Software Process and Measurement Cast

SPaMCAST 599 will feature my conversation with Steve Tendon. Steve and I talked about his Tameflow books, the genesis of the framework, the Theory of Constraints, and of course Herbie. Steve provides several profound pieces of wisdom for increasing value. Re-Read Saturday News  This week we complete the content portion of our Re-read with Chapter 11 and the Afterword of  .  Next week we will have a few words to wrap-up this book and warp into the next book in the series. The envelope please . . . the next book we will re-read is Steve Tendon and Daniel Doiron’s . The top three books (Tame Your Work Flow, Great Big Agile, and Fixing Your Scrum) in the pool got more votes than all of the other books we have re-read over the past year. Therefore, my intent is to do something radical: declare that I will read all three of the top three books in order. This should take us through the summer.  If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Read previous installments: Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -   Week 7 - -   Week 8 - -   Week 9 - -   Week 10 - -   Week 11- -    Week 12 - -   Next SPaMCAST The next Spamcast will feature our interview with Sandy Mamoli. Sandy is a world-class coach. We talked teams, and how high performing teams are formed. As a former Olympic athlete, Sandy has a unique perspective and as an Agile Coach, she has a wide range of experience with many types of teams.

SPaMCAST 598 features our essay titled, Recognizing A Toxic Meeting Culture. Just because you are meeting remotely doesn’t mean meeting culture has been reset. Now even more than when we are all together, getting meeting culture right is critical to maximizing communication.  We will also return to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault. Jeremy and I talked about continuous learning.  Our discussion was taped earlier this year; it was a different time. I left the references to excitement about the new year in the comments to show how fast the world can change. And it can change again! Re-Read Saturday News  This week we tackle Chapter 10 of . The subtitle for this chapter is ‘Advice for tough cases.’  In my considered opinion, nothing ever goes perfectly to plan. All conversations are a mixture of things that you’ve run through your head to prepare and parts that are off-script. Having a wide range of additional tactics for hard issues makes it easier to approach crucial conversations with confidence. Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -   Week 7 - -   Week 8 - -   Week 9 - -   Week 10 - -   Week 11- -      We have a few days left before the poll to pick the next book in the re-read series closes. I would like to hear from you!  Check out the poll at www.tcagley.wordpress.com  If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 599 will feature my conversation with Steve Tendon. Steve and I talked agile, lean, flow, and how all the parts fit together.

The SPaMCAST 597 features a special panel of leaders discussing working from home now and after the initial reaction to being remote has worn off. One of the important points that we discussed was the need to make space for intentional serendipity. The panel is composed of Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, John Voris, Jo Ann Sweeney, and your host.  Panelist Bios Jo Ann Sweeney FCIM FIIC MCIPR is an engagement and communication consultant. Typically, she acts as change management lead on complex programmes, facilitating 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 we tackle Chapter 9 of . The subtitle of this chapter is a fair summary of the ideas in the chapter: how to turn crucial conversations into action and results. Let’s face it if you don’t do anything with what you learn in a crucial conversation you are wasting a lot of value. Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -   Week 7 - -   Week 8 - -   Week 9 - -   Week 10 - -   We are starting the poll for the next book in the re-read series. Crucial Conversations has two more chapters and an afterword left which means we have approximately three weeks to choose what we will read next. I am going to try something a little different this time by focusing on books I’ve read in late 2019 early 2020 and that I carry around with me when I am working. One exception is the inclusion of the runner up from our last poll. If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 598 will feature our essay titled Recognizing A Toxic Meeting Culture. Just because you are meeting remotely doesn’t mean meeting culture has been reset.   We will also return to the QA Corner with Jeremy Berriault.

The SPaMCAST 596 features our interview with Tom Henricksen. Tom brings the industry the DevOps and the Agile Online Summits and is an active thought leader in the agile community.  We talked about how events like his Summits foster learning and sharpening the saw. Tom suggests that tuning your skills and capabilities has never been more important as the economy struggles to get going again. Web: Web: LinkedIn: Twitter: @TomHenricksen  Re-Read Saturday News  This week we tackle Chapter 8 of . Arguably the feel of this re-read to date has had a bit of book report feel. Since this is a first read of the book for me, consuming what I have read has tended to be a reflection of how I process concepts. We have approximately 3 weeks left, do you have ideas for the next book?   Chapter 8 builds on Chapter 5’s message of establishing safety during a dialogue by adding a new step: exploring the other’s path of action. A quote that hooked me on the chapter was “You will never work through your differences until all parties freely add to the pool of meaning.” Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -   Week 7 - -   Week 8 - -   Week 9 - -   If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Upcoming Events (ALL ONLINE) DevOps Online Summit 2020  April 20 - 24 Registration is open at IdeaFest  April 21 and 22, 2020 Registration is open at   Listen to the Promo after the interview or standalone in the feed! Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 597 will feature a special panel of practitioners and experts to discuss working from home now and after the initial reaction to COVID-19 wears off.  The panel was comprised of Paul Laberge, Susan Parente, John Voris, and Jo Ann Sweeney.

Join us to hear great ideas from industry leaders while they share their stories about CMMC, Agile, Transformation, Culture, CMMI V2.0, High Performance, and more! All from the comfort of your couch! Attendance is limited to 100 people, so register today - only $99! Keynote: Ty Schieber, Chairman CMMC Accreditation Body Keynote: Jim Bouchard, The Sensei Leader 16 of your favorite speakers throughout the day - live and virtual! http://www.ideafest2020.org/

The SPaMCAST 595 features our interview with Vladimir Khorikov. Vladimir and I geeked out on unit testing and his new book, . Our conversations covered the gamut with a discussion of writing from first principles, understanding and tuning the signal-to-noise ratio in unit testing, and tests that are better at proving the negative than the positive.  Vladimir Khorikov is a software engineer and author of several popular Pluralsight courses. He has been professionally involved in software development for over 15 years, including mentoring teams on the ins and outs of unit testing. He's also the founder of the Enterprise Craftsmanship blog, where he reaches 500 thousand software developers yearly. He started as an adviser on general programming topics, but lately shifted his focus to unit testing with a central message of teaching software developers how to make unit testing painless. The biggest advantage of his teaching style, and the one students often praise, is his tendency to have a strong theoretic background, which he then applies to practical examples. Web: LinkedIn: Twitter: @vkhorikov Manning Publications has kindly supplied the SPaMCAST with a few ebook codes. If you are interested (and you should be) email the Software Process and Measurement Cast at with your favorite quote from this interview and I will randomly draw winners on April 18th. Email not your style?  Post your favorite quote on or post the quote on Twitter with #spamcast. Re-Read Saturday News  We worked on getting ready to talk, now it is time to get into the meat of a dialogue. Chapter 7 of , is where the rubber hits the road. In many circumstances, this is actually where the wheels actually come off!  The authors present five skills for talking when what you have to say could make others feel defensive. Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -   Week 7 - -   Week 8 - -   If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Upcoming Events (ALL ONLINE) DevOps Online Summit 2020  April 20 - 24 Registration is open at IdeaFest  April 21 and 22, 2020 Registration is open at   Listen to the Promo after the interview or standalone in the feed! Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 596 will feature our interview with Tom Henrickson. Tom brings the industry the DevOps and the Agile Online Summits and is an active thought leader in the agile community.  We talked about learning and sharpening the saw. The idea of tuning your capabilities has never been more important as the economy struggles to get going again.

The DevOps Online Summit 2020 is an online event for DevOps professionals. We will have interviews with DevOps leaders and Ask Me Anything sessions. So wherever you are in the world you can attend these online sessions. It will start Monday, April 20, 2020, and run through Friday, April 24, 2020. I am looking forward to getting my DevOps geek on and hope to virtually see you at xx to the Summit. Check out Tom Henricksen’s audio call to action. Then visit and register for this year’s DevOps Online Summit at https://bit.ly/2UQaupf I am looking forward to getting my DevOps geek on and hope to virtually see you at the Summit. Check out Tom Henricksen’s audio call to action. Then visit and register for this year’s DevOps Online Summit at https://bit.ly/2UQaupf The SPaMCAST is proud to be a media sponsor.

The SPaMCAST 594 features our interview with Dennis Lewis.  Mr. Lewis, author of , and I talked about how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are changing all types of software development. Dennis provides great advice for technologists and entrepreneurs that is immediately actionable (without violating social distancing). Dennis is a seasoned digital storyteller and ICO marketing specialist with a proven track record in both Europe and the United States. He has successfully led to market and exited multiple startup companies, and prides himself on his ability to make complex projects easy to understand and relatable. In a marketing landscape increasingly obsessed with shiny objects and overly complicated sales funnels, Dennis still believes that the key to any successful marketing campaign are the words on the page.  LinkedIn: Cryptoreneurs Club: Behold the Cryptopreneurs:   Re-Read Saturday News  While I was preparing for this week’s installment of Re-read Saturday, I got into a “discussion” with my wife about people and organizations profiteering during the COVID-19 disaster. When I began to notice I was becoming heated, I realized that this week’s chapter was an appropriate touchpoint to get the dialogue back on track. Chapter 6 of   is about how to gain control of your emotions during crucial conversations and therefore gain control of the conversation. Keeping your emotions under control allows you to think and use all of the tools at your disposal to stay in a constructive dialogue. Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -   Week 7 - -   If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Upcoming Events (ALL ONLINE) DevOps Online Summit 2020  April 20 - 24 Registration is open at IdeaFest  April 21 and 22, 2020 Registration is open at   I will get more information to you on these two great events later this week.   Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 595 will feature our interview with Vladimir Khorikov. Vladimir and I geeked out on unit testing and his new book, . The concepts of unit testing are important for anyone who develops, tests or interacts with people who write code.

The SPaMCAST 593 features my interview with Scott Crabtree. Happiness at work might sound squishy, but happiness has rigorous science behind it. Simply put, happiness yields better outcomes both in terms of value delivered and our own perception of our value.   Scott Crabtree helps people apply science to thrive at work. After earning a degree in cognitive science from Vassar College, he went on to lead the design and development of video games and other software. He discovered the science of thriving (positive psychology and other brain sciences) in 2003 and immediately became a passionate student and teacher of that research. He resigned his senior leadership position at Intel in 2011 to found Happy Brain Science. When not presenting the science of thriving at work, Scott enjoys playing music and getting into the Oregon wilderness, especially with his wife and two daughters. Contact Information LinkedIn Happy Brain Science:      Re-Read Saturday News  Today we tackle Chapter 5, Make It Safe - How to Make It Safe to Talk About Almost Anything, from .  This is the next step in the journey to help the reader participate and guide crucial conversations into dialogues by ensuring that the interaction is safe.   Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - - Week 6 - -     If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Book Club Starting Soon ** Only a few seats left *** Jon M Quigley and I are starting an online book club to read and discuss the classic books that underpin the lean, quality and agile movements.  The name of the book club is “Quality, Agile, and Lean Classic Books: Greatness in the Workplace”. The first book is Out Of The Crisis by Deming (don’t have a copy — )  We are starting our dialog on Friday, April 10th and the event will run over 7 sessions (we will avoid as many religious and national holidays as possible). We are only opening 10 seats for each group of sessions. We are changing a one time fee of $3.13 which equates to 4.95 (ish) once Eventbrite factors in their fees to encourage people that sign up to show up. More information and sign up at   Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 594 will feature our interview with Daniel Lewis.  Mr. Lewis, author of Behold the Cryptopreneurs, and I talked about how blockchain and cryptocurrencies are changing all types of software development.    Also, I also have another panel discussion focusing on working from home that should air this week and special video content that should get into the feed over the next few weeks. A little lagniappe because we all deserve it right now.

The SPaMCAST 592 features my interview with Shelisa Bainbridge. We talked about human-centered design and the impact of design on the development process. This approach is core to understanding what the customer wants in a way that influences every line of code.  We also talked about how organizations adopt agile and women in agile.  Shelisa is a Senior Business Coach with more than 20 years of experience working with some of Canada’s most notable brands.   Through her various corporate experiences, Shelisa has come to understand the exponential power that ‘human connection’ has on a company’s bottom line, and the support that businesses need to attain exceptional results through brand loyalty and unwavering internal team trust and collaboration. Shelisa is the Head of Human Centered Delivery (HCD) at one of Toronto’s top Agile Consulting and Coaching groups, Agile by Design. HCD is a complete flow that combines Design Thinking, Agile, User Experience(UX), and validated learning. Shelisa B. helps to arm teams with the skills they need to shift the mindset, culture, and methods required to increase agility.  LinkedIn: Web: Re-Read Saturday News  This week we focus on Chapter 4 of . The chapter is titled, Learn to Look: How To Notice When Safety Is At Risk.  Week 1 - -   Week 2 - -   Week 3 – –    Week 4 - -   Week 5 - -   If you do not have a copy or have tossed it at someone during a crucial conversation, it is time to buy a copy. Please use the link (using the link helps support the blog and podcast). Book Club Starting Soon ** Only a few seats left *** Jon M Quigley and I are starting an online book club to read and discuss the classic books that underpin the lean, quality and agile movements.  The name of the book club is “Quality, Agile, and Lean Classic Books: Greatness in the Workplace”. The first book is Out Of The Crisis by Deming (don’t have a copy — )  We are starting our dialog on Friday, April 10th and the event will run over 7 sessions (we will avoid as many religious and national holidays as possible). We are only opening 10 seats for each group of sessions. We are changing a one time fee of $3.13 which equates to 4.95 (ish) once Eventbrite factors in their fees to encourage people that sign up to show up. More information and sign up at   Next SPaMCAST The SPaMCAST 593 will feature my interview with Scott Crabtree.  Scott and I talked about the impact of being happy at work has on performance and outcomes. Perfect timing for this interview!   Also, I may have some special content in the feed over the next few weeks. A little lagniappe because we all deserve it right now.