Software Process and Measurement Cast

Show 54 features an interview with Esther Derby focused primarily on agile retrospective but we branched out to talk about agile management and many other topics.Esther is one of the rare breed of consultant who blends the technical issues, and the managerial issues with the people issues. She is well known for her work in helping teams grow to new levels of productivity. Management coaching, Scrum implementation, retrospectives, and project assessments are four of Esther’s key practices that serve as effective tools to start team transformation.  Recognized as one of the world’s leaders in retrospective facilitation, she often receives requests to work with struggling teams. Esther also coaches technical people who are making the transition to management and is a Certified Scrum Master.Esther can be contacted by email at derby@estherderby.comHer website is www.estherderby.comLinks to her books are below:Agile Retrospectives Making Teams Great    http://bit.ly/2lU8QTBehind Closed Doors Management   http://bit.ly/h8LfDNote that Esther co-authored “Behind Closed Doors Management” with Johanna Rothman in SPaMCAST 23  -- check it out at    http://bit.ly/8molJoin the SPaMCAST’s community by joining the SPaMCAST Facebook page and get involved!!!!  http://bit.ly/18j52EThe essay is titled “Agile is  . . .”  I suggest that Agile is the combination of philosophies, methods and techniques.  What it is not is merely an outcome.  The text of the whole essay can be found at www.tcagley.wordpress.com.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter – www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement              http://bit.ly/18j52EAre you going to the SEPG Conference in San Jose this year let me know and if not I would be interested in why (assuming you were interested in going to begin with).Next Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview Bill Phifer.  We discussed metrics in outsourcing.    If you have anything to do with sourcing work I think you will get lot out of this interview.

Show 53 is an interview with Capers Jones discussing software measurement. As with any conversation with Capers we explored a wide range of topics in the software development world.  As usual, Capers was his provocative self! Capers biography is long and storied.  Let it be said that Capers is a serial author (he currently working on book 16).  Capers founded Software Process Research.  He is a public speaker, pundit, guru, and deep thinker. Capers can be contacted at CJonesIII@cs.com Join the SPaMCAST’s community by joining the SPaMCAST Facebook page and get involved!!!!  http://tinyurl.com/62z5el The essay is titled “The State of How”.  Living exclusively in the day-to-day world is the enemy of vision and without vision, you are bound for a near-death experience.  The text of the whole essay can be found at www.tcagley.wordpress.com. There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com •    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111 •    Twitter – www.twitter.com/tcagley •    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com •    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement              http://tinyurl.com/62z5el Next Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview Esther Derby focused primarily on agile retrospective but we branched out to talk about agile management. As I mentioned in SPaMCAST 52 my father has begun to podcast his fiction at www.talesbytom.com.  Yours truly is doing the production.  Feel free to check it out and give him feedback

Lisa Crispin is an agile testing coach and practitioner. She is the co-author, with Janet Gregory, of Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams (Addison-Wesley, 2009). She specializes in showing testers and agile teams how testers can add value and how to guide development with business-facing tests. Her mission is to bring agile joy to the software testing world and testing joy to the agile development world. Lisa joined her first agile team in 2000, having enjoyed many years working as a programmer, analyst, tester, and QA director. Since 2003, she's been a tester on a Scrum/XP team at ePlan Services, Inc. She frequently leads tutorials and workshops on agile testing at conferences in North America and Europe. Lisa regularly contributes articles about agile testing to publications such as Better Software magazine, IEEE Software, and Methods and Tools. Lisa also co-authored Testing Extreme Programming (Boston: Addison-Wesley, 2002) with Tip House. For more about Lisa"s work, visit www.lisacrispin.com.Join the SPaMCAST’s community by joining the SPaMCAST Facebook page and get involved!!!!  http://tinyurl.com/62z5elThe essay is titled "A Really Simple Checklist for Change Readiness Assessment” Part 2.  Planning for change is no very different from planning a vacation.  The Checklist will remind you of the big things to remember that sometimes get forgotten when dealing with the details of making change happen.  Remember that part one was originally uploaded in SPaMCAST 51.  The text of the whole essay can be found at www.tcagley.wordpress.com.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter - www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement      http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview with Capers Jones discussing a wide range of software measurement topics.  The interview with Capers was an exciting and I think you will find the interview an exciting listen.  Listen with a friend!One more item . . .my father has begun to podcast his fiction at www.talesbytom.com.  Yours truly is doing the production.  Feel free to check it out and give him feedback.

Show fifty one is an interview with Tim Lister discussing his new book,” Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies”. The interview discussed the impact of specific patterns and habits on how IT organizations work.***NEWS ***Adrenaline Junkies is one of 5 finalists for general computing book of the year.Tim Lister is a software consultant at the Atlantic Systems Guild, Inc., based in the New York office. He divides his time between consulting, teaching, and writing. Tim is a co-author with his Guild partners of Adrenalin Junkies and Template Zombies: Understanding Patterns of Project Behavior, (Dorset House, 2008 http://www.dorsethouse.com/books/ajtz.html), He, is also co-author with Tom DeMarco of Waltzing With Bears: Managing Risk on Software Projects (Dorset House, 2003) that won Software Development magazine’s Jolt Award as General Computing Book of the Year for 2003-2004. Tim and Tom are also co-authors of Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, (Dorset House, 1999) now available in 14 languages.Tim is currently a member of the Cutter IT Trends Council. He is a member of the I.E.E.E. and the A.C.M.  He is in his 23rd year as a panelist for the American Arbitration Association, arbitrating disputes involving software and software services.Contact information:      Web Site:  http://www.systemsguild.com/Email:  lister@acm.orgCheck out SPaMCAST’s Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elThe essay is titled “A Really Simple Checklist for Change Readiness Assessment” Part 1.  The essay reminds us of the big things that sometimes get forgotten when dealing with the minutia of getting a change project off the ground.  Check out the text of the current essay at www.tcagley.wordpress.com.  I should be back with an essay next show.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter – www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement              http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview with Lisa Crispin discussing agile testing.  Lisa’s most recent book is “Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams.”  The book was coauthored with Janet Gregory.  Testing and agile are highly inter-related although sometimes understanding how all the parts fit together isn’t obvious.  Lisa makes agile testing very clear in her interview.  Do not miss the interview.The interview on the Software Process and Measurement Cast 51 is with Tim Lister. We discussed Tim's new book "Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies".

Show fifty features my interview with David J Anderson.  We discussed agile management and many other topics. The interview was fascinating!  I have decided to push it out into the feed as one whole file rather than breaking due to ensure the continuity of the conversation (no real break points).David J. Anderson leads a management consulting firm focused on improving performance of technology companies. He has many years management experience leading teams on agile software development projects. David was a founder of the agile movement through his involvement in the creation of Feature Driven Development. His first book, Agile Management for Software Engineering - Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results, published in 2003 by Prentice Hall, introduced many ideas from Lean and Theory of Constraints in to software engineering. He was also a founder of the APLN, a non-profit dedicated to improving management and leadership in technology companies. Recently David has been focusing his attention on business agility and enterprise scale agile software transitions through a synergy of the CMMI model for organizational maturity with Agile and Lean methods.Note that the Lean Kanban2009 Conference noted in the interview has been rescheduled to May 6 – 8.  Information can be found at  http://www.leankanbanconference.com/Contact information:      Web Site:  http://www.agilemanagement.netEmail:  fddmanager@yahoo.comCheck out SPaMCAST's Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elThere is no essay on this show.  I try to keep the length of the show around 30 minutes and the essay would have pushed the 45 minute boundary.  Check out the text of the current essay at www.tcagley.wordpress.com.  There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter – www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement                        http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview with Tim Lister.  Tim is one the great thinkers in the IT field.  We discussed the book "Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies” which was co-authored with the five other principals of the Atlantic Systems Guild.  The ideas and topics covered in the book and interview have already refined my thoughts on a number of topics.  I expect that you will have the same experience this is not an interview to miss.

Show Forty Nine concludes a two part interview with Robin Goldsmith on requirements.    If you have not already done so, please go back to show 47 to listen to the first half of the interview.  Requirements are one of those foundational components that can make or break a project as it gets started.  I believe that Robin's ideas and insights are thought provoking and that you will find them useful.  Robin is the president of Go Pro Management.  Go Pro Management, Inc. is a consultancy that works directly with and trains professionals in business engineering, requirements analysis, software acquisition, project management, quality and testing.  Mr Goldsmith was previously a developer, systems programmer/DBA/QA, and project leader with the City of Cleveland, leading financial institutions, and a "Big 4” consulting firm.  He holds degrees from Kenyon College, A.B.; Pennsylvania State University, M.S. in Psychology; Suffolk University, J.D.; Boston University, LL.M. in Tax Law. Robin is the author of the Artech House book, Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success, and numerous articles in prominent periodicals, and frequent featured speaker at leading professional conferences.Contact information: Web Site: http://www.gopromanagement.comEmail:  RobinGoldsmith@cs.comPhone: (781) 444-5753Check out SPaMCAST"s Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elThe essay is titled “A Game Plan For 2009”.  The essay looks to 2009 or any moment where a line can be drawn as time to celebrate change and decide to enrich the world around you (as well re-invigorating your own brand).There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter - www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement      http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an David Andersen discussing organizational culture and embracing agile, kanban and kaizen requirements and testing.  This interview covered a lot of ground and is very germane to the world we find ourselves in today.  Very very powerful, do not miss it.

Show Forty Eight concludes a two part interview with Ellen Gottesdiener on agile requirements, facilitation and other topics. Go back to Cast 46 if you have not listened to Part One.  Principal Consultant of EBG Consulting, Ellen Gottesdiener helps business and technical teams get product requirements right so their projects start smart and deliver the right product at the right time. An agile coach and trainer with a passion about agile requirements, she works with large, complex products and helps teams elicit just enough requirements to achieve iteration and product goals. Ellen is the author of Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs and The Software Requirements Memory Jogger. Ellen writes articles, speaks, advises at industry conferences, and provides training seminars and mentoring to both traditional and agile clients. Contact her at www.ebgconsulting.comContact information: Web Site: http://www.ebgconsulting.com/Email:  ellen@ebgconsulting.comCheck out SPaMCAST's Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elWe have a guest essay from Pat Ferdinani in this cast titled "Do You Write?”  The essay challenges you to express your ideas and to get involved.  Covey might say act or be acted upon in words,  grow and improve your life which will grow and improve others around you.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter - www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement      http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature the second part of my two part interview with Robin Goldsmith on requirements and testing.  Requirements have been a vexing problem for Information Technology since dirt was young.  Can you afford to miss Robin"s exposition on REAL requirements?

Show Forty Seven begins another two part interview this one with Robin Goldsmith on REAL requirements.  Requirements have been a vexing problem for Information Technology since dirt was young.  Robin presents a structure for addressing the issue.  Part two will be included in SPaMCAST 49.    Robin is the president of Go Pro Management.  Go Pro Management, Inc. is a consultancy that works directly with and trains professionals in business engineering, requirements analysis, software acquisition, project management, quality and testing.  Mr Goldsmith was previously a developer, systems programmer/DBA/QA, and project leader with the City of Cleveland, leading financial institutions, and a "Big 4” consulting firm.  He holds degrees from Kenyon College, A.B.; Pennsylvania State University, M.S. in Psychology; Suffolk University, J.D.; Boston University, LL.M. in Tax Law. Robin is the author of the Artech House book, Discovering REAL Business Requirements for Software Project Success, and numerous articles in prominent periodicals, and frequent featured speaker at leading professional conferences.Contact information: Web Site: http://www.gopromanagement.comEmail:  RobinGoldsmith@cs.comPhone: (781) 444-5753Check out SPaMCAST's Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elThe essay is titled “Who"s Career Is It Anyway?”  The essay challenges you to think of yourself as your own brand and to take control of maintaining your brand and career.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter - www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement         http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature Part Two of the interview with Ellen Gottesdiener on agile requirements, facilitation and other topics! Part One in SPaMCAST 46 was great, filled with new ideas on requirements and I think 48 will even be more important.

Show Forty Six begins another two part interview with Ellen Gottesdiener on agile requirements, facilitation and other topics.  Ellen is the principle consultant and founder of EBG Consulting, an author, a public speaker and all around pundit.  Part two will be included in SPaMCAST 48.    Ellen is the Principal Consultant of EBG Consulting, Ellen and EBG help business and technical teams get product requirements right so their projects start smart and deliver the right product at the right time. She is an agile coach and trainer with a passion about agile requirements, she works with large, complex products and helps teams elicit just enough requirements to achieve iteration and product goals. Ellen is the author of Requirements by Collaboration: Workshops for Defining Needs and The Software Requirements Memory Jogger. Ellen writes articles, speaks, advises at industry conferences, and provides training seminars and mentoring to both traditional and agile clients.Contact information: Web Site: Email:  ellen@ebgconsulting.comCheck out SPaMCAST's Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elThe essay is titled "Does the End Justify the Means.”  The essay wrestles with thoughts on whether you should use any means possible to promote our ideas or process improvements.  If you do not want of listen, my opinion is that the journey is important.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter - www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG - www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement     http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview with Robin Goldsmith on requirements and testing.  Robin"s interview is another two parter!    Requirements have been a vexing problem for Information Technology since dirt was young.  Can you afford to miss Robin's exposition on REAL requirements?

The interview in the Software Process and Measurement Cast 45 features part two of the interview with Mike Cohn.  Mike is the man when it come to Story Points and agile estimation.    Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, a process and project management consultancy and training firm. He is the author of Agile Estimating and Planning and User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development, as well as books on Java and C++ programming. With more than 20 years of experience, Mike has previously been a technology executive in companies of various sizes, from startup to Fortune 40. A frequent magazine contributor and conference speaker, Mike is a founding member of the Scrum Alliance and the Agile Alliance. He can be reached at mike@mountaingoatsoftware.com. Contact information: Web Site: http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/Email:  mike@mountaingoatsoftware.comCheck out SPaMCAST’s Facebook page and get involved!!!! http://tinyurl.com/62z5elWe have a guest essay on SPaMCAST 45.  The essay is an open letter from Gary Cone to Senators Obama and McCain on process improvement.  Guest essay reflects the opinions of Gary Cone and may or may not reflect the opinion of SPaMCAST or its editor.  Please feel free to respond to Gary at Gary.Cone@gpsqtc.com  or (586)412-9609.  In my opinion process improvement is good politics regardless of political affiliation or lack thereof.There are a number of ways to share your thoughts with SPaMCAST: •    Email SPaMCAST at spamcastinfo@gmail.com•    Voice messages can be left at 1-206-888-6111•    Twitter – www.twitter.com/tcagley•    BLOG – www.tcagley.wordpress.com•    FACEBOOK!!!! Software Process and Measurement     http://tinyurl.com/62z5elNext Software Process and Measurement Cast: The next Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature an interview with Ellen Gottesdiener.  Can you say agile requirements?