Software Process and Measurement Cast

Cue the music . . . Happy Birthday, Software Process and Measurement Cast!  Today we begin year 15 with a visit from Johanna Rothman.  We talked about her THREE new books: Practical Ways to Manage Yourself: Modern Management Made Easy, Book 1 Practical Ways to Lead & Serve (Manage) Others: Modern Management Made Easy, Book 2 -   Practical Ways to Lead an Innovative Organization: Modern Management Made Easy, Book 3 -   We of course covered more ground.  For example about 2/3rds of the way through we talked about why the word experiment is a dirty word in most organizations. This is a longer interview, but when I grow up I want to be just like Johanna (I am serious).  Here is her bio: Johanna Rothman, known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” offers frank advice for your tough problems. She helps leaders and teams do reasonable things that work. Equipped with that knowledge, they can decide how to adapt their product development. With her trademark practicality and humor, Johanna is the author of 18 books about many aspects of product development. Her most recent books are the Modern Management Made Easy series, From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams (with Mark Kilby) and Create Your Successful Agile Project: Collaborate, Measure, Estimate, Deliver. See all her books, blog, and other resources at jrothman.com and createadaptablelife.com. The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.  Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak.  The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at     Re-Read Saturday News  Today we take on Chapter 7 of by Jeff Dalton. In three more weeks, we will begin (it is time to buy a copy). This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Week 3: -   Week 4: -   Week 5: -   Week 6: -   Week 7: -   Week 8: -   Next SPaMCAST User Stories and Tony Timbol will take center stage. User stories are ubiquitous in agile.  Getting them right is really important. Tony gives us some ideas to move the ball forward.

In this edition of the Software Process and Measurement Cast, I talk with Rick Hall, CEO of Aginity. Rick and I talked about analytics, which has been Rick’s lifelong passion. Rick provides insights on how analytics fits in a modern organization and how to staff that group.  We also discussed serial entrepreneurship. His advice is, if you don’t have passion for the idea, don’t try it.  Rick Hall is a software entrepreneur focused on the analytics market.  He has led the development of over a dozen software products and taken several companies from the early stage to an eventual sale. Rick led a group in the purchase of Aginity in March of 2020, and has taken over the CEO role as a result.  Aginity was an early innovator in Analytics Management and launched Aginity Pro early last year.  The product is off to a fast start attracting 13,000 subscribers in the first nine months and is set to grow by more than 250% through 2021.  Reach out to Rick  The Software Process and Measurement Cast is a proud media sponsor of the DevOps Online Summit.  Not to put too fine a point on it, one of the best ways to get your message heard is to speak.  The crew at the DevOps Online Summit provides a phenomenal platform to network with fellow practitioners from all over the world. Start the journey to speaking at the DevOps Online Summit 2021 by submitting at https://bit.ly/3syp2c5 Re-Read Saturday News  As we begin Chapter 6 this week, we have four more weeks of our re-read of  by Jeff Dalton. We have three more chapters and then we will conclude with a few final notes before beginning (it is time to buy a copy).   Chapter 6 goes into detail on the Performance Circle: Affirming.  This is the part of the Agile Performance Holoracy (APH), Affirming asks teams and organizations to continuously evaluate whether they are being effective, and then to take steps to improve.  This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Week 3: -   Week 4: -   Week 5: -   Week 6: -   Week 7: -   Next SPaMCAST Year 14 is a wrap with this podcast, next week we start the next 14!  Thank you to everyone that has been part of the first 14 years.  The next week the Software Process and Measurement Cast week we begin year 15 with a visit from Johanna Rothman.  We talked about her THREE new books, and, as usual, people, agile, and the world. I could not ask for a better start to our podcast year!

The Podcast this week features my interview with Unmesh Srivastava. We talked about organizational culture and disrupting health care through development that is customer-focused. We also spent time discussing the need for empathy in order to find critical business needs. Unmesh points out that many times technologists think with their technology before they think with their hearts.  Unmesh is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at P3 Health Partners. Over the years, Unmesh and his teams have helped US healthcare with opportunities to drive innovation and disruptive transformation using digital enablement. He has worked with multiple innovative organizations building and deploying the next generation of healthcare. All the digital enablement projects have been geared towards driving a differentiated provider and patient experience while reducing the cost of care and improving quality of care. The technology products delivered by Unmesh and his teams range from clinical decision support technology for providers, data and artificial intelligence-enabled seamless care experience for patients, and multiple other innovations to drive down the administrative burden on the providers and health systems. Reach out on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/unmeshsrivastava/ Re-Read Saturday News  This week it is time for Chapter 5 of by Jeff Dalton. This week we visit the Performance Circle, Crafting. I often state, somewhat tongue and cheek, that this part of agile is where all the stuff that’s required to actually create and deliver quality products and services occurs.  If I wanted to be even blunter, I might state that this is where the magic happens – where words become something tangible. This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Week 3: -   Week 4: -   Week 5: -   Week 6: -   Next SPaMCAST The next week the Software Process and Measurement Cast completes it’s 14th year with a discussion with Rick Hall. Rick and I talked about analytics and entrepreneurship. Rick is a successful serial entrepreneur who is happy to share his insights.

Software Process and Measurement Cast 632 reprises a panel from the 18th of March 2020 just as things were getting interesting on the working from the home front. Today we discuss what they have learned working with and supporting remote teams versus how it was supposed to work. The panel is: Jeff Dalton,  jeff@broadswordsolutions.com  Amy McDonough Amy, McDonough@spr.com  Sandeep Koorse, Sandeep@koorse.com  Christopher Hurney, Christopherhurney@gmail.com Tom Cagley, tcagley@tomcagley.com  2020 was a year of firsts, this week one of those firsts intrudes on the podcast. Some sort of equipment error destroyed the first 8 ish minutes of the recording was lost. Actually lost was not a perfect description, in your mind picture a high-pitched screech. Then it was gone and the rest of the discussion was wonderful.  I have chopped out the ear killing screech and we pick up late in the first question with Chris Hurney and go from there! Re-Read Saturday News  This week it is time for Chapter 4 of  by Jeff Dalton. The Performance Circle, Envisioning, encompasses the behaviors and actions to describe what is required for “high-quality products and services.” This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Week 3: -   Week 4: -   Week 5: -   Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast features my interview with Unmesh Srivastava. We talked about organizational culture and disrupting health care through development that is customer-focused.

This week’s Software Process and Measurement Cast features our interview with Ted Harrington, author of HACKABLE: How to Do Application Security Right. Application security requires planning, coding, and testing. It is not something that you can easily remedy after the fact - it needs to be part of the conversation before you write one line of code. Ted provides insights for developers, C-level executives, and product owners. If you have not bought a copy (), one for you and one for your boss, and listen to the interview together. Ted’s Bio Ted Harrington is the author of HACKABLE: How to Do Application Security Right and the Executive Partner at Independent Security Evaluators (ISE), the company of ethical hackers famous for hacking cars, medical devices, and password managers. He’s helped hundreds of companies fix tens of thousands of security vulnerabilities, including  Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, and more. For his stewardship of security research that Wired Magazine says “wins the prize, hands down,” Ted has been named both Executive of the Year by the American Business Awards and an SD Metro 40 Under 40 entrepreneur. He leads a team that started and organizes IoT Village, an event whose hacking contest is a three-time DEFCON Black Badge winner, representing the discovery of more than 300 zero-day vulnerabilities (and counting).  Re-Read Saturday News  This week we are talking a break from re-reading by Jeff Dalton. I spent way too much time on Zoom calls enjoying physically distant holidays with family and friends.   This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Week 3: -   Week 4: -   Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast reprises a panel from the 18th of March 2020 just as things were getting interesting to discuss what they have learned working and supporting remote teams versus how supposed it would all work. The panel was comprised of: Jeff Dalton jeff@broadswordsolutions.com  Amy McDonough Amy.McDonough@spr.com  Sandeep Koorse Sandeep@koorse.com  Christopher Hurney    Christopherhurney@gmail.com And myself! tcagley@tomcagley.com

In March 2020, as our world was shrinking and words like 'lockdown' and 'zoom-bombing' were becoming a reality, we recorded and aired . Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, Jo Ann Sweeney, John Voris, and I talked about how we could create or preserve interactions leading to serendipity. Remote working was new for many people. This week we discuss what went well and what have we learned from nearly a year of working remotely. As the editor of the SPaMCAST it is my great pleasure to reconvene a group of people that have such great insight into people. The discussion is full of great ideas to improve remote and hybrid working environments, but most of all it is full of ideas to help respect people in tough times or not.   Panelist Bios Jo Ann Sweeney FCIM FIIC MCIPR is an engagement and communication consultant. Typically, she acts as change management lead on complex programs, facilitating the development of effective engagement, training, and communication strategies, and then assisting as the strategies are implemented. Clients value her deep understanding of audiences. Jo Ann is known for clarifying the complex and for persuading key stakeholders to get involved and actively support change. You are welcome to download a complimentary copy of Jo Ann’s guide How to Explain Change in 8 Easy Steps at Contact Jo Ann at jo.ann@sweeneycomms.com John Voris is the current leader of AgilePhilly, the local user group in the Philadelphia area for Scrum, Kanban, and Lean Software. ()  His day job is working on financial applications for Crown Cork & Seal, an essential company with over 100 years of manufacturing food and beverage cans.  Prior to Crown, John was an independent software consultant for 30+ years helping both small companies and Fortune 100 large companies with both applications and operating systems. Reach out on LinkedIn: With more than 30 years in the information technology industry, Paul Laberge – CGI Director Consulting-Expert, has a wide range of experience providing IT project management. He enjoys coaching leaders in deploying business technology solutions. His experience in organizational change management spans many different lifecycles including transitions to Agile frameworks (RUP, XP, Scrum, SAFe, Nexxus, LeSS) and incorporating Lean (Kanban) methodologies. Reach out on LinkedIn: Susan Parente is a Principal Consultant at S3 Technologies, LLC and a University Professor at multiple Universities. Mrs. Parente is an author, mentor and professor focused on risk management, traditional and Agile project management. Her experience is augmented by her Masters in Engineering Management with a focus in Marketing of Technology from George Washington University, DC, along with a number of professional certifications. Ms. Parente has 23+ years’ experience leading software and business development projects in the private and public sectors, including a decade of experience implementing IT projects for the DoD. Contact Susan at parente.s3@gmail.com Re-Read Saturday News  This week the re-read of  by Jeff Dalton dives into Chapter 3. Chapter 3 describes the Providing Performance Circle.  Providing is all about the logistics and the culture of the organization. If I were drawing a Venn Diagram, providing and leading (Chapter 2) have a significant overlap.   This week’s installment can be found at www.tomcagley.com/blog Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Week 3: -     Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature our interview with Ted Harrington, author of  HACKABLE: How to Do Application Security Right. Security is not something that you can easily remedy after the fact - it needs to be part of the conversation before you write one line of code. Ted provides insights for developers, C-level executives, and product owners. If you have not bought a copy (), one for you and one for your boss. Then listen to the interview together.

This week we are staying with metrics and Manning Publications for a chat with Christopher W H Davis, author of Agile Metrics in Action, How to Measure and Improve Team Performance. Why more metrics?  Well first, the M in SPaMCAST is for metrics. Secondly, metrics are important tools for teams and organizations when used wisely. Many in the agile world hear the term metric or measure and run screaming from the room. I asked Chris if he thought combining 'metics' and 'agile' was an oxymoron - he thinks not.  After you have listened, buy a copy of Chris’s book using the link Don’t pay full price by using the discount code podspam20 to get a 40% discount code (good for all Manning products in all formats). Chris’s Bio: Christopher Davis has been working as an engineer, manager, author, and consultant focused on innovation since the 20th century. Since coming to Microsoft 4 years ago Chris has been focused on retail innovation with Fortune 500 companies. Prior to that he worked at Nike where he designed the platform behind the Nike+ Fuelband and running apps, helped redesign their ecommerce system, and led their initial push to go cloud native, while writing the influential book on measuring software development teams, Agile Metrics in Action. Currently finishing his Ph.D. in Technical Management designing state of the art working models for human-AI collaboration, Chris also enjoys playing classical guitar and building robots with his kids. Re-Read Saturday News  This week the re-read of  by Jeff Dalton dives into chapter 2. Chapter 2 begins Part 2 which is focused on the six Performance Circles.  Leading is first.  Jeff points out that this is the most important of the circles because an organization without strong leadership will not allow teams to self-organize.  This week’s installment  Week 3: -   Previous installments: Week 1: -   Week 2: - Next SPaMCAST The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature a reprise of a panel interview originally recorded in March and aired on   just as the pandemic was re-writing the landscape of the workplace.  Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, Jo Ann Sweeney, John Voris, and I reconvene to reflect on an interesting year and the challenges of today’s workplace.

This week Dave Nicolette, author of Software Development Metrics from Manning Publications, and I talk about pragmatically using metrics. Dave and I talked about the value teams get from measurement regardless of the approach you are taking to deliver value. Measurement is feedback and measurement is leadership for guiding and improving how work is done.    After you have listened I think you will want a copy of Dave’s book on metrics.  Use the link:   Also, yes there is more, you say you don’t want to pay full price?  Use the discount code podspam20 to get a 40% discount code (good for all Manning products in all formats). Dave’s Bio: Dave started his career in information technology in 1977 as an application programmer. Since then he has worked in a variety of roles in different industries. Currently, he works as a consultant, coach, and trainer focusing on effective software delivery methods and process improvement. LinkedIn: Dave’s Website: Re-Read Saturday News  This week we head into Chapter 1 of  by Jeff Dalton. In many organizations, there is a disconnect between the real culture and the stated culture, which is one of the leading reasons organizational change fails. The mind shift of becoming agile exposes gaps between the real and aspirational culture that, if not addressed, cause pain as long as the institutional memory exists. This week’s installment  Week 2: - https://bit.ly/2JGpe7l   Previous installments: Week 1: -   Next SPaMCAST Next week we are staying with metrics and Manning Publications for a chat with Christopher W H Davis, author of Agile Metrics in Action, How to Measure and Improve Team Performance. Combining 'metics' and 'agile' is not an oxymoron.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 627 features our essay on collaboration.  Collaboration is a word that gets thrown around A LOT in team-oriented environments. I am not sure everyone means the same thing when they use the term. This week we also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column. Jon and I talked about the idea of fit for use and its connection to quality. Re-Read Saturday News  This week we begin the long-anticipated re-read of  by Jeff Dalton. The book was published by Apress in 2019. The 356 pages (335 pages in Arabic numbers and 21 pages in Roman) are organized into an acknowledgment, foreword, preface, 73 chapters, appendix, glossary, and an index. I called this long-anticipated because the poll before the last re-read, Tame you Work Flow, had such intense competition between three books, I decided to re-read all three. Fixing Your Scrum will be next.  This re-read will be a little different. We will not cover all 73 chapters. This is not to say that all 73 are not important; as matter of fact, the chapters we are not going to cover are the ones that I use the most. I divide Great Big Agile into three parts, part 1 covers the Agile Performance Holoarchy (Jeff breaks this into 2 parts) and includes chapters 1 - 7. The second part is a wonderful explanation of 65 agile techniques which spans chapters 8 - 72. I use these chapters as a reference and have given the book to several clients as gifts for just that reason. The third chunk is chapter 73 which discusses how to use the Agile Performance Holarchy. We will re-read the front matter, chapters 1 - 7 and 73. My intent is to complete the re-read in 10 installments over the next 11 weeks (I assume I will miss one week due to the holidays).  This week’s installment  Week 1: -   The Software Process and Measurement Cast is the proud media sponsor of the live@manning conference: Math for Data Science to be held on 01 December 2020 12:00 - 5:00 pm EST  .  Register for FREE for a unique chance to learn from statisticians and math masters: #manningontwitch   Next SPaMCAST Next week we will talk to David Nicolette, author of  Software Development Metrics from Manning Publications. David and I talked about the value of measurement regardless of the approach you are taking to deliver value. Measurement is feedback and measurement is leadership for guiding and improving how work is done.

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 626 features our interview with Jacob Glenn.  Jacob and I began talking about custom software development and then branched into entrepreneurship and leadership. Finding and enabling people are critical skills for building solutions.   Jacob Glenn is a creative and innovative leader with a consistent track record of success leading complex engagements focused on strategy, process, and emerging technologies. As the founder and President of M Genio, he helps lead high-profile, strategic initiatives and creates value at the intersection of business and technology. Connect with Jacob on LinkedIn at Check out M Genio at http://www.mgenio.com/ Re-Read Saturday News  We conclude the re-read of by Steve Tendon and Daniel Doiron, which we began on Saturday, May 23rd. The world has changed a lot as we worked our way through the book. However, there are important ideas in this book that are far less transitory than the changes we’ve seen in 2020 will be. Today we have a few concluding notes! This week’s installment  Week 21: -    New to this re-read? Start  at the beginning Week 1: – The Software Process and Measurement Cast is the proud media sponsor of the live@manning conference: Math for Data Science to be held on 01 December 2020 12:00 - 5:00 pm EST  .  Register for FREE for a unique chance to learn from statisticians and math masters: #manningontwitch   Next SPaMCAST The Software Process and Measurement Cast 627 is an essay on collaboration.  Collaboration is a word that gets thrown around A LOT in team-oriented environments.  I am not sure everyone means the same thing when they use the term. We will also have a visit from Jon M Quigley and his Alpha and Omega of Product Development column.