my short list for operacy.  One of the outcomes was that I broke work into smaller chunks which were simpler and more practical. I also found parts of the work that I did not have to do in order to satisfy the goal of the task (the agile definition of simplicity).  I am contemplating how to build the idea of operacy into how I approach and talk about user stories. This week, I am going to focus on using more deliberative communication as a way to help guide conversations. This Week Week 8 - -   Previous Entries in  Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 - -   Week 4 - -   Week 5 - -   Week 6 - -    Week 7 - -   Next SPaMCAST  We talk with Sunny Han, CEO and Founder of Fulcrum.  Sunny and I talked about entrepreneurship and building an ERP system from scratch. That sounds way too tame -- we talked motivation, we talked agile development, and we talked about what it takes to see a vision through to reality.

In this week’s podcast, we speak with Mike Potter, CEO of Rewind.  Mike and I talk about the need to backup SaaS applications, remote and hybrid working, and entrepreneurship. This interview opened my eyes to the risks we all face by trusting SaaS application companies to back up our data. Mike also highlights in his answers how humanity in the workplace can help create special results.   Bio - A self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur, Mike Potter is the co-founder of Rewind, a company that backs up and protects SaaS data. While studying Mechanical Engineering at McMaster University, Mike began his start-up career as the founder of InTheHack.com, one of the most popular sporting websites in Canada. Since founding Rewind in 2015, Mike has focused on building a company culture that values and respects employees. “I'm a big believer in building strong teams, hiring great people, and giving them the freedom to do their best work”, he adds. When Mike isn’t building companies or products, he can usually be found constructing LEGOs with his kids or walking his dogs. Email: mike@rewind.io Web:   Twitter: @mikepotter   Upcoming Events Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps Fri, August 6, 2021  -- This Friday! 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black  (SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America ) Register at   About this event In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements Re-Read Saturday News  This week we focus on Chapter 5 of  g.  This chapter focuses on incrementalism.  How are you breaking work down? An update on my continued experiment using Monotasking. This week I have succeeded in turning off all my interruptions (Slack, Text, Teams, Twitter, email, and others) as I am doing my monotasking sessions, a type of incrementalism . . . at least in the morning. I do pop many of those apps back on briefly at the end of each panorama session to make sure no emergencies have occurred. Afternoons are tough due to meetings and other hardscape activities, therefore I moved as many of my focus activities earlier in the day (as a morning person, this suits me) when I can quietly timebox.   This Week Week 7 - -     Previous Entries in  Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 - -   Week 4 - -   Week 5 - -   Week 6 - -    Next SPaMCAST  Next week we present our essay spinning deeper into the nether regions of poor prioritization. Knowing the potential issues that can occur in prioritization is the first step toward fixing them. We also have a visit from Tony Timbol who brings his To Tell A Story column to the podcast.

Over the past few months, I have been in traffic jams on the highway several times when traveling to our weekly hike.  In more than one instance someone has decided to pull over and drive on the berm.  In more than a few cases the outcome of this technique for getting things done ends poorly. Despite the unpredictable outcome, jumping the queue is practiced by many in traffic and even more when funneling work to teams. The consequences when working on information technology products are far more predictable than driving, and they are ALWAYS bad. Let’s fix some of the problems leading to queue jumping. We also have a visit from Susan Parente, who brings her I Am Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast.  We discuss risk management when using hybrid agile approaches.  Contact Susan on LinkedIn or at Upcoming Events Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps Fri, August 6, 2021 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT   This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black  (SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America ) Register at About this event In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements   Re-Read Saturday News  This week we focus on Chapter 4 of  g.  The chapter this week is titled, Never Procrastinate. If you have not read the entry, do it NOW :)  An update on my continued experiment using Monotasking. My intent was to carve (not crave - I caught the spelling error a little late this week, it was not procrastination) out an hour in which I could turn off Teams, Slack, email, and text to allow for focus. Frankly, I failed. I was able to achieve a quiet zone only one day during business hours.  I regularly turn off all notifications when writing before my day begins, but during the “work” day being unreachable is more difficult.  I am still looking for the right formula of schedule blocking and advanced notification to make this work.  Previous Entries in  Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 - -   Week 4 - -   Week 5 - -   Next SPaMCAST  Next, we feature our interview with Mike Potter, CEO of Rewind.  We talked about the need to backup SaaS applications, remote and hybrid working, and entrepreneurship. This interview opened my eyes to the risks we all face by trusting SaaS application companies to back up our data.

In this week’s Software Process and Measurement Cast, I speak with Rob Rastovich, CTO of . We talked about meeting customer needs through developing solutions using the AIoT (not a typo).  This is a seachange for both businesses and developers who will need to reskill and rethink what is possible.  Rob has been actively involved in technology for nearly 30 years, from building a top 10 e-commerce site in a time when e-commerce was still in its infancy to establishing what is now known as Amazon’s AWS IoT.  As CTO of , Rob is the chief architect behind the company’s groundbreaking IoT platform that eliminates the need for code. ThingLogix uses AI to power digital transformation across industry, commerce, and government globally.  Web: LinkedIn:   Upcoming Events Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps Fri, August 6, 2021 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black  (SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America ) Register at About this event In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements Re-Read Saturday News  This week we focus on Chapter 3 of  g.  The chapter this week is titled, Focus on One Task Now.  An update on the continued experiment using Monotasking. In Chapter 2, Staffan describes how to create a short list of five items and then to push everything else to the “grass catcher” list. I have been working on using this approach this week with a special focus on capturing the date an item was added to the list and the stakeholder for the item. In the past, I trimmed my list on a quarterly basis. I use the dramatic approach of starting a new list saving only those items on my short list. This week I tried Staffan’s weekly approach, trimming off a few older items on a weekly basis. The date added is useful but what I found more useful was asking myself the question, “am I really going to do this or is this an aspirational item?” Cue the chainsaw; even though I started a new list on July 1st I was able to remove several items from my new grass catcher list. This Week Week 5 - -     Previous Entries Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 - -   Week 4 - -   Next SPaMCAST Over the past few months, I have been in traffic jams on the highway several times when traveling to our weekly hike.  In more than one instance someone has decided to pull over and drive on the berm.  In more than a few cases the outcome of this technique for getting things done ends poorly. Despite the unpredictable outcome, jumping the queue is practiced by many in traffic and even more when funneling work to teams. The consequences when working on information technology products are far more predictable than driving, and they are ALWAYS bad. We will also have a visit from Susan Parente, who brings her I Am Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the cast.  We discuss risk management when using hybrid agile approaches.

In this episode, we feature our interview with Christiano Gherardini. Chris and I talk about the impact of using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages on businesses and as importantly, the impact of packages and consultants as a tool to influence the direction of software development in a firm.  Christiano Gherardini is the President/Owner at Turnkey Technologies Inc. Turnkey offers end-to-end professional services including design, project management, implementation, application maintenance, integration services, development, analytics, training, and support services for Microsoft Dynamics solutions.     Upcoming Events Making Shift Happen July 13 at 12 CDT (1 PM EDT) I will be facilitating a panel for the discussing Agile Transformation. Our panelists will discuss their personal experiences going through agile transitions and offer some tips for moving your organization towards Agile.   Panelists include            Using the TMMi accelerates the value of DevOps Fri, August 6, 2021 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT This is a free TMMi America Webinar featuring Rex Black  (SPaMCAST is a proud media sponsor of the TMMi America ) Register at About this event In this webinar, we will address how DevOps testing benefits through TMMi How TMMi’s higher Process Areas drive defect prevention, Shift Left, and CI/CD build and test pipelines Address the benefits of how DevOps Organization benefits from using the TMMi. Leveraging TMMi to focus DevOps test process improvements Re-Read Saturday News  Finally, we have reached Chapter 2 of , titled, Cut Down On Tasks To Do.  I think it is ironic that a failure in my ability to control WIP in my personal life led to a two-week delay in delivering the re-read of this chapter. All the hand wringing aside, the delay has allowed me to reflect more on the chapter and to hone my use of the short list and panorama cues and sessions. Long swaths of meetings still give me trouble but getting the short list down to tasks that I missed in my first read of Chapter 2 has made a ton (imperial or metric) of difference.   This Week Week 4 - -     Previous Entries Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 - -     Next SPaMCAST In the Software Process and Measurement Cast, I speak with Rob Rastovich, CTO of . We will talk about AIoT (not a typo), and how applications and developers must evolve. Skynet or Deep Thought?

The Software Process and Measurement Cast features an essay on prioritization. We prioritize in order to establish what to work on and when to do it. There is often a difference between assigned priority and the real priority based on when teams start and complete a piece of work. This essay is part of the overall conversation on controlling work entry and answering the question: Are we working on the most important thing? We also have a visit to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault. Mr. Berriault and I discussed how testing is integrated into the Agile Performance Holarchy. Re-Read Saturday News  June and early July are a busy period, this year more so (several birthdays, an anniversary, and family visits). That is a long way around to rationalizing why I am not delivering chapter 2 of .  I am still working with shortlists (chapter 2 has helped my implementation approach.  Meetings (part of the busyness fallacy discussed in Chapter 2) are making using the techniques of panorama cues and panorama sessions difficult once back-to-back meetings begin. We will be back with new content next week with two articles on prioritization and Chapter 2 of Monotasking on Saturday.   This week we revisit another favorite from the Re-read archive, the Conclusion of Carol Dweck’s : The New Psychology of Success.    This Week -      Previous Entries Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 2 - -     Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature my interview with Christiano Gherardini: President, Owner & CEO at Turnkey Technologies. Christiano and I talked about the impact of using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages on businesses and software development organizations.

In this podcast, I talk with Søren Pedersen.  We talk about teams, value streams, and leveraging agile to improve how teams deliver value.  We started with the definition of a team and then got into the practical nitty-gritty of defining value streams and coaching teams.  Bio: SØREN PEDERSEN is a co-founder of BuildingBetterSoftware, a strategic leadership consultant, and an international speaker. With more than fifteen years of software development experience, Søren knows how to help businesses meet their digital transformation goals. Using Agile methodologies, he helps leaders achieve organizational efficiency, alignment, and performance improvement while building team empowerment so that they feel confident in engaging with leadership, find managerial balance, and can focus on building better software.  Søren has spoken at DevOps Days London, is a contributor for The DevOps Institute, and is a Certified Scrum Master and Product Owner. Website: Email:   Twitter: @perdersen_on_sw  LinkedIn:   Re-Read Saturday News  This week...I am hiking in the woods without my laptop, albeit I do have my copy of . I am continuing to focus on using shortlists, which has been a fairly easy transition and also implementing both the panorama cues and panorama sessions. The panorama cues and sessions have been useful up to the point that my dairy becomes wall-to-wall meetings.  I am trying to devise an approach for using panorama sessions in this scenario.  Suggestions?  While I am out in the woods I have re-published the summary of one of the most popular Re-reads, The Goal.  We will be back to next week.   This Week     Previous Entries Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 2 - -   Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an essay on prioritization. The order work is done is a reflection of priority. There is often a difference between assigned priority and the real priority based on when teams start and complete a piece of work.   We will also have a visit to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault.

In Software Process and Measurement Cast 656 we stay with an agile product and entrepreneurship theme with a conversation with Rahul Aggarwal. We discussed building a business and products to support the gig economy and entrepreneurship. Rahul provides excellent advice on recognizing market needs, experimenting, pivoting when necessary, and building a business.  Bio: Being awarded as the Rising Entrepreneur of the year 2019 and Entrepreneur 35 under 35 in 2020, and Asia’s Most Promising Business Leaders 2021 by Economic Times, Rahul Aggarwal has co-founded Designhill and created a unique online marketplace to overcome the challenges faced by the business owners in outsourcing high-quality creative solutions and designers who have been looking for creative freedom.   He’s a serial entrepreneur, passionate marketer, investor, advisor, and a firm believer in the concept of constant learning and growing. His astounding digital knowledge and impregnable business skills have led Designhill to be acknowledged as the Creative Startup Of The Year 2019 by Entrepreneur Magazine DesignHill:   LinkedIn: Re-Read Saturday News  This week we re-read Chapter 1 of titled Monotasking In A Nutshell.   This chapter lays the foundation for translating the Five Axioms of Monotasking into a simple and straightforward approach.    Catch up on my experiment using the concepts on as part of the re-read. This week I am going to work on using shortlists and implementing both the panorama cues and panorama sessions.  Week 2 - -   Previous Entries Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -     Upcoming Events! ISMA 18 Virtual Conference, June 24th, 2021 8 AM EDT to 11:15 EDT  I will host the event.  The event will have a host of great speakers on great topics!  ISMA 18 will be free for both IFPUG members and non-members. IFPUG members are eligible for 1 credit at the CFPS Extension Program (CEP) and also attract 3 Technical PDUs in the PMI Talent Triangle®, both by attending the full conference! Register:   Real Value of TMMi  (SPaMCAST is a Friend of TMMi America) Free webinar from TMMi America featuring Mark Summers June 25th, 2 to 3 PM EDT    This webinar will explore the common usages of the TMMi Test Process Improvement framework. We will dive into how:   You can leverage this framework to transform the way your organization delivers software. The model can transform your career. Next steps to take on your journey to becoming a Test Process Improvement superhero. The real value of the TMMi is to help you dramatically change the frequency and quality of your software delivery. Register at   Next SPaMCAST In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, I will talk with Søren Pedersen.  We talked about teams, value streams, and leveraging agile to improve how teams deliver value.  We started with the definition of a team and then got into the practical nitty-gritty of defining value streams and coaching teams.