No matter what framework or method your management thinks they are applying, learn to work this way: Produce running, tested, working, integrated software every two weeks, every week. Build your skills until you can create a new fully operational version every day, twice a day, multiple times a day. Keep the design of that software clean. As it grows, the design will tend to become complex and crufty. Resist and reverse this tendency consciously, refactoring in tiny continuous steps, all the time, so that your rate of progress is as steady and consistent as possible. Use the current increment of software as the foundation for all your conversations with your product leadership and management. Speak in terms of what’s ready to go, and in terms of what they’d like you to do next. This is the development team’s best hope for a reasonable life. By keeping the software always ready… Read more →
EppsNet Archive: Ron Jeffries
We Were All Put on the Board Somewhere
We were all put on the board somewhere. We make our moves. Stuff happens. Be sure to blame what happens on where you started. That'll help. — Ron Jeffries (@RonJeffries) March 21, 2014 Read more →
Aside
Ron Jeffries: Estimation is Evil
Visibility and Feedback
Forgive my ignorance. How do increased visibility and tighter feedback loops manage and reduce risk? Get in your car. Drive to a winding road. Get up to a decent speed. Close your eyes for two minutes. Then come back and ask your question again. — Ron Jeffries, Yahoo Groups (kanbandev) Read more →
Outsourcing
Contracting hordes of itinerant trainees to write important software, and guiding them from a distant point in time and space. — Ron Jeffries Read more →
Twitter: 2009-07-20
RT @RonJeffries: I can waste time in so many ways. How can I monetize this skill? # You don't hear a lot of FORTRAN jokes from cats – RT @sockington: 10 MEOW 20 GOTO 10 # Showed this video at an IT team meeting this afternoon. Good discussion on teamwork ensued. http://bit.ly/EAA0 #kicklikeagirl # Read more →
We Don’t Need No Gantt Charts
One challenge we’re facing is that some high level executives are now concerned over how the project is progressing and want regular updates–they are used to Microsoft Project GANTT charts, excel charts with deadlines and stop lighting (e.g. yellow light, we’re behind schedule but it’s not critical). How do we map our agile process into the traditional project plans used by upper management for their corporate planning? — Mark A. Herschberg At the Deep Agile seminar he and I did, Jeff Sutherland told of being asked for a GANTT chart or such. He asked the execs in question how accurate those charts were. They replied that they were never accurate. He declined to do them. — Ron Jeffries Read more →
Predicting the Unpredictable
A long range weather forecast should be obtained before leaving, as weather conditions are extremely unpredictable. — Natal Daily News I pulled that quote from a Ron Jeffries sig file. It’s a great Zen-like nugget that sums up the typical approach to software development, i.e., it’s an unpredictable business, so we’ll do lots of upfront planning . . . ignoring the fact that the inherent unpredictability makes dependable upfront planning impossible. Read more →
A Hug from Your Mom
Replacing an on-site customer with some use cases is about as effective as replacing a hug from your Mom with a friendly note. — Ron Jeffries Read more →
A Rule of Thumb on Documentation
As a rule of thumb, I’d guess that 90 percent of what a team knows would be lost if they tried to write it down, and that 90 percent of what they wrote down would be lost when some other team tried to read it. But then, I’m an optimist. — Ron Jeffries Read more →
Requirements are Boring
You’re working on the requirements for Project X? Boring. You’ve got someone figuring out architecture for Project Y? Boring. The guys are designing Project Z? Boring. . . . Who has built something that their customer will certify is part of what they want? That’s interesting. Who has shipped something to their customer and the customer is using it? That’s very interesting. — Ron Jeffries Read more →