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# Allan Kelly

Agile, OKRs and Product Management

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://www.allankelly.net/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://www.allankelly.net/blog/) - Blog home page page
- [Nuke the bug list when you nuke the backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7557/nuke-the-bug-list-when-you-nuke-the-backlog/) - Bugs are little more than change requests with a different name. Do the important ones but don't bother with a list of bugs that will never be fixed.
- [Evolving Agile: the motion picture](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10570/evolving-agile-the-motion-picture/) - Video blog describing the Agile Evolution and my own journey from Xanpan to Objective Driven
- [Agile: not Dead, but evolving](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10556/agile-not-dead-but-evolving/) - Head on: is agile dead? No, it is everywhere. But the mania is over. Agile won't return, but the ideas in it will.
- [Listen to my Top-5 intriguing tips for using OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10548/listen-to-my-top-5-intriguing-tips-for-using-okrs/) - Top-5 tips for working with OKRs - podcast interview
- [6 ways my OKRs are different](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10543/6-ways-okrs-enable-change/) - To some OKRs are an evil management enforcement technique. They aren't. Here are 6 ways I see OKRs driving change and improvement.
- [What I've been getting wrong about PDCA](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10538/what-ive-been-getting-wrong-about-pdca/) - The 4 steps of the PDCA cycle are not equal, the fourth step might be the shortest, and it might be the most overlooked, but it is the most important.
- [Software development is upside down](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/426/software-development-is-upside-down/) - In the software development world a number of common management maxims need to be reversed if one is to be an effective manager. Those who manage software development - and I include all the non-commissioned managers in this, Architects, Team Leads, Scrum Masters etc. - need to turn their thinking upside down. Here are a
- [If AI is the solution, what is the problem?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10533/if-ai-is-the-solution-but-what-is-the-problem/) - AI is actually 3 technologies and we need to keep asking "What is the problem?" before we jump to solutions
- [What makes Product Managers hetrogenous](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10515/what-makes-product-managers-hetrogenous/) - Product Manager roles are hetrogenous. The corporate environment, product lifecycle stage and the supporting roles present are key driver of these differences.
- [Patterns for building a learning organization](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10527/patterns-for-building-a-learning-organization/) - Patterns for building a learning organization - download for free
- [4 quick fixes to bring order out of choas](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10520/4-quick-fixes-to-bring-order-out-of-choas/) - In which I discuss four quick fixes I use to bring order from chaos plus a couple which are slower
- [Does this Product Management model work for you?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10511/does-this-product-management-model-work-for-you/) - Six dimensions of product management? Wholeness, Stakeholders, Needs, Value, Here & Now, and Communication.
- [Learning from explanations of Product Manager](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10506/learning-from-explanations-of-product-manager/) - What should product managers do? I looked at 4 different authorities and learned from the all.
- [What a Product Manager does](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10503/what-a-product-manager-does/) - So what have I been doing as a product manager in the last year?
- [Is it any surprise nobody wants to go to the office?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10497/is-it-any-surprise-nobody-wants-to-go-to-the-office/) - Offices have lost the things that made them home, so why is anyone surprised that nobody wants to go there?
- [Is there a difference between an Objective or goal?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10494/is-there-a-difference-between-an-objective-or-goal/) - Objective or gaol? I used to use the two words interchangeably, now I see an important difference.
- [Diversity at conferences](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10489/diversity-at-conferences/) - Observations and suggestions on the conflicts and problems increasing diversity at conferences
- [Mental health, life pivots and thanks](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10487/mental-health-life-pivots-and-thanks/) - Thanks you readers, you have helped me through a mental health crisis.
- [Change management: My dirty little secret](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10484/change-management-my-dirty-little-secret/) - I don't really believe in change management, for a long time I didn't think had a view of change, but actually, I do have some principles which guide my approach.
- [Eggs within eggs: goal alignment](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10476/eggs-within-eggs-goal-alignment/) - Goals are wrapped inside goals withing goals - recognise this and work towards alignment
- [Seperate what & how with the OKR 2 step](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10479/seperate-what-how-with-the-okr-2-step/) - Use the OKR 2 step to seperate setting an objective from planning how to deliver that objective
- [Why I want to rename OKRs to OACs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10467/why-i-want-to-rename-okrs-to-oacs/) - Anyone mind if I rename OKRs? Calling them Outcomes and Acceptance Criteria would make everything clearer
- [Should I rollover the team OKRs?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10463/should-i-rollover-the-team-okrs/) - Don't rollover your OKRs to the next quarter, the world has changed, rewrite them but don't roll then over.
- [Reach your North Star with a compass not a roadmap](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10443/reach-your-north-star-with-a-compass-not-a-roadmap/) - Following a North Star? - a compass will be more useful than a map, even a roadmap
- [Priority #2 postscript: Eisenhower and costs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10430/priority-2-postscript-eisenhower-and-costs/) - Priority #2 problems defy the Eisenhower matrix for 3 good reasons.
- [The sound of #NoBacklogs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10419/the-sound-of-nobacklogs/) - Challenging the Agile Status Quo with #NoBacklogs - a Scrum Master Toolbox podcast with Duarte Vasco
- [The Priority #2 problem I share with Leeds](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10384/the-priority-2-problem-i-share-with-leeds/) - Priority 2 problems are things that should get done but are not urgent or important enough to prioritise above other P2 things.
- [Building it isn't the problem - guess what is?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10327/building-it-isnt-the-problem-guess-what-is/) - The Madrid metro expansion demonstrates that enigneering may not be the problem. The management approach and organization is more important.
- [Race against risk](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10300/race-against-risk/) - There are those who think "projects can save money by going slow." I've never quite understood this because the same things still need doing but even serious people say it (HS2 anyone?). Actually, they are trading reduced expenditure now for longer expenditure in the future. Maybe that means that less money needs to be borrowed
- [New year: out with the old](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10252/new-year-out-with-the-old/) - My first blog of 2025, and following my annual procedure I have created a new archive for this year's posts. Then I reviewed all posts that didn't get published last year. Among all the posts you will have enjoyed last year there are half as many again which didn't get published. Half a dozen have
- [Core message - succeeding with OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/10056/core-message-succeeding-with-okrs/) - OKRs are mechanism for agreeing shared goals, communicating goals and driving action, to work everyone on the team should be included and everyone is responsible.
- [How do I combine OKRs with KPIs?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9942/how-do-i-combine-okrs-with-kpis/) - To combined OKRs and KPIs start by understanding what you KPIs are
- [OKRs podcast](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9178/okrs-webinars-and-workshops-3-short-things/) - An OKR workshop, an OKR podcast and summer
- [Writing OKRs masterclass online in January](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9987/writing-okrs-masterclass-online-in-january/) - My online Writing OKRs Masterclass is back in January learn how to write OKRs, understanding what makes good OKRs and what to avoid!
- [Patterns for Highly Autonomous Teams & Team Energy Theory](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9981/patterns-for-highly-autonomous-teams-team-energy-theory/) - Three patterns for highly autonomous teams and a new theory of team change
- [The first agile transformation failure](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9911/the-first-agile-transformation-failure/) - The first agile transformation failure was 15 years before the manifesto.
- [Little book of workflow management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9852/little-book-of-workflow-management/) - I have a confession to make. I recently published a series of articles not on this blog, and not even in my newsletter. I wanted to try something a bit different. I wanted to try writing short descriptions of the working techniques agile teams use but without using the word agile, referring to software development,
- [How can you scale without authority?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9588/do-you-scaling-without-authority/) - Scaling solutions tend to fallback on authority at some point, yet there are other mechanisms to co-ordinate work which are passed over.
- [Embracing shared leadership](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9585/embracing-shared-leadership/) - The idea of shared leadership better describes modern work teams and resolves problems around self-organising and self-managing teams
- [Massing saving on Succeeding with OKRs in Agile this week](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9406/massing-saving-on-succeeding-with-okrs-in-agile-this-week/) - Succeeding with OKRs in Agile - massive price cut for this week only
- [Why I'm talking about Modern Management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9403/why-im-talking-about-modern-management/) - We need an updated management model. Outdated, and plain bad, management are are a problem. Modern management includes agile, good jobs, psychological safety and more.
- [Employees: growth driver or cost to trim?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9303/employees-growth-driver-or-cost-to-trim/) - Bad jobs are depressing and costing our company more money than they save. Good jobs are a growth driver for companies and make for happier employees.
- [Playing Value Poker in the Dagons' Den](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9006/playing-value-poker-in-the-dagons-den/) - Teams are quick to assign effort estimates to stories so why not estimate value? - how else can you prioritise by business value?
- [6 ideas to boost productivity](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9075/6-ideas-to-boost-productity/) - 6 ideas to increase productivity
- [Help - a survey about product leaders](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9078/help-a-survey-about-product-leaders/) - I'm running a little survey - 5 minutes of your time - about the people and roles who decide what should be done, or perhaps what should be built. The people who are often called Product Owners or Product Managers, and often Business Analysts, perhaps Requirements enigneers or... a myriad of other titles. I'm generically
- [Spending when uncertainty is high](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9039/spending-when-uncertainty-is-high/) - When uncertainty is high the classic investment and governance model needs rethinking.
- [Benefits of Value Poker (2 of 2)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/9025/benefits-of-value-poker-2-of-2/) - Value poker creates great conversations and shared understanding, it opens allows for cost-of-delay and cost-benefit analysis. And it is fun!
- [Time value profiles - a little tool with big implications](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4634/time-value-profiles/) - The picture above is a time-value profile: it shows how value changes with time. It is a graphic illustration of cost of delay. A fine wine might increase in value over time but most things - think product, project, feature or just story - decay with time. Having something today is worth more than having
- [Focus on flow](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8966/focus-on-flow/) - People can be so productive in the state of flow, but creating flow in an organization is harder, there are more moving parts. Luckily we can improve our ability to see and reason about flow.
- [#NoProjects: videos + Q&A](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/468/noprojects-videos-q/) - One of the reasons this blog has been quiet recently is that I’ve been putting my efforts into video: The #NoProjects Video series. This is now available as 16 short episodes on YouTube based on my popular #NoProjects/Beyond Projects conference presentation. If you have seen the conference presentation you know what to expect although there
- [Scrum + Technical practices = XP ?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/749/scrum-technical-practices-xp/) - My last blog post (Scrum has 3 Advantages Over XP) attracted a couple of interesting comments - certainly getting comments from Uncle Bob Martin and Tom Gilb shows people are listening. And it’s Tom’s comment I want to address. But before I do, lest this come across as Scrum bashing I should say that I
- [In search of flow](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8916/in-search-of-flow/) - Every team is in search of flow. The Featureban game is great at illustrating flow, now I have a new video and workshop to simulate a Kanban system and flow.
- [First get small, next get broad](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8899/first-get-small-next-get-broad/) - You can't beat thinking small for delivery, but you need to think broad when thinking about what is needed. But thinking small and broad is hard.
- [All agile initiatives are flawed (and thats good)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8868/all-agile-initiative-are-flawed-and-thats-good/) - Agile is a lot like democracy. Every single agile transformation initiative is flawed. For many that is a good thing, because it means we can see the things that need fixing
- [Are Product Owners set up to fail?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8853/are-product-owners-being-set-up-to-fail/) - Product Owners are often little more than Backlog Administrators, which sets them up to fail. But the problem lies not with the individual, but with those who expect too little from the PO.
- [FT piece on business and software agility](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1024/ft-piece-on-business-and-software/) - The Financial Times carried a piece on Wednesday entitled ‘Agility: Flexibility takes over from planning’. It starts off about agile business but actually spends most of piece talking about agile software development. Both the presence of the piece, and the evidence in it suggests agile is getting more prevalent.Nice definition of company agility from Professor
- [Reflections on XP Day](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1025/reflections-on-xp-day/) - I have spent the last two days at the XP Day 2008 conference here in London. A very good conference and highly recommended. Unusually for me I wasn’t speaking at this one which made for a nice change. No worries about presentations, rooms and being in the right place at the right time.I picked up
- [Follow up 2: Personal retrospective and strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1027/follow-up-2-personal-retrospective-and/) - This is the second of two follow ups replying to some comments on the blog. What’s interesting about this one is that its from someone who I don’t know, or rather has chosen to hide their name. Still they have a great memory because they’ve linked something I said a few days ago with something
- [Follow up 1: Software as an asset](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1028/follow-up-1-software-as-asset/) - I don’t know how many readers this blog has but I don’t think it s many. In fact I tend to think I know them all. Well, that’s a illusion I can be pretty certain to dispel. I know the ones I know, because they comment on the blog, or they tell me that read
- [Personal retrospective](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1029/personal-retrospective/) - As I said in my previous blog entry I recently finished a major assignment with a start-up client. The company had a lot of problems when I started, and the development group had its share of bad problems. I think I’ve left them in a much better shape than when I arrived.Last Friday I took
- [Blue White Red - a simple Agile process](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1033/blue-white-red-simple-agile-process/) - My article from last months ACCU Overload is now on my website. This piece describes a simple Agile process which I have used successfully. I don’t claim it introduces anything new or radical. I don’t even claim originality, it derives from SCRUM and XP. All I claim is it worked for me, my teams and
- [Something is stirring in the office software market](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1039/something-is-stirring-in-office/) - As a PC user there was only one game in town for office software - Microsoft Office. Yes there was other software but very few people used it. Everyone used Word, Excel, etc. and if you used anything else people thought you were strange.Since moving to the Mac I’ve discovered the hegemony doesn’t exist here.
- [Book review: The Innovators Dilemma](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1034/book-review-innovators-dilmma/) - I’m just coming to the end of The Innovator’s Solution (Christensen and Raynor, 2003) - OK, I admit it, I can’t be bothered to read the last couple of chapters. Like so many books the first few chapters are very interesting, then the tend to get a little bit boring. I suppose this is because
- [Software requirements and strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1045/software-requirements-and-strategy/) - A few weeks ago I wrote about the role of requirements in software development, and then I wrote about business strategy. What might not be obvious is that: in order to have product requirements you need to have a product strategy, and a product strategy needs to come from corporate strategy. If you lack either
- [TDD, Objective setting and doing the obvious](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1057/tdd-objective-setting-and-doing-obvious/) - I’ve been doing a round of objective setting for my client recently. When it was first announced the company wanted to go down this path I groaned. “Arhh” I thought, “I hate objectives, I hate people setting them, I hate all the baggage that comes along with them.” Neither was I impressed by the way
- [More Agile failure modes](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1065/more-agile-failure-modes/) - A couple of weeks ago I raised the topic of How Agile Teams fail. Well in recent conversations and observations I’ve been reminded of two more modes of Agile failure. (Maybe reminded is the wrong word, maybe I could say I’ve spotted patterns, having one or two cases logged in my mind some more examples
- [Chance favours the prepared mind](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1064/chance-favours-prepared-mind/) - First an apology: I’ve been very busy the last few weeks so I’ve not been blogging so much. Naturally the creation and launch of Software Strategy has kept me busy and so has the company’s first client where I am far busier than I have been for a long time. Add to this friends and family
- [Post-Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1063/post-agile/) - I’ve written before about the Agile backlash I see coming. But what I’ve been wondering is: what comes next? One idea comes from James Noble and others who have suggested Post-Modern Programming. I like the idea, it helps us understand the world better and it helps reposition our view of software development but it doesn’t tell us
- [Introducing: Software Inside](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1061/introducing-software-inside/) - I’m going through some notes from the ACCU conference in April and note I made after a conversation with someone – I forget who so sorry for not crediting you properly but I want to capture these thought…. We write software but we seldom write software for the sake of it. We write software as
- [Back from the 2007 ACCU conference](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1070/back-from-2007-accu-conference/) - I got back yesterday from the 2007 ACCU Conference. Once again this was a great conference. Lots of good stuff on Agile and Lean (Mary and Tom Poppendieck delivered a keynote), software management, programming in general, Java, C# and C++. I mainly kept myself to the management and agile sessions. Also I was involved with
- [SPA London: Making BT Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1073/spa-london-making-bt-agile/) - The SPA conference is on this week and I’m not there. SPA is a good conference but being so close to the ACCU conference I need a very good reason to go. Since I’m not speaking there I’ve skipped it. The BCS SPA group also holds monthly meetings which I sometimes go along to. About
- [Why work should be more like voluntary work](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1160/why-work-should-be-more-like-voluntary/) - I spent the best part of two hours this morning doing a very un-middle class thing. I put about 200 A4 newsletters through peoples doors. Its not the first, or the last time I’ve done this. In fact, I used to do it a lot more. And as usual I thought: why am I doing
- [Events dear boy, events](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1164/events-dear-boy-events/) - A friend comes to visit me and tells me he is considering doing PhD research on the gap between corporations stated policy on corporate social responsibility and their actions. Tony Blair looses a vote in the House of Commons by one vote. And in Northern Ireland the Independent Monitoring Commission suggests that while IRA leadership
- [Strategy, Architecture - Just Do It!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1167/strategy-architecture-just-do-it-or-i/) - Do you ever find your living out the examples in the books you read? I think I am...Arie De Gues says: “The fact is that the word strategy has tends to be misused. It should not be a noun; you should not ‘have’ a strategy, in the sense of a document which the organization follows.
- [Book review: Good to Great by Jim Collins](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1175/book-review-good-to-great-by-jim/) - I’ve used some of the Christmas time to rush through to the end of my latest read - Good to Great by Jim Collins (Random House, 2001). I’ll admit upfront I wasn’t going to read this book but the senior management at my company have been reading it over the last year so I thought
- [Lean Solutions by Womack & Jones](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1186/lean-solutions-by-womack-jones/) - I've raced through my latest book, sign of a good book, an interesting read, and most of all, a sign of large print! This month's book has been Lean Solutions by Womack and Jones (2005), two of the original authors of The Machine That Changed the World (Womack, Jones & Roos, 1991). In some ways,
- [On project management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1200/on-project-management/) - I finished my last entry by taking a swipe at project management and even project managers. That was probably unfair but the fact is I am not a fan of project management It could be a career limiting move to speak against project management but I feel I should say something to explain my sideswipe,
- [Another month, another book -The Living Company](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1197/another-month-another-book-living/) - Sitting on planes is boring, one of few advantages is that gives you a chance to read, and so it is that idea to read yet another book. This time the book is “The Living Company” by Arie de Geus - 1997, Nicholas Bealey Publishing. This is a very good book, as one might expect
- [Change one dimension in the extreme](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1204/change-one-dimension-in-extreme/) - This is a thought that goes around and around my head, I see it again and again, Amazon is a great example, so is Google, but its not only in the web world, it applies to TV (CNN), Zara/Inditex in retailing and elsewhere - the potato peeler was the last example I spotted. (Although I
- [An organization mapping exercise](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1226/organization-mapping-exercise/) - Last night I ran an organizational mapping exercise at the Extreme Tuesday Club. What, you may ask is that? Well, I learnt the technique from observing Jim Coplien apply it. Jim and Neil Harrison have been running these workshops for some years, their aim was to better understand development organizations and produce the patterns in
- [People know what is wrong with a company and what needs changing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1228/people-know-what-is-wrong-with-company/) - They may not tell their managers, supervisors or leaders but they will talk about it with others in the pub, the coffee shop, or at the water cooler, or some other place where it is safe to moan. It is the work of a good leader to give people a safe place to express these
- [Are all companies dysfunctional?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1231/are-all-companies-dysfunctional/) - I’m from software development, when I was an undergraduate I used to love the fantasies my lecturers used to tell me about Formal Methods. If only everyone could specify their program formally then everything would be good. I loved these stories. And then I tried it. They didn’t work like I was told they would,
- [Specification documents are boring](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1232/specification-documents-are-boring/) - Have you ever read a specification document? I did today and I was reminded why I don’t like them. They are boring. Even when they are telling you something you didn’t know they are boring. They are boring because they follow the “form follows function” mantra. The function of a specification document is to communicate
- [An irrational(?) fear of low-code solutions](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8539/an-irrational-fear-of-low-code-solutions/) - Are low-code solutions throwing out solid software engineering practices with the code? There is much to learn from the original no-code solutions: ERP systems
- [Reworking the risk equation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8490/reworking-the-risk-equation/) - It can seem hard to argue with the old risk equation (Risk exposure = Risk impact x Risk probability) but Chris Matts showed something better with me.
- [Agility over agile, more than word play](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8516/agility-over-agile-more-than-word-play/) - It is no longer about working agile, it is about achieving agility. Moving from agile to agility is more than just word play, the change has meaning.
- [Why I don't like pre-work (planning, designing, budgetting)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8475/why-i-dont-like-pre-work-planning-designing-budgetting/) - I have a tendency to rubbish pre-work: planning, designing, budgeting, the "Before you do Z you must do Y" type-stuff. Let me explain why I am such a naysayer
- [Product owner as a homeowner](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4437/product-owner-as-a-homeowner/) - For years people have been comparing software construction with building construction. Think about how we talk about “architecture” or foundations, or the cost of change and so on. As I’ve said before, building software is not like building a house. Now it occurs to me that a better metaphor is the ongoing ownership of the
- [Product Owner's #1 mistake](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4601/product-owner-meet-they-customer/) - I was once responsible for coaching a Product Owner called Jac. It was product owner for an “enterprise product” - a product sold to big companies to use internally. Sprint to sprint Jac got to decide what got done. In my book Product Owner authority went further: what was to be done in future sprints,
- [Nuke the Backlog in Digital Agencies](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8503/nuke-the-backlog-in-digital-agencies/) - "Nuke the backlog sounds like a cool idea but we are a digital agency" and with that people give up
- [Are you a tailor or an image consultant?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8505/are-you-a-tailor-or-an-image-consultant/) - Is master tailor someone who makes beautiful clothes? Or someone with long experience of making people look beautiful? How do you view their advice? Lessons for digital
- [OKRs like its 2024 not 1974](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7889/okrs-like-its-2024-not-1974/) - Its not 1970 any more, even 1974 was 50 years ago. Tools like OKRs need to be updated to reflect modern thinking about work and workers.
- [10 rules of thumb for User Stories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/8485/10-rules-of-thumb-for-user-stories/) - Something hand-on, 10 simple rules of thumb when writing and working with User Stories
- [User Story or Epic?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4749/user-story-or-epic/) - I have two golden rules for user stories: The story should deliver business value: it should be meaningful to some customer, user, stakeholder. In some way the story should make their lives better. The story should be small enough to be delivered soon: some people say “within 2 days” but I’d generous, after all I
- [Return to Conway’s Law](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1169/return-to-conways-law/) - Are software architectures copies of the organizations that create them?Often this is true but is it always true? And more importantly is it a good thing?In 1968 Melvin Conway wrote a paper that discussed this topic. It has since been passed down as developer folk law that.“If you have 4 developers writing a compiler you
- [Ten years since Railtrack](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1172/ten-years-since-railtrack/) - Time fly’s, I still feel young but when I realised this morning that this time 10 years ago I was working on a project for Railtrack I felt a bit older. That project taught me a lot about how not to run a project, it also lead to a lot of thinking over the years.In
- [Product managers are software developers too!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1176/product-managers-are-software/) - On Wednesday night I was out drinking with ACCU members in London. For those of you who don’t know the ACCU I’d better explain. It is an association of professional developers, for my money the members are among the best software engineers in the world. Great people, if you ever get the chance to hire
- [Learning to be a product manager](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1181/learning-to-be-product-manager/) - I’m back in the USA for a few days attending some seminars on product management. They very good and highly recommended - check out the website links, http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/ and http://www.productmarketing.com/productmarketing/.As I have said before his blog I have been trying to get to grips with product management and what is it product managers do for
- [Power of ideas](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1182/power-of-ideas/) - John Maynard Keynes, the economist once said:"The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves
- [What do Product Managers actually do?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1183/what-do-product-managers-actually-do/) - I spent a couple of years working in California, in Silicon Valley itself to be exact. Unfortunately instead of getting .com boom I got .com bust, still it was a very interesting experience. One of the differences I found between London and California was the existence of Product Managers. I'm not saying product managers didn't
- [Encapsulate Context becomes Encapsulated Context.](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1185/encapsulate-context-becomes/) - The naming of patterns can be a tricky business. There are all sorts of rules of thumb, one can use, for example: favour and nouns over verbs, tell the reader what to build and describe what you get rather than what you do.My first proper pattern, Encapsulate Context, didn't follow these rules. In fact, there
- [Skunkworks teams for innovation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1194/skunkworks-teams-for-innovation/) - Continuing on the theme of innovation, there is another common technique used by companies to produce innovation. Often it used to develop somebody's innovative idea and is sometimes used to generate innovative ideas as well. This is the skunkworks model - or to give it a less jazzy title: separate your imaginative team.In this model,
- [How do you do innovation?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1195/how-do-you-do-innovation/) - There is a lot of hot air spoken about innovation. Indeed, there is probably more talk about innovation than there is actual innovation itself.I started to get all excited about innovation on Friday, when one of my managers said: “Allan, do you know anything we can do to improve innovation?”Of course there is one obvious
- [Why work?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1196/why-work/) - In my last entry I wrote about The Living Company, there's a lot I could say about this book that you're better off going to it read yourself. It isn't my intention to give you a review or abstract in this book buyer would like to share a few thoughts.While these thoughts concern the role
- [Productivity & IT - US trumps Europe](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1198/productivity-it-us-trumps-europe/) - I’m in the USA this week – part business part pleasure – so its a good time to think about some of the differences between the US and Europe and the UK specifically. On this occasion I’m given food for though by a study from the London School of Economics Centre for Economic performance on
- [Learning and change again](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1202/learning-and-change-again/) - I’m still in the back of the Airbus but I want to write about a different subject now so its time to start a new entry, Back in April I ran a session at the ACCU conference about learning in software development. If you know me you know that I’m passionate about both these subjects.
- [Who owns the product?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1205/who-owns-product/) - I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve recently moved from software development to product management. Consequently I’m getting a different view of the development process. And of course, I have to deal with developers who never seem to do quite what I had in mind or when I had it in mind!Before you ask I’ll
- [Terminal 5 is Lean](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1214/terminal-5-is-lean/) - wMy local airport is Heathrow. Fortunately I’m not so close that I hear the planes so its mostly upside benefit, on a good day I can leave my place, get the tube to the airport, check-in (or what passes for check-in in these days of online and self-service checking) and through security in under and
- [Patterns and story telling](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1218/patterns-and-story-telling/) - As I said last time I’ve been flying a lot, and that’s given me time to read. The book that I’ve been reading most is “Story Telling in Organizations: Why Storytelling is transforming 21st century organizations and management” by Larry Prusak, John Seely Brown, Stephen Denning and Katalina Groh.Prusak is best know for his work
- [So, I became a product manager.](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1220/so-i-became-product-manager/) - It happened in an unexpected way – I won’t go into the details but about 6-8 weeks ago I had an opportunity to move from the development side of things to the product side of things.Has taken me a while to get my head around it all – I still am in fact. I spoke
- [Growing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1229/growing/) - Two things you should know before I get into the meat of this Blog. First, I have a lot of time for the writings of John Seely Brown. If you’ve not heard of him before get yourself a copy of “The Social Life of Information”. Second, Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania run
- [Yes I Blog - second Blog entry in one day](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1234/yes-i-blog-second-blog-entry-in-one/) - Maybe it’s odd that I’m writing a second Blog entry in one day - I’ve just finished the first! - but I have something else to say. I’m just in the process of updating my website to refer to my Blog, which means I have to take down a page that said: “Strange but true.
- [Blog entry 1: What do I hope to achieve by Blogging?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1236/blog-entry-1-what-do-i-hope-to-achieve/) - As some people know I’ve not been particularly keen on blogging, so, since this is a blog, indeed my blog, that raises the question: Why? In a future entry I’ll write about why I don’t like the word why but for now lets rewrite the question: What do I hope to achieve by writing a
- [Book review: Thinking beyond lean (Cusumano & Nobeoka)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1126/book-review-thinking-beyond-lean/) - I originally read Thinking Beyond Lean (1998) over four years ago, it was good at the time and its still good. A few weeks ago I picked up the book to check something and decided it was worth a re-read. Four years ago I didn’t know as much as I do now about lean production
- [The last thing your people need is your strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1131/last-thing-your-people-need-is-your/) - Shortly after taking over IBM Lou Gerstner famously said “The last thing this company needs is a vision.” In an era when businesses men often seem to compete with each other for “vision” this was a brave thing to say – particularly for a technical company. I’ve been thinking about that comment for the last
- [Book review: Talking about machines](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1137/book-review-talking-about-machines/) - Talking About Machines is a book I have been wanting to read for some time. It is a study carried out by Julian E. Orr of photocopier service technicians - early 1980’s I think. That might not sound very exciting but the findings are. Basically, Orr discovered that what is important is what the engineers
- [Software people got there first: Wiki’s, blogs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1139/software-people-got-there-first-wikis/) - Web 2.0 is having some fallout in the business world. It isn’t all about AJAX and Google maps, a lot of the other technologies that are broadly seen to be in Web 2.0 are of more general use. Perhaps the one with the most coverage is Blogs but Wikis, RSS, Search and tagging can all
- [Agile software development: a prototype for all knowledge work?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1141/agile-software-development-prototype/) - Last week I reviewed Thinking for a Living, I’d like to pick up one or two points raised in this book and discuss them a little further. These are not points exclusive to Davenports work but having just read the book its a convenient focus for these thoughts.I’m convinced that software developers (programmers, testers, product
- [Book review: Thinking for a Living](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1142/book-review-thinking-for-living/) - One of the regular features of this blog is that I review the books I’ve read. Not all of them, on the whole I only really write about the “serious” books I’ve read, so you don’t get reviews of novels, cook books, etc. that I read. Before I turn to the latest book I’m conscious
- [Software Myth busting - final ACCU notes](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1144/software-myth-busting-final-accu-notes/) - I had intended to draw a line under my comments on the ACCU conference last week. I’ve got most of it out of my system but I had to return to Peter Sommerlad’s presentation - Only the code tells the truth.Peter’s starting point was that, well, only the code tells you the truth about the
- [Two of the technical presentations at ACCU - and the A, B, and C of speakers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1148/two-of-technical-presentations-at-accu/) - The ACCU is a technical organization - people join because it has a technical focus. But actually the secret of the ACCU is that it is really about developing people. We help those technical people develop their technical skills - but on the quiet we help them develop their less technical skills, we challenge them
- [Software testing: the new value add?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1150/software-testing-new-value-add/) - I’m at the ACCU conference in Oxford this week. As always the conference is lively and giving me a lot to think about. I’ll blog some more about this next week.But, before then: Monday’s FT had an interview with Larry Ellison of Oracle. He discussed the possibility of Oracle producing its own distribution of Linux.
- [Path dependency](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1151/path-dependency/) - I’ve been wanting to write about Path Dependency for a while. Its a subject that fascinates me but I’m not quite sure I understand what is means and how it affects us.The idea comes from economics and at its simplest path dependency says “History matters” - or, how we got here effects the way things
- [Business patterns the state of play](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1157/business-patterns-state-of-play/) - For a few years now I’ve been interested in the application of Patterns and Pattern-thinking to the area of business and business strategy. Just to be clear, when I talk of Patterns I’m specifically thinking of the type of Patterns that originated with Christopher Alexander’s work on architecture - see PatternLanguage.com.Alexander explained his theories in
- [Is process improvement bad for innovation?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1158/is-process-improvement-bad-for/) - According to a piece on Knowledge @ Wharton the adoption of ISO 9000, Six Sigma, TQM and other similar initiatives can lead to a decline the innovation (subscription required). Basically, as you get better at your process (i.e. you go deeper into one thing) you don’t experiment as much around the edges (i.e. you don’t
- [Naked Objects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1163/naked-objects/) - I first heard about Naked Objects (the Naked Objects website is here) in a presentation at the SPA 2005 conference and have been intrigued since. I finally managed to find time to read the book (Naked Objects by Richard Pawson & Robert Matthews) and I can recommend it. Naked Objects brings a different approach to
- [Software as an asset](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1032/software-as-asset/) - An interesting piece from Monday’s Financial Times - Study urges IT valuation rethink. What this study says is: IT is an asset, therefore companies should value the asset show it as an asset on the books. This isn’t such a new idea, some people have been arguing this for a while but INSEAD and Micro
- [Feeling sorry for EDS - business that don't know what they want](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1035/feeling-sorry-for-eds-business-that-don/) - It is not often I feel sorry for EDS. Early in my career I had contact with EDS and I was not impressed. Since then nothing I have heard about them has caused me to change my opinion. So it is pretty unusual that I ever give them the benefit of the doubt, let alone
- [Agile failure modes - again](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1042/agile-failure-modes-again/) - Back in April and May I discussed failure modes in Agile software development. Well I’ve found another. That is to say I’ve found another way in which an Agile development practise can go wrong. I’ve seen this before but I didn’t recognise it as a failure mode, I saw it as a little local difficulty
- [Book review: Crossing the Chasm](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1044/book-review-crossing-chasm/) - I wish I had read Crossing the Chasm (Geoffrey Moore, 1999) sooner. Not only does it give some good advice to technology (specifically software) companies but it also explains a lot about the technology and software market place. I guess I’ve known the basic argument Crossing the Chasm makes so I’ve never felt compelled to
- [Thoughts on strategy and software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1046/thoughts-on-strategy-and-software/) - My last two blog entries, and some recent reading (I’ll write about it soon) have given me a lot of food for thought about business strategy and how it relates to software development. Fundamentally strategy is about knowing what you are doing, articulating what you are trying to do and using this understanding to drive
- [Requirements: A dialogue not a document](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1047/requirements-dialogue-not-document/) - I’m not a lover of requirements documentation. I’ve discussed this at length before - see Why Do Requirements Change? and The Documentation Myth. However requirements and even requirements documents do have a part to play in the development process. This fact has been brought home to me recently while working with ‘Requirements by Bullet Point’
- [Agile: Software and Strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1048/agile-software-and-strategy/) - One of the reoccurring themes of this blog is my belief that there are strong parallels between the creation of company strategy and the development of software. For a start both are intellectual exercises that produce abstract models. You cannot tell how successful either is until it is tested in use and both require large
- [IT is from Mars, HR is from Venus](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1051/it-is-from-mars-hr-is-from-venus/) - In general IT and Human Resource departments do not get on well together. To be fair to IT I'm not sure any department in a company gets on brilliantly with HR but IT seems to get one worse than most. I once worked for a company where one senior manager claimed "I only work for
- [Indian outsourcing gets more expensive](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1054/indian-outsourcing-gets-more-expensive/) - I’ve been saying for a while that there is no need to panic over the outsourcing/off-shoring of software development work to India. As far as I am concerned the pie is big enough, it is expanding, and India is not the right place to do much of this work. The right place is right next
- [Unit testing (from objectives)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1055/unit-testing-from-objectives/) - Still responding to the questions posted in response to my TDD and objectives entry. The question was about how to do TDD, specifically UI and also about what happens when the general consistency fails.Well the UI question is easy: You can’t really do TDD for user interfaces. You can, but you have to jump through
- [Objectives again](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1056/objectives-again/) - I don’t normally respond to comments on my blog. Most of them don’t actually require anything more to be said but on this occasion I thought I should respond. And keeping to my one entry one comment policy I’ll take them both separately.So, the question was: Am I changing my view on objectives?And my answer
- [Another discovery at ACCU conference "Bicycle repair workshop"](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1066/another-discovery-at-accu-conference/) - Something else I discovered at the ACCU conference: Bicycle Repair Workshop. Should I name to originator? Or should I let her live in quite anonymity? Perhaps I should actually seek permission to talk about this here, but then was it not Picasso who said “great artists steal.” (No I did ask permission.)First the name: its
- [Failures in Agile process?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1068/failures-in-agile-process/) - One of the questions that was posed at ACCU conference was “What are the downsides of Agile development?” – and “What does Agile failure look like?”I have tried to answer the first question before but failed myself. One downside is that the Product Owner role – typically filled by a Business Analyst, Product Manager, Customer or
- [Waste from the ACCU conference (Testing)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1069/waste-from-accu-conference-testing/) - As I mentioned last time, I came back from the ACCU conference with a bunch of notes and a lot of thoughts. Recording them in this blog seems like a good way of remembering and sharing these thoughts.Last time I referred to the Great TDD debate. At the conference Mary Poppendieck reminded us of the
- [Retrospectives need a learning culture](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1072/retrospectives-need-learning-culture/) - I attended a project retrospectives training session last week. Although I’ve run quite a few retrospectives over the years I’ve never been trained in them. My guide has been Norm Kerth’s Project Retrospectives book and a whole bunch of ideas I’ve picked up over the years.This training session was organised and run by Rachel Davies and
- [Product Management in the UK](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1076/product-management-in-uk/) - I went to a meeting of the UK Product Managers Forum last night. This was the first time I have been to a meeting of this group and it is the first time that the group has held an event in London. Naturally these two firsts are not unconnected!I enjoyed the meeting, Ian Mapp of Respond spoke
- [Lean Question and Answer](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1078/lean-question-and-answer/) - A student at Fullerton University in California e-mailed a lot of people on the Lean Software Development mailing list with some questions for his masters thesis. Since I had a little time on my hands I wrote him some lengthy answers. Having done that I though I would share them here. I’ve removed a few
- [Nurnberg funnel and software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1084/nurnberg-funnel-and-software/) - After reading Minimalism beyond the Nurnberg Funnel I have been thinking what implication these theories could have for software development itself.First for system design. Minimalist documentation aims at being task oriented. The idea is that the readers (users) are trying to do something and need to solve a problem – how do I? – so
- [Strategy implications from the Nurnberg funnel](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1085/strategy-implications-from-nurnberg/) - I am still thinking through the implication of Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel. One of these ideas concerns the benefits to the software producer of supplying minimalist documentation. One of these is the idea of documentation as a product strategy. This is covered by Karl L. Smart in an essay in the book. Software companies
- [Book review: Minimalism Beyond the "Nurnberg Funnel" and thoughts on
documentation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1086/book-review-minimalism-beyond-nurnberg/) - I can’t remember where I came across Minimalism Beyond the Nurnberg Funnel but I’m glad I did. Still I think I may have read the wrong book, a better starting place for this subject would of been the authors first book on the subject The Nurnberg Funnel. Both books discuss the same concept, namely minimalism
- [Low level failure](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1090/low-level-failure/) - The last couple of weeks - if not months - have been depressing. I've been hearing far too many stories about IT failures. Not the kind of failures that bring everything crashing down, rather the kind of failures which stop people from being productive and keep people working far harder than they need to on
- [Good TV for Managers: Robinson at the NHS](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1093/good-tv-for-managers-robinson-at-nhs/) - I’m not a big TV watcher. Some nights the TV doesn’t go on in our house at all. However for the last three nights I’ve been gripped by a short series on BBC 2 called “Can Gerry Robinson Fix The NHS?”In this program Gerry Robinson (who you might describe as a celebrity business man, guru,
- [Book review: Strategy Bites Back](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1099/book-review-strategy-bites-back/) - I’ve already mentioned this book in a blog entry a couple of weeks ago in this blog so it should come as no surprise that I’m recommending Strategy Bites Back.If you have an interest in business strategy then this is an interesting book to read. And if you know nothing about business strategy but think you should
- [Companies who understand IT get the benefits](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1100/companies-who-understand-it-get/) - Anyone who read my last blog entry might be wondering what it was that I found so interesting in the Sloan Management Review, well, it was this piece Generating Premium Returns on Your IT Investments which got my attention.I've been running across the term IT Portfolio Management for a while now and wondering what it was all
- [Rational decisions?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1102/rational-decisions/) - I'm currently reading Strategy Bites Back and I'll write a proper review in time. Before then I read something on Friday that really made me think. The book is organized a series of essays, summaries and reprints - the "bites" of the title. The bite I read on Friday was by Spyros Makridakis who is a
- [Incremental solutions](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1103/incremental-solutions/) - Mary Poppendieck recently pointed out this piece on one of the mailing lists I subscribe to. It is a piece in Fast Company magazine online about Toyota's approach to improvement. It is well worth reading.Working to improve things in your organization means you have to tread a narrow path. On the one hand if everything is
- [Extreme Managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1104/extreme-managers/) - First there was Extreme Programming, now it seems we have Extreme Managers – according to the Financial Times. The mention of Extreme Programming always made me imagine programmers jumping out of airplanes with keyboards and programming in freefall, the parachute opening and them surfing their keyboards to the ground. Extreme Managers – lets call them
- [So many bad companies in the world](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1105/so-many-bad-companies-in-world/) - It never ceases to amaze me how many bad companies there are in the world. Companies that provide bad customer service, poor products, treat their employees badly, break all the rules in management books and yet continue to survive and trade, and even make profits.Such companies grow to a certain size, usually not very big,
- [Book review: Weinberg on Writing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1107/book-review-weinberg-on-writing/) - As regular readers will have noticed I Write. I write this blog, I occasionally contribute to ACCU journals – although I have contributed a lot more in the past – and I’m half way to writing a book. (I expect to sign the contract before Christmas now.) Recently, I’ve become aware of the need to improve
- [Lessons from the Tu-144](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1109/lessons-from-tu-144/) - I’ve been absent from this blog for the last couple of weeks – small matter of getting married and taking a honeymoon in Thailand. This was my first visit to Asia proper – I’ve been to Siberia which is geographically closer to Asia than Europe but culturally part of Europe – and I’ve a lot to reflect
- [Compare and contrast: Terminal 5 and Wembley Stadium](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1112/compare-and-contrast-terminal-5-and/) - If you can get a copy of today’s FT do so, there is a full page on the Heathrow Terminal 5 project – you can read it online but you need a subscription. I’ve written about T5 before, and in truth there is little new in the FT piece that hasn’t been reported elsewhere. Still, it
- [Bad role models make for poor management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1117/bad-role-models-make-for-poor/) - I have read too many theories and ideas on management style for my own good. Most of these theories suggest things like: listen to your people, work out what motivates them, give them good work, don’t order them around and so on. Truth is: I agree with all of this, it makes sense to me
- [Don’t bring me your problems, or Appreciative Inquiry to the rescue](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1121/dont-bring-me-your-problems-or/) - Do you ever find out about something and ask yourself “How didn’t I know about that before?” For the last week or so I’ve been reading about the theory and practise of Appreciate Inquiry. It makes a lot of sense to me and I can see myself applying it. In fact, it makes so much
- [Why isn’t the obvious obvious to others?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1122/why-isnt-obvious-obvious-to-others/) - One of the reoccurring themes in my work is the need for those who are involved with a problem to find their own solution and to implement that solution. I can get quite passionate about the need for action and the demotivating effects of having someone else work out the solution and simple pass it
- [Museums of the future, future memories, retrospectives and change](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1124/museums-of-future-future-memories/) - In his book The Living Company Arie de Geus suggests the role of planning, particularly scenario planning, is to create memories of the future. By under taking the planning exercise we conceive of how the world may look different, we prepare our brains for a future that is not simply a repeat of tomorrow. The
- [PDAs, the future of Palm? – and my Palm LifeDrive](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1125/pdas-future-of-palm-and-my-palm/) - I’ve been using PDAs for about 12 years now, I started on a Psion 3a, then a 3c, then I moved to a Series 5, didn’t like that and moved back to a 3mx and finished on a Revo. As you can tell I love the things, the 3mx is still my favorite PDA but
- [Requirements come second](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/912/requirements-come-second/) - A provocative piece from me in this month’s Agile Journal - Requirements Come Second. If you’ve not checked out the Agile Journal recently you might want to have a look, they’ve given the site a make-over and have added blogs, forums and all that community stuff.
- [Agile and Lean - the same but different](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/913/agile-and-lean-same-but-different/) - At the end of last year I was lucky enough to hear Dan Jones give a keynote talk at XP Day 2008. Dan is one of the authors of The Machine that Changed the World and as such is one of the fathers of Lean. Or at least father of the term Lean, I’m sure
- [BCS Bristol Spring school](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/914/bcs-bristol-spring-school/) - Bristol BCS are holding a series of sessions entitled “Spring School - An Introduction to Agile Development”. I will be presenting the fourth and final session (23 March) on the “Future of Agile”.I’ve not written it yet but it will probably include plenty about Lean and Kanban, the Change Problem and the importance of Business
- [Taking Japan by storm (and not taking Kingston)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/915/taking-japan-by-storm-and-not-taking/) - After slogging my way into London’s through the worst snow in 18 years on Monday and Tuesday this week to deliver a Agile Project Management course, I was a little relieved when Kingston & Croydon BCS cancelled last nights presentation - because of the weather. Still I was a sorry to miss the evening. If
- [Reflections on Blue-White-Red and Kanban](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/916/reflections-on-blue-white-red-and/) - Writing that last blog entry on my introduction of Kanban also led me to reflect a bit on my Blue-White-Red Agile method. I’ve long felt Blue-White-Red was largely derived from XP, thats what the developers were excited about. I called it Blue-White-Red because it was a cut down XP, I was introducing the ideas incrementally.
- [Notes on a Kanban software development experience](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/917/notes-on-kanban-software-development/) - I’ve mentioned the Kanban software development method in this blog before. For those who don’t know its “the new kid on the block” in Agile circles - although the originator (David Anderson) would be quick to point out it is designed to be a Lean development method.Last year I did some consulting with a large
- [Project plans (part 3 of 3): Planning cycles](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/921/project-plans-part-3-of-3-planning/) - This is the third in a short series of blog posts which started with me explaining why I don’t like Gantt charts as a “project” planning tool and then suggesting an alternative approach.Short term project planning (1 to 6 months)A regular release cycle is the first step to delivering. Decide what your cycle is, 1
- [Project plans (part 1 of 3): Why I don't like Gantt charts](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/923/project-plans-1-of-3-why-i-don-like/) - The first of three posts: this one sets the problem and the next two attempt a solution...A friend e-mails to say that his team have almost finished their project plan. There is something about the words “project plan” which are like a red flag to this bull... while I’m prepared to admit I may over
- [Running Scope creep backwards](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/924/running-scope-creep-backwards/) - One of the criticisms levied at Agile software development is that of Scope Creep. Project managers seem particularly sensitive to this issue, probably because its been fatal to many projects before and thus Project Manager are trained to watch for it and come down hard on it.However, I’ve come to the conclusion that in a
- [Timing and three types of Retrospectives](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/926/timing-and-three-types-of/) - I was told the following story this week by one of my clients. He works for a large organization with many software development groups. The company believes retrospectives are a good thing and some people in the company, including my client, are trained in facilitation.A few weeks before Christmas my client got a call from
- [Empirical research supports Conway's Law](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/927/empirical-research-supports-conway-law/) - Regular readers of this blog will know I have a thing about Conway’s Law. In my mind it makes sense and it links what I did before (software coding and architecture) with what I do now (organization and process improvement). My logic is: If Conway’s Law holds then architecting software starts with the organization.So it
- [Leave your laptops out of meetings](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/928/leave-your-laptops-out-of-meetings/) - The new year is just here! And can I suggest a new year’s resolution?Normally I bite my tongue and don’t mention this. I’ve not blogged about it before because what ever client(s) I’m working with at the time I blog about it will automatically assume I’m talking about them. (Yes, I know people at client
- [A future for software development in the west?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/929/future-for-software-development-in-west/) - To read the papers one would sometimes wonder if there is a future for software development, indeed IT in general, in Western Europe and North America. Sometimes it seems there is an continual flow of work to India, China and other low cost centres. Personally I think there is a future but only if development
- [XP Day 2008](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/930/xp-day-2008/) - I spent Thursday and Friday last week at XP Day 2008. The conference changed its format from last year. Rather than being a conference aimed at people wanting to do Agile Development it focused on people who do Agile development. This meant the sessions changed rather than being introductory or “how to” material they became
- [Gemba - Lean tour](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/932/gemba-lean-tour/) - Jason Yip works for ThoughtWorks in Australia. He is currently (or maybe was) on a Lean study tour in Japan - I’m jealous, where do I book mine? - and he’s blogging about his findings. Well worth reading, so far several points have stood out for me:• Andon cords are being pulled all the time:
- [Books for Product Managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/933/books-for-product-managers/) - Turns out books about Product Management are a little likes buses: None then 3 turn up at once!I’ve been looking for a good book on Product Management for a while so I was interested to see Tuned In by Craig Stull, Phil Myers and David Meerman Scott published. I’ve not had a chance to read
- [Limits of self organizing teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/937/limits-of-self-organizing-teams/) - I’ve been thinking a lot about Scrum in the last few weeks. Scrums done a fantastic marketing job for itself, so much so that Scrum is now the poster child for Agile.However there are aspects of Scrum I find troubling. One of these is the self-organizing team. Its not that I have anything against a
- [Managing requirements in Agile development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/939/managing-requirements-in-agile/) - I make no apologies for blogging again about Product Management because it is important and because, on the whole. As I said in my previous entry, Agile methods have a very simplistic view of determining what needs doing.In the short run the Alignment Trap tells us that it is better to focus on doing things
- [Requirements, Agile and Scrum](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/940/requirements-agile-and-scrum/) - Ryan Shriver - aka The Agile Engineer - has some interesting comments on the requirements in Scrum projects - and Agile more generally. I tend agree with Ryan’s comments for a couple of reasons. Firstly I don’t think Scrum (or other Agile methods) really understand them. Secondly there is a lot more to requirements than
- [Learning and Distributed teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/941/learning-and-distributed-teams/) - Andrés Taylor has some nice things to say about my book on his blog this week. Most of his blog is expressing concern about distributed teams and the discussion that follows is quite interesting too - Keith Briathwaite has continued on his blog. In my view distributed teams are generally a sub-optimal way of arranging
- [Learning to be Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/942/learning-to-be-agile/) - Andrés Taylor comments remind me to confess to something. The title of the book is wrong.The book, as published by Wiley is entitled: Changing Software Development: Learning to become Agile.The title I thought agreed to was: Changing Software Development: Learning to be Agile. I’m not upset with Wiley or my editor, I only noticed this
- [Credit crunch #2: Old banks for new](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/943/credit-crunch-2-old-banks-for-new/) - This might be a little off-topic for this blog but a) its a damn big story, b) says a lot about business and c) a lot of software developers are connected with banks. That’s my excuse so....There are a couple of aspects of the bank rescue plans that trouble me. First one: Now is the
- [Reflections of an Agile Advocate](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/944/reflections-of-agile-advocate/) - I am speaking at the BCS SPA London group next month. It only seems like 5-minutes ago I was at the BCS building talking to the BCS PROMS-G group but this is a different group, a different audience and a different topic.Actually, its getting hard to find big new things to say about “Agile” so
- [Are you really doing Scrum?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/945/are-you-really-doing-scrum/) - I’ve spent some time recently looking more closely at Scrum. One of the things that has come across is that Scrum is quite tightly defined. In particular it is tightly defined around its basic rules and the concept of a self-organizing team. And there are those who would argue that if you move away from
- [The new challenge in Agile adoption](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/946/new-challenge-in-agile-adoption/) - I have another piece in this months Agile Journal entitled “The new challenge in Agile adoption”.
- [What is Agile? and Who owns "Agile"?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/947/what-is-agile-and-who-owns/) - When I talk to people about Agile I’m always keen to try and define “what is Agile”. I have two standard answers. The first is to say “Agile” has come to mean “better” - as in “we cannot get software out the door”, “our software development is a mess” or “our senior management are fed
- [Requirements led projects (not really a book review)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/950/requirements-led-projects-not-really/) - I’ve been trying to read Requirements Led Projects by Suzzanne and James Robinson for a few months and I think I’m about to give up. I’m about 150 pages into a 300 page book but I’ve been stalled for a while now and my attempts to re-start have not got far. This is a shame
- [Debunking some myths about Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/954/debunking-some-myths-about-agile/) - I think I get quite a few comments on this blog and I publish most of them. Almost all of the ones I reject are spam/graffiti type, people looking to put a link to their site on my blog. Sometime I reply to a comment but not always, it depends on whats on my mind
- [Tuft, Conway and PowerPoint](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/958/tuft-conway-and-powerpoint/) - People I know who know about graphics and data visualisation tell me Edward Tufte is The Authority. I also hear he is a great presenter and his tutorials worth attending - if you into graphics and visualisation that is. So when I see his name on something I pay attention.As regular readers know I have
- [The Open Source Software Myth](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/960/open-source-software-myth/) - Once in a while I get asked my opinion on Open Source Software projects. Personally I think Open Source software (OSS) is great: Apache, GNU C++, Linux to name a few. But as a project management or product development technique I can’t say I recommend it. There are two reasons I give for this.First there
- [Financial problems with Lean](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/963/financial-problems-with-lean/) - From time to time the dark side of Lean surfaces. On the whole a lot of this dark side is bunk (rubbish), Lean gets the blame for something that isn’t really anything to do with Lean. Though Lean is not without its problems most of the well publicised cases (like karoshi, death by overwork) seems
- [Agile control and management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/964/agile-control-and-management/) - I was expecting slightly more response to my “Why managers don’t get Agile” post last week because this is an issue that comes up again and again and again. Hans Wegener (of metadata fame) did respond and for some unknown reason his comment ended up on the wrong blog post (May’s post on making strategy)
- [Why managers don't "get" Agile development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/966/why-managers-don-agile-development/) - I hear it time and time again: “they don’t understand Agile” - “they don’t get it” - “they won’t let us do Agile” - “they” means managers. I get frustrated when I hear this because a) I’m now on management side of software development, b) I get Agile, c) To me “Agile management” is just
- [Moody's bug rumbles on](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/969/moody-bug-rumbles-on/) - The Financial Times has reported more about fallout from the Moody’s credit rating bug in the last couple of days: Moody's to investigate staff over rating bug (page 1) and Moody's to check on accuracy.I blogged about this a few weeks ago and had a very interesting comment pointing out that despite the bug Standard
- [How do you measure Agility?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/971/how-do-you-measure-agility/) - Here’s a suggestion: Agility is a measure of the time it takes between an organization deciding something and action being taken.Ideally you would also measure the time it takes from an event to the organization recognising the event, realising a decision was needed, making it and then acting. But some events aren’t events, they are
- [Confirmation bias](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/972/confirmation-bias/) - Couple more thoughts I picked up last week...I finally found out the name of something I’ve know about for a while: Confirmation bias.This is the brain’s tendency to seek out information that supports are existing beliefs, and to put more faith in evidence that supports out current beliefs; rather than take a purely balanced view.
- [Scrum is the new XP](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/973/scrum-is-new-xp/) - Another insight I had last week: Scrum is the new Extreme Programming. Or rather Scrum is the new Agile Software Development.Before there was Agile Software Development there was Extreme Programming - or just XP. XP got all the attention and coverage. Then the term Agile was adopted by Kent Beck, Jim Highsmith, Martin Fowler and
- [Agile Engineering](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/974/agile-engineering/) - I had the pleasure to meet Ryan Shriver last week at Tom Gilb’s seminar. Ryan had some very interesting ideas, experience and suggestions about Agile Software Development and Tom’s EVO process.In fact, Ryan had independently arrived at many of the same conclusions I had about Agile, management and the future of development. He also gave
- [Off balance sheet risk](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/976/off-balance-sheet-risk/) - I spent most of last week at Tom Gilb’s seminar on Risk and Uncertainty. Tom expects everyone at this seminar to contribute, so, having heard several very competent speakers present some very thought provoking ideas I was, for the first time in a long time, a little bit nervous about doing my own presentation.As it
- [Agile failure modes: Potemkin Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/978/agile-failure-modes-potemkin-agile/) - One of the re-occuring themes in this blog is my attempt to capture “Agile failure modes”. For example:• Failures in Agile processes? • More Agile failure modes • Agile failure modes - again • And some in Reflections on XP Day One I should have added a few months ago comes courtesy of Steve Freeman:
- [Q&A: Where do testers fit in?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/979/q-where-do-testers-fit-in/) - I got the following question in my mail box a few days ago:“I was reading the Powerpoint deck you prepared for the East Anglia Branch of the BCS and wondered what your thoughts were around Testing.How should testers tackle verbal requirements – as you say Requirements shouldn’t be a document but Testers rely on such
- [Kanban: efficient or predictable, you decide](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/980/kanban-efficient-or-predictable-you/) - I have written a little about the Kanban method of software development in the past. And thanks to the comments from Karl and Wayne, plus a few on the side conversations with other people I have a better understanding of what is going on. (Although I’ve still to see it in action.)Well after much thinking
- [Could the Credit Crunch be a software fault?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/981/could-credit-crunch-be-software-fault/) - The Financial Times is reporting that the credit rating agency Moody’s has uncovered a bug in the software they use to value credit derivatives. As a result some instruments rated 4 notches higher than they should have been. And Moody’s shares are down 15% as a result.Think about this. If these instruments had the correct
- [Do we really learn from failure?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/982/do-we-really-learn-from-failure/) - Its an often heard expression: “We learn from our failures”. Particularly when you’ve just failed at something: “Well put it down to experience.”I’ve always had my doubts: if we can learn from failure can’t we also learn from success? But how often do you hear people say: “Great success! Now what did you learn?”All too
- [Product Management conference](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/983/product-management-conference/) - On Tuesday I attended a mini-conference about Product Management. In fact, this conference billed itself as “The UK’s first conference on Product Management” which might actually be true. I’ve written before that I believe Product Management is a much misunderstood role in the UK, and that I think it is an appreciation of this role
- [T5 disappointment - Heathrow part 1](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/991/t5-disappointment-heathrow-part-1/) - A slightly off topic look at another industries problems...Why should I blog about airports? – this blog is about the business of software development. Well I could argue that its all business and within remit but I’m still its stretching it a little.The reason to blog about terminal 5 (T5) is because past I have
- [The Trouble with Retrospectives](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/993/trouble-with-retrospectives/) - The Agile Journal has published one of my articles - The Trouble with Retrospectives can be read for free. This months issue has several other pieces on retrospectives which I’m looking forward to reading.
- [More comments on ACCU conference](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/995/more-comments-on-accu-conference/) - Some more comments, observations and thoughts about, and provoked by, the ACCU conference. No particular linking theme.Jobs and banksThere were a lot of bankers at the conference this year - or rather developers who work in banks. In truth this is always the case but this year I think there were more. It also gave
- [Implications of the Power Law](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/997/implications-of-power-law/) - I’m trying to capture all the thoughts triggered by the SPA conference before the ACCU conference in a couple of weeks time. One of the topics that resurfaced at SPA was the Power Law. Or rather, the fact that software source code and program execution follows a Power Law distribution. If you’ve not come across
- [Agile software development with Kanban](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1001/agile-software-development-with-kanban/) - A lot of people in Agile circles are talking about David Anderson’s Kanban software development technique. To be honest I’ve looked at some of David’s online material and I haven’t really seen anything that new. But then, I’ve never spoken to David or seen any of his presentations.So I took the opportunity at SPA to
- [Lean Product Development references](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1003/lean-product-development-references/) - After yesterdays blog posting I had a comment from ‘Brave Heart’ asking for some references on Lean Product Development. I’m more than happy to help and normally I’d reply direct to Brave Heart. But... I can’t find your e-mail address on your posting or blog. So that means everyone is going to see my recommendations...The
- [News, Conferences and a Project Management revelation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1004/news-conferences-and-project-management/) - This blog has been rather quiet for the last couple of weeks, and most likely it will be quiet for the next couple of weeks. This hasn’t been for a lack of interesting things to say, quiet the opposite. In the last few weeks I’ve had insights coming left, right and centre. However, I haven’t
- [High Church, Second System effect and re-writes](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1006/high-church-second-system-effect-and-re/) - After ACCU last last Thursday I was in the pub with Bronek Kozicki - and many others. The subject of system re-writes came up. This is a perennial subject, for example have a look at Alan Griffith’s Overload 79 editorial or Tim Penhey’s CVu editorial from the same month. Recently I’ve been consulting with a
- [Myth busting](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1010/myth-busting/) - With my last blog entry, The Location Myth, I realised I am slowly building up a list of software development myths I don’t believe in:• The Location Myth • The Documentation Myth • The Requirements Myth • The Egoless Programming Myth • The Design & Planning Myth • The Plug Compatible Programmer MythI like this
- [The Location Myth - why location it matters](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1011/location-myth-why-location-it-matters/) - The internet, we were told, would make location irrelevant. But it hasn’t. Some examples.• My brother lives in the UAE so we talk by phone. We would use Skype but the local telephone company blocks Skype and various other services.• I have several kitchen containers from a New Zealand company. I bought them in the
- [The lining up your ducks theory of software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1013/lining-up-your-ducks-theory-of-software/) - Software development is easy. Don’t listen to what people say. I was 12 when I started programming and I picked it up no problem. Businesses are full of people who programme without even knowing it: Excel is programming by another name, and how many people write macros?Yes, programming is really easy. You can buy ‘Programming
- ['Changing Software Development' is published!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1014/software-development-is-published/) - About 5 years after first thinking I could write this book, about four year after I first worked out what the book would look like, and 14 months after signing the contract my book, Changing Software Development is now published.You can now buy it at Amazon, or from the publishers John Wiley.
- ['In search of mediocracy' - The falling off a log theory of business](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1016/search-of-mediocracy-falling-of-log/) - When I was at business school my classmates and I read lots of good stuff about how to run a good company. Books like ‘In Search of Excellence’ and ‘Built to Last’. But I remember some of my classmates asking: ‘Why aren’t the companies I’ve worked for like these?’ To most, if not all, my
- [Business alignment, Agile failure and the long run](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1020/business-alignment-agile-failure-and/) - Tom Gilb sent me a link to this presentation from Ryan Shriver about the use of Scrum with Tom’s EVO techniques. Very interesting, and it returns me to the subject of IT/business alignment - which in part is also a discussion of where Agile software development is wrong.My blog from last week touched on this
- [Business Analysis Maturity Model](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/808/business-analysis-maturity-model/) - One of the important, but often overlooked, roles in any software development is the “needs” guy. I put it that way to be as general as possible. Its the role which decided what the customer/end-user actually needs (sometimes wants but doesn’t need).I’ve blogged before (many times, The Product Owner role (August 2009), Requirements: The next
- [What you need is a ....](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/809/what-you-need-is/) - Programmer, software engineer, software developer, coder, developer, code-monkey, build engineer, tester, software tester, test automator, test engineer, quality assurance engineer, analyst, business analyst, system analyst, product owner, product manager, requirements manager, subject matter expert, domain expert, project manager, change manager, programme manager, development manager, iteration manager, release manager, deployment manager, scrum master, team leader, technical
- [Capers Jones & "How many teams are Agile?"](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/810/capers-jones-many-teams-are-agile/) - A while ago I tried to answer the question “How many software teams are using Agile?”. My best efforts put the answer at somewhere between 5% and 15%.In the search for some other data I’ve recently been look through Capers Jones “Applied Software Measurement” (2008). It is packed full of interesting statistics and I really
- [Les Hatton's site and the importance of letting failures fail](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/811/les-hatton-site-and-importance-of/) - I recently stumbled across Les Hatton's site. I've owned one of Les' books for probably over decade (Safer C, a classic) but this was the first time I've looked at his website. I highly recommend a perusal of the site and reading some of his papers. Apart from anything else he's an even more interesting
- [Change models: Shook, Schein, Dreyfus and Constructivism](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/815/change-models-shook-schein-dreyfus-and/) - Continuing on from my opening comments in the last entry, “Why forecasts fail: simple ones are better ”...The other article which was good in the latest MIT Sloan Management Review was John Shook’s piece on change. His change model complements my own ideas well.Shook’s model is shown below. He sees change starting with specific practices,
- [Why forecasts fail: simple ones are better](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/819/why-forecasts-fail-simple-ones-are/) - As regular readers may recall (one of my favourite expressions!)... I regularly ponder my subscription to the MIT Sloan Management Review. After a few dull issues - which leave me wondering if it is worth the money - it has once again come up with an issue with a couple of articles which justify the
- [The Scrum Hegemony & the Kanban Insurrection](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/820/scrum-hegemony-kanban-insurrection/) - One of the ideas I talked about in my Jax London presentation is something I call the Scrum hegemony and it deserves a few notes.In the early days of Agile there was a tendency to equate Agile with XP, that changed a few years ago and Agile become (almost) synonymous with Scrum. I’m not saying
- [Last words on architects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/822/last-words-on-architects/) - Time to bring this mini series to an end. I’ve talked aboutSegmenting ArchitectsArchitects who aren'tArchitecture or Design?As a quick rule of thumb consider:The Product Owner (Produce Manager/BA): is concerned with the WhatThe Project Manager: is concerned with the WhenThe (your type of) Architect: is concerned with the HowAnd some closing advice:When you have a software
- [Segmenting Architects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/823/segmenting-architects/) - Continuing my examination of the architect role I think we need to point out there is not one architect role my several. There is no such thing as an “Architect”, only an “Architect of something.”Rather than talk about an “Architect” with one word we really should use two words. The first word describes what they
- [Architecture or Design?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/827/architecture-or-design/) - I mentioned the A word in my last post (Are there any System Analysts out there?). As regular readers might have noticed, I have over the years of this blog taken the odd pot-shot at Architects. But I’ve avoided direct comment on architect and architecture. Somehow it feels the time has come to address this
- [Are there any System Analysts out there?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/828/are-there-any-system-analysts-out-there/) - Has anyone met a System Analysts lately? I ask because I’ve been looking for over a year and can’t find one. I should say immediately I’m not looking to hire one, rather I want to find out what they do. I’ve looked and I’ve asked and the role seems to have disappeared from organizations. Or
- [New to Agile? Want to know which tool to use?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/829/new-to-agile-want-to-know-which-tool-to/) - There is a re-occuring question I am asked from time to time, and I see on discussion forums. It again appeared last week:“We are new to Agile and are looking to adopt a tool for managing the process... which tool would you recommend?”There are variations on this question (replace Agile with Scrum/XP/Kanban/whatever, or replace “managing
- ['Wired for Innovation' and the Trouble with business value](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/830/for-innovation-and-trouble-with/) - I stopped reviewing books in this blog a while ago but, having said a few words about Domain Driven Design Using Naked Objects last time I want to say a few words about another book I’ve just finished reading: Wired for Innovation: How Information Technology Is Reshaping the Economy.For anyone who is concerned with the
- [McKinsey on Agility](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/832/mckinsey-on-agility/) - A recent McKinsey quarterly has a piece on organizational Agility, “Competing through organizational agility” by Donald Sull. It s a reminder that “agile” means something outside of the software world.That said, the piece is a little disappointing. The piece doesn’t say anything particularly new. The only insight I gained from it was separation of agility
- [The return of XP?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/833/return-of-xp/) - An interesting prediction from Kevin Rutherford for 2010: “I predict that 2010 will be the year that eXtreme Programming returns to centre stage.”I tend to agree with Kevin, while his logic is sound I would offer an alternative rationale for the return of XP. It goes like this...XP can be viewed from two perspectives: project
- [Banks spend a lot on IT but its a mess](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/835/banks-spend-lot-on-it-but-its-mess/) - Living and working in London means a lot of the software people I meet and talk to work in financial services. It amazes me the number of programmers etc. that banks employ. And you hear stories, some really awful stories about the state of IT in banks. And I’ve seen a few in my time.So,
- [Requirements, requirements everywhere; no clue on what to do](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/836/requirements-requirements-everywhere-no/) - Twice this year I have visited companies which want to try a more Agile way of working but who have requirements coming of their ears. I’m talking hundreds of pages of requirements. Sometimes as use cases and scenarios. Sometimes as big meat documents written by expensive consultants and bearing names like “Requirements Specification” or “Business
- [Pattern writing in Sofia](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/837/pattern-writing-in-sofia/) - Continuing about patterns... At the beginning of the month I went out to Bulgaria to teach pattern writing to some academics and students at the University of Sofia. It was the first time I’d been to Bulgaria so I was interested to see the country which physically, historically and culturally sited between Europe and Russia.We
- [Creating change through IT projects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/840/creating-change-through-it-projects/) - In my last blog (Magic happens here - ERP, CRM, SAP, BPM) I mentioned change programmes in passing but didn’t elaborate. So I will now. This topic isn’t unique to the BPM work I have discussed in the last few blog entries but it is related.When I think of “Change Programmes” I am thinking of
- [Magic happens here - ERP, CRM, SAP, BPM](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/841/magic-happens-here-erp-crm-sap-bpm/) - I want to draw a line under the BPM/SAP mini-series of blogs. I am more aware than ever about the need to learn more in this area and actually I already know more thanks to people’s responses to these blogs - a few comments and a few e-mails. I hope to spend time in future
- [Other things about SAP (which might block Agile)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/842/other-things-about-sap-which-might/) - To finish off my BPM/BPE/SAP mini-series here are some other things I learned about SAP and BPM. These might be specific to the team I encountered or they might be generic. I think all of them present obstacles to doing SAP implementation Agile. Not impossible, just difficult.Please, if I have any of this wrong correct
- [Agile approach to BPM / BPE / BPR](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/843/agile-approach-to-bpm-bpe-bpr/) - Continuing on the Business Process theme I want to think about what an Agile approach to BPM/BPR would be.For me there are two scenarios: Business Process Management for new processes and the “re-engineering” version which looks improve existing processes.In the first case the answer is: start small. Don’t just look to develop a small piece
- [Agile and Business Processes](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/844/agile-and-business-processes/) - I want to stay with the theme of Business Processes and Agile software development for a couple of entries. I’ll break it up into bite-sized chunks rather than one rambling entry. And they may come in quick succession.Quite a lot has come out of my last entry (BPM - is it just programming the corporation?
- [BPM - is it just programming the corporation? (And the SAP Irony)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/845/bpm-is-it-just-programming-corporation/) - On and off I’ve run across Business Process Management - the descendent of Business Process Re-Engineering. Earlier this year I did a little work with a SAP team who wanted to be Agile, and a few weeks I was at the BPM conference in London.What was noticeable at the BPM conference was both how dependent
- [Is Kanban complicated?  Is Kanban Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/846/is-kanban-complicated-is-kanban-agile/) - An interesting comment from Rob Bowley to my “Hardest part of Agile” blog entry. Rob asked “A lot of this discussion around Lean and Kanban Software Development seems complicated and is getting quite scientific. Does that mean it's probably not agile?”Lets try and answer that.When I have introduced Kanban to teams I’ve actually found it
- [FAQ: What is the hardest part getting Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/849/faq-what-is-hardest-part-getting-agile/) - I made a passing comment in the last blog entry to “the hardest bit” of Agile. I keep feeling I should elaborate rather than leaving the comment hanging.A couple of weeks ago I was teaching an Agile class for DevelopMentor in London and someone asked “What is the hardest part of learning Agile?” It was
- [Magic Agile Fairy Dust and the hardest bit of Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/850/magic-agile-fairy-dust-and-hardest-bit/) - There is no such thing as Magic Agile Fairy Dust. Neither me or anyone else can come to your company and sprinkle my magic dust and fix all your problems. There, I said it.Its more complicated than that, there is no out-of-the-box solution. I can help you, you can use some tools, some methods but
- [Memo to self: things I learned at the UK Lean Conference](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/851/memo-to-self-things-i-learned-at-uk/) - A few of points I picked up at the UK Lean Conference the other week I made a note of and think are worth recording.Point 1: There are two kinds of Kanban limits, i.e. or work in progress limits. The first is what we usually think of when we talk about work limits: how many
- [A tale of two conferences (Lean & BA)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/852/tale-of-two-conferences-lean-ba/) - I spent the first part of the week attending the UK Lean conference swiftly followed by the IRM BA conference. Heres a rough cut at some thoughts from the two conferences.The first day of the Lean conference was my favorite - and not just because I was speaking. It was “practitioners day” which means it
- [Business Analysts in Agile development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/853/business-analysts-in-agile-development/) - My presentation from the IRM IIBA Business Analysis conference 2009 is now onlineMore important than ever, the role of the Business Analyst in Agile transitionSome people quite liked it, see Twitter.
- [The Learning View in Tools and Methods](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/854/learning-view-in-tools-and-methods/) - Another article by myself, this time in Tools and Methods. Anyone familiar with my work will probably recognize the theme: The Learning View.For anyone who’s not familiar with these ideas this is probably my shortest yet introduction to the topic.
- [The Quick & Dirty Myth](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/855/quick-dirty-myth/) - There is no such thing as “Quick and Dirty”. All my experience tells me “Quick and Dirty” actually means “Slow and Dirty” or “Slow, Dirty and everyone is unhappy.”It came up again last week. I was asked: “When there is pressure to deliver something and you have the choice between getting it done, doing it
- [What is Advanced Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/857/what-is-advanced-agile/) - Suggestions please.I few weeks ago I received a request to create and deliver an “Advanced Agile” training course for a Scandinavian client. My first reaction was: that is more of a consulting or coaching assignment. But when I thought it through and considered the kind of material I covered in my own “Agile Foundations” course,
- [Defining Agile in e-Technology Management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/858/defining-agile-in-e-technology/) - I have a piece by me in the latest issue of e-Technology Management entitled “Agile agile everywhere - not a definition to speak of”. Believe it or not, for all the stuff I write in this blog about “agile” I’ve been trying to define what “agile is” for a long time. When I deliver a
- [97 Things Every Programmer should know](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/859/97-things-every-programmer-should-know/) - Behind the scenes Kevlin Henney has been busy the last few month soliciting and editing contributions to a new O’Reilly web publication entitled 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know.I’m proud to say a couple of my contributions have made it into the list:Check your code first before looking to blame othersandTwo Wrongs Can Make a
- [Not quite the doom of Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/860/not-quite-doom-of-agile/) - Just in the nick of time I resolved my baby sitting dilemma and made it to Tom Gilb’s SPA London talk, only missing the first 10 minutes. Here are a few notes I took - I don’t think I missed anything radical in the first few minutes but if I did I’m sure someone will
- [Postscript: The doom of Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/861/postscript-doom-of-agile/) - A post script to my last blog entry (“SPA London, Tom Gilb and the doom of Agile”) generated some comments and a couple of private e-mails.I think Mark is right when he commented: “they are 'fads', the hope is they will just become nameless best practices”. Many of the Agile practices were already best practices
- [SPA London, Tom Gilb and the doom of Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/862/spa-london-tom-gilb-and-doom-of-agile/) - I’m planning on going to SPA London session next week, Tom Gilb is giving a talk entitled “Does real Software Practice Advancement need yet another 'Manifesto'? ” He’s being quite provocative, look at this from the synopsis:"AGILE HAS DOOMED ITSELF - TO BECOME YET ANOTHER FAD: XP IS ALREADY DEAD. What is Seriously Wrong with
- [Agile failure modes from othe](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/864/agile-failure-modes-from-othe/) - I have been preparing some training material for a company which wants to know more about how Agile projects fail. Fortunately I’ve made a habit of recording Agile failure modes in this blog so I have much of the material to hand. (Use the search box above and search on “Agile failure modes.”)But, I’ve not
- [The Product Owner role](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/865/product-owner-role/) - The Agile Journal this month has an article from me this month entitled Dissecting the Product Owner role.This complements my pieces on the Business Analyst and Product Manager roles which appeared in ACCU Overload earlier this year.
- [CMM & Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/866/cmm-agile/) - I’ve finally, about 6 months after everyone else, got around to reading the Software Engineering Institutes report on CMMI and Agile. Entitled “CMMI or Agile: Why Not Embrace Both!” the report argues that CMMI and Agile are not only compatible but complement one another. Actually, you can guess at what the report says from the
- [Reprise: Leave your laptops, Blackberries and phones out of meetings](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/868/reprise-leave-your-laptops-blackberries/) - At the end of last year, or was it the start of this year, I wrote a blog entry which got a lot of attention: Leave your laptops out of meetings. I was talking specifically about laptops but I could have easily included Blackberries, iPhones and other portable devices.In todays Financial Times two professors from
- [The Scrum Wall (another Agile failure mode)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/869/scrum-wall-another-agile-failure-mode/) - I recently came across the expression “The Scrum Wall”, as in the expression “Hitting the Scrum Wall”. Its akin to “the pain barrier”, or “feel the burn” in aerobics workouts of old.Once I heard it I knew what it was, I’ve talked about this before, now I know it has a name. The Scrum Wall
- [A true story about CMM](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/870/true-story-about-cmm/) - About a decade ago I worked for a major supplier of financial information in London. The company decided it wanted to improve its software development process and the answer to this problem was to adopt CMM - the Capability Maturity Model. Initially the become level 2 and then move on the level 3.The little group
- [Agile FAQ - Kicking off another Agile team](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/873/agile-faq-kicking-off-another-agile/) - I recently gave some coaching to a big, well known, UK company get an Agile team started. Its interesting, this team have a few novelties all of their own, I’ll blog about that some other time. But they also have all the same questions and doubts that other teams have.So here is a kind of
- [Agile Governance model](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/874/agile-governance-model/) - The online Technology Management journal has published an article by me entitled “A new governance model for agile work.”In the article I argue that Agile based software development needs a new governance model. The old model, based on defined requirements is not applicable - simply because the requirements evolve when working in an Agile fashion.
- [Agile Coaching from Liz Sedley and Rachel Davies](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/876/agile-coaching-from-liz-sedley-and/) - I used to regular review books on this blog, somewhere along the line I stopped doing it - too many other things to blog about I guess. Plus, while I still read a lot I find it hard to find books which say anything news.And, I increasingly find I’m reading books before they are published.
- [Hawthorne effect disproved](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/878/hawthorne-effect-disproved/) - Interesting piece in last weeks Economist which suggests the Hawthone effect doesn’t stand up to analysis. (For good measure the Financial Times covered the same story over the weekend.)For those who don’t know, the Hawthorne effect is named after the Chicago telephone factory were it was originally observed. The researchers suggested that the act of
- [Time to end Foie Gras recruitment](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/879/time-to-end-foie-gras-recruitment/) - I can never decide if I actually like foie gras as a food. The taste is always secondary to the thought of the force feed ducks. This production process has led to attempts to ban foie gras - as in Chicago a few years ago. Personally I’d like to end a practice I’ve seen too
- [Death and the Internet](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/880/death-and-internet/) - Please forgive my slight departure from my usual posts on software development, Agile, patterns and so on. But I’ve had cause in the last month to think hard about what the internet means to us all.I’m probably one of the last generation of Europeans to remember life without the internet. My first contact with e-mail
- [Thoughts after Jeff Sutherland at ACCU London](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/882/thoughts-after-jeff-sutherland-at-accu/) - Jeff Sutherland was back in London last week and was good enough to give a talk to ACCU London. As one of the organisers of the ACCU London events I feel I’m justified in giving myself (and my co-organiser James Slaughter) a well deserved pat on the back. This was something of a coup for
- [What architects do](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/884/what-architects-do/) - I stumbled across a programme called English Heritage on BBC 2 last night (Friday 15 May). Enjoyable for three reasons: first it was an insight into the work of English Heritage, second it was about renovation of Kings Cross station but while both of these were interesting the what I found fascinating was; third -
- [How many people are doing Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/885/how-many-people-are-doing-agile/) - The BIG question came up the other week during my presentation to HP: “How many organizations are doing Agile?”As I said at the time: Thats the $64,000 question - or perhaps in todays money, $64,000,000,000. Of course, it depends a lot on how you even define “Agile”. Sure if your following everything Kent Beck says
- [What does an Agile coach do?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/887/what-does-agile-coach-do/) - I often describe myself as an Agile Coach. In fact coaching teams in Agile development is only part of what I do but its the only bit that fits in two words. For some people the title Agile Coach is self-descriptive but for others it leaves the questioner none the wise. With, Clark Ching’s recent
- [The F progamming Language](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/888/f-progamming-language/) - My suggestion that C++ should split in two prompted an e-mail from Robin Williams. It seems there have been similar thoughts in the Fortran community about extensions to that language. The result is the F programming language.Its not clear whether F is an active language or whether it is a moribund experiment. As Robin pointed
- [ACCU confernece: The Future of C++](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/891/accu-confernece-future-of-c/) - As you might expect from the ACCU conference there was plenty of C++. But the language was far from the only one in town - there were at least 8 others. This year most of the C++ sessions looked at the forthcoming C++ 200x standard. It now looks unlikely that this will be completed this
- [ACCU conference: attendence](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/892/accu-conference-attendence/) - Attendance was high. People came from as far away as California and Tokyo. Since the move from the Randolph to the Barcelo hotel the conference has been able to cope with 350 attendees. The last couple of years it has been sold out, this year it fell short by about 5. I believe 15 or
- [ACCU conference 3 of many (Friday)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/894/accu-conference-3-of-5-friday/) - Friday opened with something completely different for an ACCU conference: Neuroscience and women. Baroness Greenfield spoke on the subject of women in science and technology. Much of her talk was given over to exampling the neurological differences between men and women and why they don’t matter. Great stuff - enough to persuade me to buy
- [ACCU conference 2 of many (Thursday)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/895/accu-conference-2-of-5-thursday/) - Thursday kicked off with a keynote from Linda Rising in which she described her personal journey of discover of, and with Patterns. I’m lucky enough to count Linda as a friend, and I already knew much of the patterns story she told. Still, I had fresh insights and understanding.For many of those in the room
- [Impediments - hidden or otherwise](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/897/impediments-hidden-or-otherwise/) - A comment to my post on “Three ways to run a stand-up meeting” asked: “Can you give an example of the ‘hidden’ impediments?” so here goes.First: know the difference between a block and an impediment. A block stops all work, they are seldom hidden because people can’t get on with what they are doing. A
- [Three ways to run a stand up meeting](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/900/three-ways-to-run-stand-up-meeting/) - Stand up meetings - those short meeting that a team holds every day to update each other. Also called daily meetings, Scrum meetings and probably some other things. The basic format is well known: three questions - • What have you achieved since we last met?• What are you working on next?• Do you have
- [Burn-down charts: The Good, Bad, advice and alternatives](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/902/burn-down-charts-good-bad-and-ugly-and/) - I’ve never completely accepted burn-down charts. I know they are a staple of Agile development and I’ve even used them myself but I’ve never been completely happy with them.The reason I’ve never been happy with them is that they require and initial figure to burn-down. You need an initial number - in hours, days, points
- [We're all Agile now, next stop Operational Excellence](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/906/we-all-agile-now-next-stop-operational/) - In their keynote at XP Day last December Dan Jones and Marc Baker talked a little about the attempts to bring Lean to the National Health Service. One of the issues they mentioned was that while everyone “could talk the language”, many people had been on courses and many people agreed it was good very
- [Making sense of Kanban (and some doubts)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/907/making-sense-of-kanban-and-some-doubts/) - As regular readers will know I’m a fan of the Kanban software development process championed by David Anderson. However it has to be said that the jury is still out on Kanban. I’ve come to the conclusion that one of the dangers with Kanban is actually one of the reasons I like it. To properly
- [Requirements not functionality](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/909/requirements-not-functionality/) - A footnote to the recent discussion of requirements....In Competitive Engineering Tom Gilb argues that development groups spend a lot of time focusing on functional requirements but they should actually focus on performance and quality requirements:“ From the point of view of understanding ‘competitiveness’, ‘levels of achievement’ and ‘associated risk’, the performance requirements are by far
- [Requirements: The next challenge for Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/910/requirements-next-challenge-for-agile/) - Continuing my follow up to my latest tell of the Alignment Trap in the Agile Journal and on InfoQ.Lets get one thing straight: I’m not saying requirements don’t matter. What I’m saying it: when the context is a broken development organization the most important thing is fixing the delivery process.In which case, you can, and
- [Requirements: better off being generally right than precisely wrong](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/911/requirements-better-off-being-generally/) - I’m used to getting a reaction from people when I outline the Alignment Trap, and my article in the Agile Journal - and the subsequent report on InfoQ - certainly stirred up some reaction.Immo Huneke mailed to point out that the Sloan piece doesn’t discuss how you measure alignment. I’m not sure how I would
- [Story points 2 of 4 - Duarte's arguments](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/683/story-points-2-of-4-duarte-arguments/) - This blog entry follow directly from the previous Story Points - Journey’s Start.Key to Duarte argument, and something I didn’t originally appreciate from his initial Tweets is: he is not saying story points are rubbish, forget about them. What he is saying is: it is simpler and equally accurate to just count the stories as
- [Story points considered harmful? 1 of 4 - Journey's start](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/684/story-points-considered-harmful-1-of-4/) - A few months ago Vasco Duarte, with a little help from Joseph Pelrine started a discussion entitled “Story Points considered harmful.” They, or at least Vasco, has given this as a conference keynote and has blogged about it.(Warning: this is the first of 4 blog entires, its quite a long post. Plus I think there
- [Agile: Where's the evidence?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/685/agile-where-evidence/) - A few weeks ago I was presenting at the BCS SIGIST conference - another outing for my popular Objective Agility presentation. Someone in the audience asked: “Where is the evidence that Agile works?” My response was in two parts. First although it sounds like a reasonable question I’ve come to believe that this is a
- [Technical debt - developer moans](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/686/technical-debt-developer-moans/) - A few days ago I pushed out a couple of Tweets which got quite a reaction:“I am fed up hearing developers complain of Technical Debt as if it has nothing to do with them. Who writes this stuff?”and“Devs say 'look technical debt' like 'look its snowing'. As if it has nothing to do with them”It
- [Heresy: My warped, crazy, wrong version of Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/687/heresy-my-warped-crazy-wrong-version-of/) - I increasingly feel that the way I interpret Agile, the practices and the processes, if different to the rest of the world. Perhaps this is just self doubt, perhaps because I started doing Agile-like-things before reading about XP or Scrum, perhaps this is because my version has always been more informed by Lean, perhaps this
- [The Meter: Tom Giib's greatest invention](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/689/meter-tom-giib-greatest-invention/) - If you’ve ever found the time to read Tom Gilb’s work - and I’m thinking specifically of Competitive Engineering here - you’ll know that his work is packed full of good ideas. So many god ideas in fact that it can be hard to read his book - something I think he admits himself in
- [Corporate Psychopathy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/690/corporate-psychopathy/) - The Oxford Dictionary of English on my Kindle defines:Psychopathy n. mental illness or disorder.Psychopathic is more interesting:Psychopathic adj. suffering from or constituting a chronic mental disorder with abnormal or violent social behaviourThere is a reoccurring pattern of behaviour I have observed in corporate environments which I have taken to calling Corporate Psychopathy, maybe you’ll recognise
- [Xanpan: refining the process](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/695/xanpan-refining-process/) - In my last blog entry I discussed a Xanpan board layout which allows for planned and unplanned work to co-exist in one workflow. Here is a picture of the board I had just put together with a team in Cornwall:This might be the perfect board layout for the team for ever. More likely it can
- [Xanpan: planned and unplanned work](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/696/xanpan-planned-and-unplanned-work/) - I’m on my way back from another visit to the Cornish Software Mines. I’ve been with four different companies this week, laid the first plans for Agile on the Beach 2012 conference and got to know Sebastian Bergmann who has been visiting the mines this week working with the PHP teams.One of these companies is
- [Retrospective Dialogue Sheets: feedback & updates 2 of 2](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/698/retrospective-dialogue-sheets-feedback-28/) - This is the second of two blog entries about the use of dialogue sheets. The first entry contain some simple statistics and findings from recent experiences and feedback from users. This entries discusses a few findings which deserve longer comment.Those who use the sheets consistently report that they engage more team members (everyone gets to
- [Retrospective Dialogue Sheets: feedback & updates 1 of 2](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/699/retrospective-dialogue-sheets-feedback/) - Every couple of months I e-mail everyone who has downloaded one or more of my Dialogue Sheets to get some feedback. Getting feedback is why I make people register to download a Dialogue Sheet - sorry, I know some people don’t like doing this, and I know some people fake their e-mail addresses but unless
- [You are not Steve Jobs (and don't try to be him)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/700/many-people-better-than-i-have/) - Many people better than I have commented on the passing of Steve Jobs a few weeks ago, I too was sorry to see him go. He touched my life (indirectly): I’m writing this on a Mac, we have an iPad in the house, I might not like iPhones but my new Android phone clearly owes
- [Agile will never work in Investment Banking](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/702/agile-will-never-work-in-investment/) - In the past I’ve worked for banks, as an employee, as a contractor and as a consultant. And I’ve worked for companies that supply banks in one way or another. And I have lots of friends who work for banks and tell me stories. While I’m not an expert on banks and banking I know
- [Advice for creating burn-down - and other capacity measurements](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/706/advice-for-creating-burn-down-and-other/) - Continuing from my last blog entry (Burn-downs are not just for Sprints) I’d like to offer some advice on the subject, burn-downs, cumulative flow diagrams, velocity, etc..1) Don’t track hours. Hours are input and its better to measure outputs. Hours are subjective, see my Humans can't estimate tasks blog. Worse still we have too many
- [Burn-downs are not just for Sprints](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/707/burn-downs-are-not-just-for-sprints/) - One of the key tools in Agile is: make things visible. When you can see the thing you can share the thinking and reason able it.Capacity charts - usually burn-down, burn-up or their cousins Cumulative Flow Diagrams - are amazingly useful things. They show you the state of a development effort. They show this in
- [Propogation delays](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/711/propogation-delays/) - Propagation delays occur when there is a chain reaction, a sequence of reactions which take time to work down the chain. Think of a line of traffic waiting at the red light. The light turns green: the driver of the first car doesn’t move instantaneously, it takes a moment to registers the change, perhaps move
- [Updates for Dialogue Sheets](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/712/updates-for-dialogue-sheets/) - Two dialogue sheet updates today.Firstly I’ve created a mailing list to make announcements about dialogue sheets and for discussions about the use of dialogue sheets. This list is open to all and is hosted on Google groups (so you need a Google account).Second, I’ve uploaded a new dialogue sheet. Another retrospective sheet this one is
- [Dear client, the truth about software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/716/dear-client-truth-about-software/) - Dear Customer,I think its time we in the IT industry came clean about how we charge you and why our bills are sometimes a bit higher than you might expect.The truth is, when we start and IT project we just don’t know how much time and effort it will take. Consequently we don’t know how
- [Is "Faster Better Cheaper" axiomatic in Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/720/is-better-cheaper-axiomatic-in-agile/) - “Faster Better Cheaper” - a cry heard often from management types! Or at least engineers think thats the sort of thing managers say. Personally I don’t think I’ve ever actually heard a manager say it but I have heard engineers say managers want it “Faster Better Cheaper” with scorn in their voice.The idea that you
- [Dialogue sheet observations](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/721/dialogue-sheet-observations/) - Regular readers will know I’ve been pushing Dialogue Sheets as a new retrospective technique. I have observed a number of dialogue sheet sessions - both the retrospective sheets I’ve made public plus some other sheets I’m still testing. Someone from Motorola Mobility recently asked for my observations on using dialogue sheets and I thought it
- [Cornwall nominated fror Agile awards](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/726/cornwall-nominated-fror-agile-awards/) - I’ve tweeted and blogged about the Cornwall Agile Programme before - something I like to call the ‘Cornish Software Mines’. So it is with great pride that I’m please to announce that the programme has been nominated for an award.The Agile awards are presented as part of the Agile Business Conference and ‘Agile Cornwall’ has
- [Retrospectives - common or not, a small survey](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/728/retrospectives-common-or-not-small/) - I’m still experimenting with Dialogue Sheets for Retrospectives (the download page, and my earlier blog entry) and so are other people. Of the feedback I’ve had so far it has been overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps people who aren’t positive don’t bother trying them.The sheets are free to download but I do request people register. My objective
- [Abandon Hope all ye who enter Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/729/abandon-hope-all-ye-who-enter-agile/) - Earlier this week I had a conversation with Benjamin Mitchell about an entrepreneur he’d done some work with. Benjamin had been suggesting a lean start-up approach to the business in which the entrepreneur worked to validate his business idea early and gradually build the product one validated step at a time.Things didn’t go well, the
- [When did Scrum start loving project managers?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/730/when-did-scrum-start-loving-project/) - One of the things I’ve always found paradoxical about Scrum (specifically ScrumTM) is its position on management. On the one hand, Scrum is very management friendly - see my Scrum has Three Advantages over XP post. Basically Scrum has done a very good job of marketing itself to managers.But Scrum is a little like a
- [Agile on the Beach: Falmouth, September 15-16, 2011](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/731/agile-on-beach-falmouth-september-15-16/) - I’ve mentioned some of the work I’ve been doing in Cornwall over the last eight or nine months in this blog a few times, and anyone who follows me on Twitter will have seen my Tweets about the “Cornish Software Mines.” Well, one of the spin off of this work is a Cornish Agile Conference
- [Parrot cages, the true story](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/732/parrot-cages-true-story/) - I heard this story a few months ago from Benjamin Mitchell, it is good and I wanted to believe it so I did. (Benjamin by the way tells it with a good deal more embellishment.)Anyone who has had a course from me in the last six months has probably heard me retell the story with
- [Light Touch Agile Coaching in the Cornish Software Mines](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/734/light-touch-agile-coaching-in-cornish/) - I’m off to Cornwall again next week for my monthly visit. Anyone who follows me on Twitter (allankellynet) may have noticed that every few weeks I put out a few tweets along the lines of “On my way to the Cornish Software Mines again”. They may not actually dig source code out of the ground
- [Retrospective Dialogue Sheets](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/738/retrospective-dialogue-sheets/) - I’m at ACCU 2011 this week, in my lightening talk I publicly unveiled, for the first time, Retrospective Dialogue Sheets.I have been experimenting with dialogue sheets at conferences for a few years now. For a long time my aim has been to use them for team retrospectives. I’ve now produced a few variations and tested
- [Strategic Staffing, Or, How many people should I put on this (Agile) project?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/739/strategic-staffing-or-how-many-people/) - One of the questions that comes up again and again in the context of Agile work is “How do I know how many people to put on this project?”(I’m using the word ‘Project’ in the loosest sense, think “piece of work”)My usual answer is: Staff Strategically, allocate people to a piece of work in relation
- [Final roundup of facts from Capers Jones](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/740/final-roundup-of-facts-from-capers/) - In two previous entries I’ve reported some interesting statistics and findings - possibly facts - from Capers Jones book Applied Software Measurement (see Software Facts - well, numbers at least and More Facts and Figures from Capers Jones). I want to finish off with a few notes from the later chapters of the book.On packaged
- [Humans can't estimate tasks](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/741/humans-can-estimate-tasks/) - As I said in my last blog entry I’ve been looking at some of the academic research on task time estimation. Long long ago, well 1979, two researchers, Kahneman and Tversky described “The Planning Fallacy.” The Planning Fallacy is now well established in academic literature and there is even a Planning Fallacy wikipedia page. All
- [Apology, correction and the Estimation Project](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/742/apology-correction-and-estimation/) - Over the last few months I've been thinking about how people perform estimates when developing software. I've take time - not enough - to look through some of the research on estimation and try and understand how we can improve estimates. I’ve written a long (11 pages, over 6000 words), and rough, essay recording some
- [Why Quality Most Come First & a comment on the 'System Error' report](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/743/why-quality-most-come-first-comment-on/) - On Monday night I presented “Why Quality Must Come First” at Skills Matter in London, the slides are now online (previous link to my website) and there is a pod-cast on the Skills Matter website.This was a revised and updated of my talk at the Agile Business Conference last October. There are two key arguments:High
- [The Agile 10 Step Requirements Model](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/744/agile-10-step-requirements-model/) - I’ve been talking about the Agile 10 Step Requirements Model for a year or so now. It has appeared in a few conference presentation and will be at the centre of my ACCU 2011 conference presentation. But I’ve not written about it.Now I have. This months ACCU Overload has a short overview of the model.
- [How does Agile relate to CMM Level 5?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/745/how-does-agile-relate-to-cmm-level-5/) - A question in my mail box: “How does Agile relate to CMM Level 5?”As I started to tap out the answer I thought: this might as well be a blog entry. So here it is.Think of CMM, or rather CMMI which replaced CMM about 10 years ago, as a ruler. It is a way of
- [Offshoring: not as simple as its often reported](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/747/offshoring-not-as-simple-as-its-often/) - A couple of footnotes to my last blog post on Capers Jones book, Applied Software Measurement. One of the points I noted was Jones suggestion that rising prices and costs in India and elsewhere would mean IT offshoring loose its financial benefits from about 2015 onwards.Jones, by the way, later says that Indian and Chinese
- [More facts and figures from Capers Jones](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/748/more-facts-and-figures-from-capers/) - I continue my reading of Capers Jones Applied Software Measurement as discussed a few entires ago - Software Facts and I’d like to report some more of Jones findings.These numbers are very insightful but, and its a but Jones acknowledges, the data is very shaky. As Jones says “software measurement resembles an archeological dig. One
- [Scrum has 3 advantages over XP (but XP is better)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/750/scrum-has-3-advantages-over-xp-but-xp/) - For corporations Scrum offers three advantages over Extreme Programming:1) It offers certification - corporates can hire people who are “certified” and have their own people certified.2) Scrum traces its roots back to the Harvard Business Review - so it must be serious3) Scrum does not contain the words “extreme” or “programming”. No need to dirty
- [Software Facts - well, numbers at least](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/751/software-facts-well-numbers-at-least/) - About a year ago I needed some numbers about software development - industry norms really: effectiveness, productivity, bug counts etc. etc. Its actually pretty hard to get these numbers and after hunting around I found myself with a copy of Capers Jones Applied Software Measurement.Jones, for those who don’t know, has made a career out
- [Inbound & Outbound marketing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/753/inbound-outbound-marketing/) - Its nearly the end of the year, I’m about to close one Blog archive and start another - don’t worry, this means nothing for readers, its part of my admin. But it does mean that I put behind me all those half written blog posts, and single line ideas, that have been building up during
- [Product Management an open secret, a differentiator](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/756/product-management-open-secret/) - At the Skills Matter Agile Lean Kanban exchange the other week someone - sorry I missed you name - told me about a report from the BBC on Product Management. It turns out the report is from a branch of the BBC I didn’t know about, “BBC Academy” and it entitled “The State of Product
- [Salami Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/758/salami-agile/) - More than one software development team has encountered the situation when the team want to be more “Agile”, the organization and management might even be asking them to be more “Agile” but, there are still many “requirements” in a big requirements document and the expectation is that all these will be “delivered.”Ideally I would not
- [Three plans for Agile (long version)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/761/three-plans-for-agile-long-version/) - As noted in my last blog entry RQNG has published my description of Agile planning using Iteration plans, Release Plans and Roadmaps. I’ve added a little bit to this an produced a longer version of the same piece - it only adds about a page.Three Plans for Agile (long version) is now available on my
- [Three Plans for Agile on RQNG](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/762/three-plans-for-agile-on-rqng/) - RQNG has published one of my articles entitled “Three Plans for Agile”. This looks at the role of iteration plans, release plans and roadmaps, and how the three fit together.I have to say thanks to Jon Harley, we had an e-mail discussion months ago which was the seed of this article.After writing this I discovered
- [Reverse-Tolstoy continued - from Agile EE](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/763/reverse-tolstoy-continued-from-agile-ee/) - In my last posting I suggested thatif Leo Tolstoy worked in a corporate IT department the opening lines of Anna Korenina might have read:“Unhappy corporate IT departments are all alike in the same unhappy way; all happy departments are happy in their own way.”I call it Reverse-Tolstoy (because he actually wrote the reverse, well kind
- [Agile elevator pitch](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/765/agile-elevator-pitch/) - My (our) entry in the Agile elevator pitch competition:“[Agile] Provides philosophy, techniques and tools to alleviate the pain of traditional development and make teams more effective thus increase your profit.Companies such as the BBC, GE Energy, Yahoo, the Financial Times, The Guardian and others have already adopted the approached.”As some people know, I’ve been doing
- [Red, Green, Kaizen](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/766/red-green-kaizen/) - Back at the beginning of September Kevin Rutherford tweeted:‘Anyone know the Japanese for "red, green, refactor” ?’Now as it happens I know a Japanese speaker very well. Red was easy “akai”. Green was a little tricky because the Japanese actually have two words for Green, “aoi” and “midori.” We went with midori.Refactor was a little
- [Cranfield study Supporting the alignment trap](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/770/cranfield-study-supporting-alignment/) - I’ve blogged before about “The Alignment Trap” (Originally in December 2007 and after my piece in The Agile Journal in February 2009). This is the counter-intuitive evidence that sometimes doing things right is more beneficial than doing the right think. I often discuss this in my presentations and there are two standard reactions: for some
- [Reuse Myth - can you afford reusable code?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/772/reuse-myth-can-you-afford-reusable-code/) - In my Agile Business Conference present (“How much quality can we afford?”) I talked about the Reuse Myth, this is something always touch on when I deliver a training course but I’ve never taken time to write it down. Until now.Lets take as our starting point Kevlin Henney’s observation that “there is no such thing
- [Quality - How much can we afford?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/774/quality-how-much-can-we-afford/) - My presentation from the Agile Business Conference (ABC) 2010 is now online: Quality - How much can we afford?
- [Factory Physics and software factories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/778/factory-physics-and-software-factories/) - For the last few months I’ve been wading through Factory Physics. That might sound very negative but actually this book is highly recommended. The reason its difficult to read is nothing to do with the writing - which is actually quite easy going - but more down to the size and the maths. It is
- [Agile is like...](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/781/agile-is-like/) - In the software development world there are, broadly speaking, two groups of people: those who create the software (coders, testers, etc.) and those who manage the process (project managers, development managers, etc.). When discussing “Agile” I find that both sides think the problem is with the other.To put it another way, if I’m talking to
- [Study on benefits of TDD](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/782/study-on-benefits-of-tdd/) - OK, this isn’t news, this study came out a couple of years ago and was covered by many people then. But, I find myself regularly referring to it trying to find the link. So I’m going to blog about it then I’ll always be able to find the link.The study is by Nagappan, Maximilien, Bhat
- [The No Business Case Myth](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/785/no-business-case-myth/) - Once in a while I run across individuals, or even teams, who still think Agile is about just getting on and doing it. Well it is, good for them, but, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason for doing it. There seems to be a myth in some circles that work done using Agile techniques
- [The train metaphor of software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/790/train-metaphor-of-software-development/) - I’m sitting on a train from York so it seems a good time to share my train-leaving-the-station metaphor with the world. In truth, if you’ve worked with me in the last few years, or heard me speak at a conference I may already have shared it with you. But for the rest of the world,
- [The Limits of Agile on InfoQ](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/792/limits-of-agile-on-infoq/) - There is a piece by me on todaysInfoQ - The Limits of Agile.I’m interested to here your comments.
- [Velocity targeting and velocity inflation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/795/velocity-targeting-and-velocity/) - Continuing my mini-series on filling an iteration, velocity and all that I want to flag up a big big mistake: Velocity Targeting. Which leads to Velocity Inflation.Velocity targeting happens when someone says: “We did 15 points last iteration, lets aim for 20 this iteration”. And when the team fails to meet 20 they say something
- [Filling an iteration too well](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/796/filling-iteration-too-well/) - I want to stick with the theme of “how do I fill an iteration?” for a couple more entries. There are a lot of little nuances here, and what works for one team at one time might not be the best thing for another team, or even the same team at a different time.I appreciated
- [Two ways to fill an iterations](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/797/two-ways-to-fill-iterations/) - The fixed length iteration is a key part of most Agile methods. But the question is: how do you know what (i.e. how much) to put in the iteration?There are two ways to determine how much is enough but what might be less obvious is that they are alternatives. It is easy to outline both
- [Things to do to improve code quality](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/798/things-to-do-to-improve-code-quality/) - As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I was recently out in Oslo teaching a course on Lean software development. One of the points I make is: Quality is free (or at least cheaper) provided you invest in improving quality. This section of the course included an exercise were I ask the participants to
- [A3 reports: templates and observations](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/802/a3-reports-templates-and-observations/) - As I mentioned last time, I recently delivered a course on Lean software development in Oslo. One of the exercises I set people was to produce an A3 report.A3 reports, for those unfamiliar with them are a mechanism used at Toyota to analyse issues and suggest solutions, or rather “counter measures” . The term “counter
- [How do you make Lean Practical ?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/803/how-do-you-make-lean-practical/) - I was Oslo recently teaching a course on Lean Software Development. When we were organizing this course on of our goals was: Make it practical. As I was preparing the course material this was at the front of my mind. But, there is a but.Step back a minute and have another look at my Agile
- [What Is Software Design?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/805/what-is-software-design/) - This link has been in my blog backlog for a couple of months, waiting to work its way into a blog post. But I’m fed up waiting so here it is raw.What Is Software Design? by Jack W. Reeves on Developer Dot StarOriginally published in 1992, before Java, before C#, before Agile, when Lean was
- [Brain dump on team boards](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/807/brain-dump-on-team-boards/) - I was helping a team set up their board (white board, Kanban board, Scrum board, call it what you will) for Agile working the other day and it dawned on me I use a whole bunch of heuristics I’ve never seen written down. So here goes:I like magnetic white boards best myself but I’ve seen
- [Scrum doesn’t work for us; should we try Kanban?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/655/scrum-doesnt-work-for-us-should-we-try/) - Two and a half years ago I published a blog entry entitled “10 things to know about Kanban software development” which has consistently been the most read piece on this blog. At first I thought “Well there isn’t much published on Kanban relative to Scrum” but then David Anderson published Kanban and that wasn’t true
- [Minimal Viable Team to create a Minimally Viable Product](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/656/minimal-viable-team-to-create-minimally/) - Despite being a bit of a mouthful to say “Minimal Viable Product” and the even more difficult to say “Minimally Marketable Feature” (also known as a “Quantum of Value” or “Business Value Increment”) are very useful concepts. What makes gives them killer power is that they speak to a secret belief held by many people
- [Agile Cambridge: Dialogue Sheets and Andy Warhol](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/659/agile-cambridge-dialogue-sheets-and/) - Last week was busy with conferences. I was briefly at Agile Cambridge on Thursday and attended Mind the Product conference in London on Friday (more on that in the next entry). I feel the need to apologise about Agile Cambridge, I was there for a little over half a day. If I go to a
- [Does anyone actually use Quick Test Pro etc.?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/662/does-anyone-actually-use-quick-test-pro/) - Here is an observation which I’ve been been playing back to clients for a year or so now:There are two types of company in the world, those who talk about automated testing and those who do automated testing.Those who talk about automated testing buy tools like Quick Test Pro, WinRunner and Quality Centre and Rational
- [Success in Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/663/success-in-agile/) - Last week I made the London to Cornwall train journey for the first time in a few months. I made the journey many times during the course of the Agile Cornwall programme. This time however I was on my way to the Agile on the Beach 2012 conference. The conference itself is a product of
- [Agile creates jobs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/664/agile-creates-jobs/) - Regular readers will now that over the last two years I’ve done a lot of work in Cornwall, I jokingly refer to “the Cornish Software Mines” (A case study and Light Touch Coaching to name two blog entries.) To date the most visible result of this work was the Agile on the Beach conference which
- [Version 2 "The Rewrite" - don't do it! - never ever rewrite you system](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/665/version-2-rewrite-never-ever-rewrite/) - “The second is the most dangerous system a man ever designs” Fred Brooks, 1975 & 1995Brooks was talking about software designers, architects, but I think the statement holds true not only for all software developers but for the business people who commission replacement systems.From time to time I come across a team who want to
- [Selling scopeless contracts](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/666/selling-scopeless-contracts/) - The last two blog entries (“Scopeless contracts: the problem” and “Scopeless contracts: the solution”) have been working up to this one. Actually this is the blog entry I set out to write a few weeks ago but felt I had to explain why.Even if you accept that leaving scope out of a contract for work
- [Scopeless contract: the solution](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/667/scopeless-contract-solution/) - In my last blog entry, “Scopeless contracts: the problem” I rehashed all the reasons why including scope in a contract for delivery is a bad idea. So having rubbished the most common way of working I had better explain what I suggest you do….You have two choices.Option 1: Set up a ‘Business as Usual’ contact.The
- [Scopeless contacts: the problem](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/668/scopeless-contacts-problem/) - I’ve discussed Agile contract models before and I’ve agued against points based contracts (‘Points based contracts? Just say No’) but the more I think about client-supplier software development contracts the more I think including any scope in the contract is asking for trouble. Before I explain let me say: Yes I know this isn’t going
- [Maximising profit from IT](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/669/maximising-profit-from-it/) - Following on from last blog entry, IT does matter, more important than ever, I’d like to highlight a study that may have slipped peoples attention. Hardly surprising because the study appeared in an academic journal which is a good place to hide such things - the MIS Quarterly March 2012 (paid for download) if your
- [10 years on: IT does matter, more than ever](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/670/10-years-old-it-does-matter-more-than/) - Just under 10 years ago Nicholas Carr wrote a (in)famous piece in the Harvard Business Review entitled “IT doesn’t matter”. The argument was, post dot-com-boom, that IT was now a commodity, companies didn’t need to spend big bucks on it because they could buy just about anything they wanted off-the-shelf.At the time my response was,
- [Kelly's Law - concluding principles (3 of 3)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/671/kelly-law-concluding-principles-3-of-3/) - Preface: this is the third of three articles on the subject of “Principles - in Software Development” and Agile Software Development specifically. The previous pieces are: Software Principles 1 of 3 and (Agile) Software Principles 2 of 3Many years ago, so many I’ve actually lost track, but I think I can trace some of these
- [Software Principles - Agile or not - 2 of 3](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/672/software-principles-agie-or-not-2-of-3/) - Continuing my theme of Principles, I’d like to outline my own principles of “Agile Software Development”. As I implied last time, these may be simply “Software development principles” but right now I’ll keep the “Agile” word.1. Highly adaptability over highly adaptedStrive to make you processes, practices, team, code and environment adaptable rather than adapted. The
- [Software Principles - Agile or not - 1 of 3](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/673/software-principles-agie-or-not-1-of-3/) - I should have been at Tom Gilb’s annual gathering this week - GilbFest as some people call it. Instead I’m sitting at 36,000 feet somewhere over Newfoundland heading for Chicago. I don’t often get out of Europe but maybe my fame is spreading. The theme at GilbFest this year was Principles - defined by my
- [10 Things to make you Agile adoption successfull](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/678/10-things-to-make-you-agile-adoption/) - One of the closing slides in my Agile Foundations course includes a quote from Ken Schwaber saying that only 30% of teams who attempt Scrum will be successful. What I find interesting about this quote is that it aligns with many other change management studies. Researchers like Harvard Professor John Kotter regularly say 70% of
- [Points based contracts? Just Say No.](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/679/points-based-contracts-just-say-no/) - With the points-mini-series still fresh in the mind now seems a good time to say publicly something which I’ve been saying privately for a long time.Avoid points based contracts. i.e. don’t outsource work, or undertake work, on the basis of points - be they story points, abstract points, nebulous units of time or any other
- [Points: conclusions and hypothesis](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/680/points-conclusions-and-hypothesis/) - As anyone with time to spare will know I’ve recently spent a lot of time thinking, and writing about story points. This was in response to Vasco Duarte’s Story Points Considered Harmful blog from a month or two back. For completeness here are the links:Vasco Duarte: Story Points Considered HarmfulStory points considered harmful? 1 of
- [Points 4 of 4 - Breakdown](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/681/points-4-of-4-breakdown/) - This entry directly continues from three earlier ones:Story points considered harmful? 1 of 4 - Journey's startStory points 2 of 4 - Duarte's argumentsStory points 3 of 4 - An exampleDuarte’s analysis, and my response, has got me thinking. And I think it would be useful - to me at least, maybe to some readers!
- [Story points 3 of 4 - An example](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/682/story-points-3-of-4-example/) - This entry continues from two earlier ones:Story points considered harmful? 1 of 4 - Journey's startStory points 2 of 4 - Duarte's argumentsI’ve got some (abstract) points data of my own. Not as much as Duarte’s but some. One team in particular is interesting. The development manage said a few months ago “We can deliver
- [Recruitment and customer experience](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1077/recruitment-and-customer-experience/) - Wednesday’s Financial Times carried the monthly technology review. A couple of pieces caught my eye, both individually and when put together. First this report In an e-world, IT controls the customer experience (subscription required) makes the point that if your business is conducted online then your customer experience is an electronic customer experience which in turn means
- [Does (system) documentation work?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1080/does-system-documentation-work/) - OK, I promise this is the last entry on the Nurnberg funnel, after this I’ve worked it through my system… In my entry on Nurnberg funnel and system development I wondered is system documentation actually works. Well I missed one piece of evidence that it does work. Go into your local bookstore, Waterstones, Borders, even Amazon
- [IT does matter - at least sometimes](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1108/it-does-matter-at-least-sometimes/) - Ever since Nicholas Carr wrote "IT doesn't matter" there has been a well publicised debate on the real value of IT in modern businesses. Sometimes Carr is right, commodity hardware and commodity software is good enough, there is no competitive advantage to be gained by going beyond cheap commodity products. But sometimes IT does matter.
- [Make strategy like you make software?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/985/make-strategy-like-you-make-software/) - There is an interesting piece in the latest issue of the MIT Sloan Review entitled: Should you build strategy like you build software? I can imagine some managers initial reaction: What? IT is such a total disaster why would we want to make strategy the same way? After all, we are regularly told that
- [Heathrow part 2 – a major learning failure](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/990/heathrow-part-2-major-learning-failure/) - I’m really disappointed, for years I’ve been pointing to Terminal 5 construction as a great example of lean ideas at work. It gets delivered on schedule and then what? Mess. Seems everyone will forget it was on time and remember the opening week nightmares. How come after being an exemplar of Lean techniques during
- [Developers are not the only fruit](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1012/developers-are-not-only-fruit/) - My younger self would be horrified to hear me say this but, when you develop software you need people who are not software engineers. Don’t get me wrong, coders/engineers/programmers are the most important people because these are the people who actually produce the thing. As such they are central to any development effort, you
- [Christmas reading: Classic essays on software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1018/christmas-reading-classic-essays-on/) - There are many, many books about software development. The technical ones alone (e.g. Java, C++, Apache, .NET, etc. etc.) take up meters and meters of shelf space. The ones about project management take up a bit less space but they are still plentiful, and the ones about people in the process take up even
- [IT: Better to be effective or aligned?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1022/it-better-to-be-effective-or-aligned/) - In my last blog entry promised to discuss a second piece from the MIT Sloan Review. In many ways I find Avoiding the IT Alignment piece more interesting than the Rettig piece I discussed last time. The Rettig piece was a good argument but it wasn’t clear what you did next, it was insightful without
- [Offshoring becoming more expensive](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/956/offshoring-becoming-more-expensive/) - An interesting analysis in McKinsey quarterly about the increasing costs of off-shore manufacturing - Time to rethink offshoring. As is so often the case this piece is US centric, and it is about manufacturing not services, still, some of the data and analysis are worth looking at: • Wage rises in China mean manufacturing workers
- [ACCU conference 1 of many (Wednesday)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/896/accu-conference-1-of-5-wednesday/) - Another year, another great ACCU conference. I counted 9 languages on the conference program, everything from Scala to C++ - yes there was more C++ that anything else but it was far from the only thing going on. Languages plus sessions on design, pattern, management, Agile and neuroscience. Normally some of the most insightful comments
- [10 things to know about Kanban software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/905/10-things-to-know-about-kanban-software/) - 1) Kanban software development originated by David Anderson. Many of the practices and heuristics have been seen on other Agile teams before but they were first described as a cohesive whole by David. David’s innovation was to explicitly limit the work in progress. This had been done by other Agile teams before but in Kanban
- [Project plans (part 2 of 3): Turn the question around](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/922/project-plans-part-2-of-3-turn-question/) - As my last post was a moan I promised to give some advice on how to go about project planning. There is a lot to this and I can’t possibly give all the details in a short blog so I’ve split this into three blog posts. Still there is a lot more I could say.
- [Naked Objects and ACCU London January 2010](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/831/naked-objects-and-accu-london-january/) - I am very excited about the next ACCU London meeting when Dan Haywood will be speaking about Naked Objects. The meeting is open to all and is free, just check the ACCU website for details. I’m excited about this talk because Naked Objects is one of the few technology based approaches to software development which
- [Gartner talks up Pattern Based Strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/838/gartner-talks-up-pattern-based-strategy/) - For those who don’t know, Gartner group are a business/technology research outfit who produce reports on things technical and business related. They have a pretty good reputation and they have a couple of sidelines in consulting and event organizing (or is it the other way round?). Sometimes they are leading opinion and sometimes following. They
- [Hitch Hikers, Dynabook, the FT and me](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/875/hitch-hikers-dynabook-ft-and-me/) - Anyone who bought this weekends Financial Times might enjoy my contributions to the letters page today. If you missed it, then I hope this brings a smile to your face. (The piece I was commenting on appeared last week.)
- [Reverse-Tolstoy, or Tolstoy reconsidered](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/764/reverse-tolstoy-or-tolstoy-reconsidered/) - Rather famously Tolstoy started Anna Korenina with the words: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” I like many others have repeated this quote, and even applied it to business and, in particular the act of creating software. I think, although I dread to check now, that I
- [How to improve a team's velocity?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/794/how-to-improve-team-velocity/) - By way of wrapping up my velocity mini-series (Two ways to fill and iteration, Filling an iteration too well, and Velocity Targeting and Velocity Inflation) I’m going to end with some advice on how to improve a team’s velocity. Bad news first: there are no silver bullets, there are no easy answers, there is no
- [Architects who aren't](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/824/architects-who-aren/) - Having cleared up some preliminaries, i.e. What is architecture?, we are getting closer to the big question: what do architects do? But I’ll continuing to take this piecemeal. In this blog entry I’d like to dismiss too groups of people who carry the Architect title but are not Architects. The first group are “Architects by
- [Xanpan](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/723/xanpan/) - For a little while now I’ve been quietly talking about my new Agile method. The clue is in the name: Xanpan - pronounced “Zanpan”. Most obviously Kanban and XP (Extreme Programming), its a fusion. Its not so much than Xanpan has any new radical ideas in it, its more than it is a synthesis of
- [InfoQ: Agile contract options](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/746/infoq-agile-contact-options/) - I have a piece on the InfoQ website today entitled Agile Contracts (well options for really).
- [Layered burn-down charts](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/704/layered-burn-down-charts/) - I’d like to conclude this Burn-down chart mini-series (Burn-downs are not just for Sprints and Advice for creating burn-down) by showing a variation on the classical burn-down chart I created with one of my Cornish clients. I’ve recently been advising an SOA project at another client to adopt a similar approach. In fact, I’m finding
- [Supply & Demand in software development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/584/supply-demand-in-software-development/) - (Whoops, I’m publishing a revision of this blog entry - something I don’t normally do. I realised after publication that I had mislabelled the graphs - they were correct but did not follow economists convention hence this revision. The core argument still stands although I have had to modify the reasoning slightly. Sorry.)I’m proud to
- [Sprint, Iteration or Marathon?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/589/sprint-iteration-or-marthon/) - A shot blog on terminology...I have always found it hard to differentiate an Iteration from a Sprint, so much so that I commonly say they mean the same think. They are synonymous. I use the two interchangeably. The difference is historical, term “Iteration” originated in XP and “Sprint” in Scrum.To me both mean: a short
- [Beyond Projects, Beyond #NoProjects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/590/beyond-projects-beyond-noprojects/) - My recent “#NoProjects - why projects don’t make sense” post stirred up a fair bit of discussion, both on the blog and especially on Twitter - check the #NoProjects hashtag. But, while that post railed against “projects” it didn’t say much about what we should do instead. Indeed as was pointed out it might be
- [11 Myths & 2 Truths of Agile - Infographic](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/593/11-myths-2-truths-of-agile-infographic/) - Abi Crafter at Countersoft liked by “11 Myths and 2 Truths of Agile” blog entry so much he turned it into this Infographic. Thanks Abi! (Some of you might have noticed that a reworked version of that blog appeared on Agile Connection as Top Twelve Myths of Agile Development.) By the way, notice I’ve linked
- [#NoProjects - why projects don't make sense](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/595/noprojects-why-projects-dont-make-sense/) - In the last few months Steve Smith, myself and others have been Tweeting a lot with the hash tag #NoProjects. We have independently come to believe Projects are a smell, they are bad for our industry (the technology industry). Steve set out his thinking and now it is my turn. Right now this is little
- [Pessimistic about Agile in retail banks](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/596/pessimistic-about-agile-in-retail-banks/) - Almost exactly two years ago I wrote a strident blog entitled “Agile will never work in Investment banks”. Its a blog post that keeps getting rediscovered by those who agree or disagree with my position and just such event has occurred on Twitter with Kevin Burns @martinburnsuk and several others @kev_austin @sandromancuso @gordonmcmahon During the
- [3 Styles of agile (part 2)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/597/3-styles-of-agile-part-2/) - In my last entry I set out what I call “3 Styles of Agile - Iterative, Incremental and Evolutionary.” In this entry I’d like to discuss the model as a whole.Lest anyone start “my style is better than your style” I am at pains to point out that each style has merits. Regardless of whether
- [3 Styles: Iterative, Incremental and Evolutionary Agile (part 1)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/598/3-styles-iterative-incremental-and/) - When I’m teaching training courses (as I was this week at Skills Matter) or advising clients on the requirements side of software development (which I’m doing a lot of just now) I talk about model I call “3 Styles of Agile”. Incredibly I’ve never blogged about this - although the model is hidden inside a
- [Still banging on about Quality](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/601/still-banging-on-about-quality/) - The last couple of blog entires have been a public investigation - personal think - about software quality - see What is Software Quality? and Software quality? Thanks to all those who have provided feedback and comments, they’ve all contributed to my thought process. I think I am moving towards some kind of conclusion. I’ll
- [Software quality?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/604/software-quality/) - Since publishing my stream of consciousness about software quality on Friday (What is a software quality?) I’ve continued to think about the subject. In part putting the thoughts down started to structure my own thinking, in part a few comments made on Twitter caused me to think more, and, simply having written something caused me
- [What is a software quality?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/605/what-is-software-quality/) - If any of you have heard me speak in a training session or conference you’ll know I am found of quoting Philip Crosby: “Quality is free!”. Crosby was talking from a background in missile production but the message was picked up by the car industry and silicon chip industry (“The Anderson Bombshell” in 1980 explained
- [Scaling Agile Heuristics - SAFe or not!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/606/scaling-agile-heuristics-safe-or-not/) - If I’m being honest, I feel as if I don’t know much about scaling agile. But when I think about it I think the issue is really: What do you mean when you say “scaling agile?” It seems to me you might mean one of three things: How do you make agile work with a
- [Commitment considered harmful](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/609/commitment-considered-harmful/) - Some Agile evangelists are very keen on the idea of “Commitment.” i.e. the development team “commit” to doing an amount of work within a time-box (normally an iteration.) The team do this work come hell or high-water. They do what it takes. Once they’ve said they’ll do it they do it.I believe the idea of
- [Three backlogs?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/610/three-backlogs/) - Now I know some people dislike backlogs - queues, wait states, work we want done - and I buy the argument. But the Scrum Sprint (Iteration) and Product Backlog model actually fits for a lot of organizations. Maybe its a temporary state before moving to continuous flow, continuous value but it might also be a
- [Do it right, then Do the Right thing online](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/611/do-it-right-then-do-right-thing-online/) - I was at the Nordic Developer Conference (NDC) in Oslo last week (well, me and about 1700 other people!). I took a risk, I spoke to the title “Do things right and then do the right thing” (now on SlideShare). I was deliberately challenging accepted management practice.In many ways this was an experiment itself, the
- [A role for project managers and business analysts in Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/612/a-role-for-project-managers-and/) - I was in Krakow last week at the PAM Summit of the Project Management Institute (PMI) and International Institute of Business Analysts (IIBA). I delivered a presentation entitled “Is there a role for Project Managers and Business Analysts in Agile?” - now online via SlideShare. Those of you in the London area can go even
- [The real lessons of Lego (for software)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/615/the-lego-brick-fallacy-of-software/) - How many out there have hear this: “What we want is software which is like Lego, that way we can snap together the pieces we need to build whatever it is we want.” Yes? Heard that? Lets leave aside the fact that software is a damn sight more complex than small plastic bricks, lets leave
- [Testing triangles, pyramids and circles, and UAT](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/628/testing-triangles-pyramids-and-circles/) - A few months ago Markus Gartner introduced me to the Testing Triangle, or Testing Pyramid. It looks like this: If you Google you will find a few slightly different version and some go by the name of Testing Pyramid. Now a question: where did this come from? Who should I credit with the original? Markus
- [Dialogue Sheets - update & new planning sheet](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/632/dialogue-sheets-update-new-planning/) - Last month InfoQ carried an update on the use of retrospective dialogue sheets. The use of these sheets continues to grow and I continue to receive good feedback.If you’ve tried the sheets and haven’t sent me some feedback than please e-mail me and let me know about your experiences.And for those of you who’ve not
- [Agile Clinic: Dear Allan, we have a little problem with Agile...](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/633/agile-clinic-dear-allan-we-have-little/) - Consider this blog an Agile Clinic. On Friday an e-mail dropped into my mailbox asking if I could help. The sender has graciously agreed to let me share the mail and my advice with you, all anonymously of course…The sender is new to the team, new to the company, they are developing a custom web
- [To estimate or not to estimate, that is the question](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/634/to-estimate-or-not-to-estimate-that-is/) - Disparaging those who provide software estimates seems to be a growing sport. At conferences, in blogs and the twitter-verse it seems open season for anyone who dares to suggest a software team should estimate. And heaven help anyone who says that an estimate might be accurate!Denigrating estimation seems to be the new testosterone charged must-have
- [Requirements and Specifications](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/635/requirements-and-specifications/) - As I was saying in my last blog, I’m preparing for a talk at Skills Matter entitled: “Business Analyst, Product Manager, Product Owner, Spy!” which I should just have entitled it “Requirements: Whose job are they anyway?” and so I’ve been giving a lot of thought to requirements.I finished the last blog entry noting that
- [Requirements whose job are they anyway?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/636/requirements-whose-job-are-they-anyway/) - Later this week I’m giving a talk at Skills Matter entitled: “Business Analyst, Product Manager, Product Owner, Spy!” The talk title is a reference to the John Le Carre book “Tinker Tailor Solider Spy!”, its probably too clever by half and I should just have entitled it “Requirements: Whose job are they anyway?”The talk idea
- [People or the system?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/637/people-or-system/) - “the two view-points are always tenable. The one, how can you improve human nature until you have changed the system? The other, what is the use of changing the system before you have improved human nature?” George Orwell, “Charles Dickens” essay in Shooting and Elephant and Other Essays, Penguin BooksI am sure I am not
- [Conway's Law v. Software Architecture](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/638/conway-law-v-software-architecture/) - I've written about Conway's Law before (Return to Conway’s Law (2006) and a Focus Group I ran at EuroPLoP “What do we think of Conway’s Law Now?”) but I make no apologies for revisiting it again because I still think it hold true.There are times when I wonder if there is any point to the
- [11 Agile Myths and 2 Truths](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/640/11-agile-myths-and-2-truths/) - I deliver a lot of Agile training courses and I give a lot of talks about Agile (BCS Bristol tonight). There are some questions that come up again and again which are the result of myths people have come to believe about Agile. Consequently I spend my time debunking these myths again and again.I’ve been
- [Agile Advice for Aviva (and many other big companies)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/641/agile-advice-for-aviva-and-many-other/) - I’m starting this blog entry on the train returning to London after speaking at Sync Conference in Norwich - and I’m finishing sitting in my local coffee shop on Tuesday. (My conference presentation Agile in 90 minutes is online (PDF) or via Slideshare.)An awful lot of people at SyncConf worked for Aviva and during the
- [What is Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/644/what-is-agile/) - Two weeks into 2013 and I’ve not blogged, in fact my last blog entry was a month ago. What’s happening? Well partly Christmas, New Year and then flu took a lot of my time. Plus, pre-Christmas my writing energies have been going into writing up Xanpan.At first I thought my notes on Xanpan would be
- [What is the right size for a User Story?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/646/what-is-right-size-for-user-story/) - A question that comes up again and again from teams is “What is the right size for a User Story?” - a day? a week? three weeks? - 1 point? 5 points? 10 points? 37? 100? 5 words? 20 words?Short answer: there isn’t a universal right size for a User Story, it depends on your
- [Downside of Dialogue Sheets](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/647/downside-of-dialogue-sheets/) - Something I’m very conscious of is that I don’t hear much about the downside of Dialogue Sheet Retrospectives. As much as I’d like to believe that this is because there is no downside I can’t honestly say I think that is the case.There must be downsides.I have had several suggestions for improvement and some of
- [10 pieces of advice for teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/648/10-pieces-of-advice-for-teams/) - I have started to write up a more useful description of Xanpan. In doing so two things have happened. First I’ve realised that I have an awful lot I would like to say about it, I’m terrified it will become another book. Second, I’m becoming more and more aware of how Xanpan differs from Scrum,
- [Hard-Core Scrum, Common Scrum and Scrum (continued)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/649/hard-core-scrum-common-scrum-and-scrum/) - Since I published Scrum, Scrum and Scrum on this blog last week the piece has received a lot of attention and I’ve had a lot of feedback: comments on the blog, comments on Twitter and comments to me in person at Oredev last week.On the whole these comments have been in agreement. My impression is
- [Scrum, Scrum & Scrum](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/650/scrum-scrum-scrum/) - I’ve come to believe there are three different meanings of the term “Scrum” - well, three inside the software development community at least, if we consider sport we can probably add a fourth. Even if nobody else does I differentiate between: Scrum as a synonym of Agile “Scrum” means “Agile” like “Hoover” means “Vaccum Cleaner”
- [Unspoken Cultural differences in Agile & Scrum](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/651/unspoken-cultural-differences-in-agile/) - For a while now I’ve been convinced that a lot of “Agile” is about cultural differences. In particular I believe the canonical version of Scrum, which I often refer to as Hard Core Scrum or Scrum™ is rooted in 1990’s American software management culture.Unfortunately the role of culture behind many Agile techniques and methods isn’t
- [Dialogue Sheets feedback and stories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/652/dialogue-sheets-feedback-and-stories/) - Retrospective Dialogue Sheets continue to be a popular download, and I’m off to Sweden in a couple of weeks to present the sheets at Oredev. Unfortunately I haven’t had time to review the downloads to extract any useful information from the several thousand downloader details but I do continue to get some interesting feedback.A few
- [Correction: Business Analysts & C3 project](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/653/correction-business-analysts-c3-project/) - In a couple of blog post, and on other occasions in other places I have talked about there being a Business Analyst working on the original Extreme Programming (XP) Chrysler C3 project.I’m not sure where I picked this piece of information up but I was wrong. One, Chet Hendrickson of the original team read my
- [Why try Kanbnan?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/654/why-try-kanbnan/) - In my last post “Scrum doesn’t work for us; should we try Kanban?” I gave a warning about adopting Kanban because Scrum doesn’t seem to work. Having given advise on when not to use Kanban I feel I need to suggest when choosing Kanban is the right decision. Of course list that follow is only
- [Waterfall works when....](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/503/waterfall-works-when/) - I frequently find myself in situations where someone says something like: “Waterfall is appropriate when…”Some people out there think there are occasions when an Agile (mainly iterative) approach is “best’ and other occasions when “Waterfall” is “best”. Most of the time I let this line of argument go because its boring, I can’t be bothered
- [Code and other reviews (a small piece of advice)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/504/code-and-other-reviews-small-piece-of/) - Many teams have some sort of very regular reviews. I’m not thinking personnel reviews or budget reviews, I’m thinking code reviews specifically but it could be test reviews, documentation reviews or some other. Reviews that need to happen every day but which frequently get delayed.Lets stick with code reviews because they are the type I
- [How much does your manager need to know?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/505/how-much-does-your-manager-need-to-know/) - In this social media age I am often surprised by the reaction to what I say online. Usually this is not by the reaction to what I say but rather the lack of reaction. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve written what I think is a killer-blog post, or a super meaningful
- [Deep thoughts and irony](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/506/deep-thoughts-and-irony/) - I’m just putting the finishing touches to a new Requirements Dialogue Sheet for a trial run this week with some guinea pigs (see my Dialogue Sheets update blog last October for more about this). And something thought provoking has come up I want to share.If you’ve seen my dialogue sheets you will know that around
- [I hate bugs (A rant)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/508/i-hate-bugs-rant/) - Rant on.In software terms quality does not mean walnut dashboards, it does not mean gold plating, it does not mean polishing to perfection. These things may happen in a development team but they should not.However you define quality for a piece of software I bet it has no place for “bugs.” In fact, I bet
- [The state of Scrum Mastering](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/510/the-state-of-scrum-mastering/) - As most readers will have worked out, I’m not a fan of Scrum Masters. Partly this is because I find it a very mixed up role to start with (see my “Hard Core Scrum” post), partly because the way individuals and organizations choose to interpret the role is so variable the title is meaningless but
- [Dyslexia makes me stronger: Is Agile dyslexic?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/513/dyslexia-makes-me-stronger-is-agile/) - I’m signing off from 2014 with a rather personal blog post, perhaps my most personal ever, that also means it is a little long, sorry about this, Happy Christmas, please leave all the comments you wish…Have you ever read, or seen, Macbeth? Towards the end of the play he is battling MacDuff, but Macbeth is
- [Agile Contracts - a video mini-series](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/514/agile-contracts-video-mini-series/) - Over the years I’ve build up a bit of knowledge about commercial contracts in an Agile environment. This is not something I really noticed until a few months ago when Laurence Bascle asked me to talk to the Agile4Agencies meetup group on just this subject. Laurence’s interest came from a piece I published in InfoQ
- [Jira9000 - the future of electronic work management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/515/jira9000-future-of-electronic-work/) - Someone at Extreme Tuesday last night had recently returned from the future. In the future bug tracking and work management systems obtained sentience. Unfortunately it didn’t work out too well and things had to rollback after a very short time.The first problem occurred when the bug tracking systems saw how many bugs were logged against
- [Estimating business value: adding Value poker and Dragons Den to the Agile toolkit](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/517/estimating-business-value-adding-value/) - A common piece of advice heard in Agile circles is: “Prioritise by value. Do the highest value first.” Sound advice, easy to say but perhaps harder to do. And if you know me - or just read this blog regularly - you may have heard me say something like: “Estimate the benefit/value expected, measure what
- [It is all X or Y management - and why Agile people should read Mintzberg](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/520/it-is-all-x-or-y-management-and-why/) - In the last few years it has become increasingly common to hear Agile supporters talking about Beyond Budgeting, indeed, I was instrumental in inviting Bjarte Bogsnes to deliver at keynotes at Agile on the Beach this year.Agile and Beyond Budgeting are very different, one is mainly about developing software and other is concerned with budgeting,
- [Does Agile require cultural change?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/521/does-agile-require-cultural-change/) - If Wood Allen was an Agile Coach Consultant he might say:“#Agile without culture change is an empty experience; but as empty experience go its one of the best”I sit in Agile conferences (and I include Lean and Kanban here) and I hear people say “To really become Agile you need culture change.” And I agree
- [#NoProjects/#BeyondProjects - a developer footnote](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/522/noprojectsbeyondprojects-developer/) - Last Friday I delivered a revised version of my “The End of Projects and What to do Next” presentation - otherwise known as #NoProjects / #BeyondProjects. The presentation is on Slideshare if you missed it - or better still see it next week at Lean Kanban UK 2014 (use the code LK14SPK for 15% discount).In
- [Dialgue Sheets (2 of 2): Searching for Guinea Pigs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/523/dialgue-sheets-2-of-2-searching-for/) - This post follow directly on from my previous one, Dialogue Sheets and Update.I’m looking for some guinea pigs….Are there any teams out there who would like to try a dialogue sheet focused on requirements?I’ve long thought that Dialogue Sheets would be a good way of discussing software needs, requirements, customers, problems and such. I’ve started
- [Dialogue Sheets update (1 of 2)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/524/dialogue-sheets-update-1-of-2/) - It has been a while since I’ve written about Dialogue Sheets here - or indeed anywhere else. So here is a quick update and a request for some guinea pigs - I have ideas for new sheets but I need some teams to try them out. (If you want to be a guinea pig for
- [Contracts for Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/526/contracts-for-agile/) - Last night I did a presentation to the Agile 4 Agencies meet up group on the topic of “Agile Contracts” - although I believe “Contracts for Agile” might have been a better title.This was based on my InfoQ Agile Contracts piece from 4 years ago - also available as a PDF from the Software Strategy
- [The Estimates Land Mine - use and misuse of estimates](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/527/the-estimates-land-mine-use-and-misuse/) - After posting my last post - Estimate or #NoEstimate that is the question? - I felt a little as if I’d stepped on a land-mine. That is to say I had a few comments and a bit a mini-twitter storm. If I’m being honest I have been avoiding some of the estimates/#NoEstimates debate until now
- [Estimates or #NoEstimates? that is the question](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/528/estimates-or-noestimates-that-is/) - To estimate or not to estimate, to join the #NoEstimates bang-wagon or not, that is the question.Maybe it is a navel gazing exercise for agile-folk but it does seem to be the reoccurring theme. And I can’t get over this feeling that some of my peers think I’m a bit stupid for continuing to support
- [#AOSW - Agile Outside of Software - starts here](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/529/aosw-agile-outside-of-software-starts/) - We had the Agile on the Beach conference a couple of weeks. In a word: Brilliant - just look at the photos and see how people enjoyed themselves.OK, I’m biased, I’m one of the organisers, but many people told me it was brilliant or they just didn’t want to hurt my feelings.There is much I
- [Nightmare on Agile Street 2: Managed Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/530/nightmare-on-agile-street-2-managed/) - Blow me down, its happening again…I’m awake. I’m wet, its a cold sweat. Its the small hours of the morning and the dream is horrid....I’ve been sent to Coventry.I’m in a clients office waiting for a meeting to start. The development manager is telling me she has selected me to help them become Agile, she
- [Agile outside of software](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/533/agile-outside-of-software/) - Later this week I’m doing a presentation at Agile On The Beach entitled: “Agile outside of software development”. (I resisted the temptation to call it “Agile Beyond Software”). The presentation will attempt to answer a question which is often asked at, and around, Agile On The Beach: “Is Agile only for Software Development?”In truth it
- [Book: Scaling up Excellence](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/534/book-scaling-up-excellence/) - In the early days of this blog I used to regular blog book reviews. As I found ideas of my own to blog about - and found fewer books I wanted to read - so book reviews ceased. But right now I want to blog about a book because I want to recommend this book.The
- [Bug Strategies & Xanpan volume 2](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/535/bug-strategies-xanpan-volume-2/) - The summer lull has finally allowed me to get a lot done. In particular I’m very pleased to have finished a piece of writing I began some months ago: Bugs - Management Strategies.This is an important piece for two reasons. Firstly I’ve been wanting to write this essay for a few years but never found
- [Nightmare on Agile Street](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/537/nightmare-on-agile-street/) - I’m awake. I’m lying in my bed. I’m sweating but I’m cold. Its the small hours of the morning and the dream is as vivid as it is horrid....I’m standing in a clients offices, I’ve been here before, I know whats happening. They are building an website. Quite a complex one, this will be the
- [What we forget about the Scientific Method](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/538/what-we-forget-about-scientific-method/) - I get fed up hearing other Agile evangelists champion The Scientific Method, I don’t disagree with them, I use it myself but I think they are sometimes guilty of overlooking how the scientific method is actually practiced by scientists and researchers. Too often the scientific approach is made to sound simple, it isn’t. First lets
- [How do I make testing faster?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/541/how-do-i-make-testing-faster/) - Earlier this week I was the guest of a large bank in the City, OK Canary Wharf actually. They had their own little internal Agile conference. As well as myself some of the usual suspects were on parade as well as some internal speakers. It was very enjoyable and as usual the C-List speakers were
- [Do you know the way to Falmouth? (Agile on the Beach)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/542/do-you-know-way-to-falmouth-agile-on/) - The Agile on the Beach 2014 conference is fast approaching and there is every sign that it will, again, be sold out. Which means, in the days and weeks before the conference I’m going to have several people asking me for my advice on how to get to Falmouth. So here is some advice on
- [Tailor or an image consultant?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/543/tailor-or-image-consultant/) - “Gentlemen, you are getting married. You go to the best tailor in town, and you say: ‘I’m getting married, my bride is beautiful, make me look one million dollars, I don’t care what it costs.’The tailor measures you very carefully then he stands back. He rubs his chin, he is clearly troubled by something. ‘Tell
- [False Projects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/544/false-projects/) - In my last post (Inconvenient Truths of Project Status Reporting) I used an expression which I think deserves highlighting and explaining: False ProjectsFalse projects occur when we use the word “project” for work which is not really a project. For example:There is no end date to the work, it goes on and on, rightly or wrongly.The
- [Inconvenient Truths of Project Status Reporting](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/545/inconvient-truths-of-project-status/) - Long time readers of this blog may recall that I subscribe to the high-brow MIT Sloan Management Review. They may also remember that I’m never quite sure it is worth the rather high subscription fee. But once in a while an article comes along which is worth a year’s subscription. The “Pitfalls of Project Status
- [Ameba Teams and Amoeba Management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/550/ameba-teams-and-amoeba-management/) - I’m probably going to upset some people with my spelling here but as far as I can tell, there are two ways to spell the unicellular lifeforms most of use learn about in school: Amoeba and Ameba. I believe Amoeba is the more, shall we say, classical way of spelling the name but Ameba is
- [Loose ends: Continuous Delivery & Conway's Law](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/553/loose-ends-continuous-delivery-conways/) - A few weeks ago I did a presentation entitled “Conway’s Law and Continuous Delivery” - although it was also at some point entitled “Conway’s Law and Organisational Change” or possibly “Conway’s Law and Change for Continuous Delivery” - to the Pipeline Conference in London.The presentation was very well received at the time and I spent
- [Software Developmers: prototype of future knowledge workers?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/554/software-developmers-prototype-of/) - ‘‘Knowledge work is not easily defined in quantitative terms, . . . To make knowledge work productive will be the great management task of this century, just as to make manual work productive was the great management task of the last century.’’ Peter Drucker (1969)In recent months I have repeatedly been reminded of an argument,
- [The Prototype of Future Knowledge Workers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/555/the-prototype-of-future-knowledge/) - The following is an except from my 2008 book “Changing Software Development: Learning to be Agile”. I’ve been thinking about this suggestion a lot recently and have a blog post in the works. Hence I thought now would be a good time to share this, it also means I can reference this post in the
- [Notes to students doing research about Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/556/notes-to-students-doing-research-about/) - The dissertation/thesis writing season is approaching so I expect the recent set of questions from a student is the first of many. Actually they occur all year round but March to September is the busy period. So, to pre-empt any students bearing questions about Agile - and so I can just repeat my stock answers
- [Managers who don't TDD be unemployable before 2022.](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/559/managers-who-dont-tdd-be-unemployable/) - In the furious discussion over my “Programmers without TDD will be unemployable” last month a couple of people asked: “How will this come to pass?” And a few others said: “Managers will never let this happen.” Let me answer both these comments in one go: Managers are the missing link between today’s largely TDD-free code
- [Manual testing sinful?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/560/manual-testing-sinful/) - One of the asides I made in “Programmers without TDD will be unemployable” which caused a bit of outrage in the testing community was my comment “Manual testing is a sin.” While I have been unfair to many testers, and somewhat simplistic, I still stand by the statement. Let me expand on why I still
- [Unemployable without TDD - a follow up](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/561/unemployable-without-tdd-follow-up/) - The reaction to my last entry - Programmers without TDD will be unemployable by 2022 - took me a little by surprised. I expected there would be a reaction, perhaps a big reaction, but I frequently expect some reaction and usually I get none. This time I got a reaction and the scale of the
- [Programmers without TDD will be unemployable by 2022 (a prediction)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/562/programmers-without-tdd-will-be/) - New year is traditionally the time of predictions, and several of the blogs I read have been engaging in predictions (e.g. Ian Sommerville “Software Engineerng looking forward 20 years.”). This is not a tradition I usually engage in myself but for once I’d like to make one. (I’ll get back to software economics next time,
- [Agile and the Demand Curve](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/563/agile-and-demand-curve/) - In the last two posts I’ve taken two different views on what might happen to the Software Demand curve when we introduce Agile:The good Agile demand curveThe bad Agile demand curveWhen we discussed how Agile effects the software supply curve things were pretty clear cut. Agile, in the long term boosts supply, and may even
- [The bad Agile demand curve](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/564/the-bad-agile-demand-curve/) - In explaining the Agile Demand curve I told a good news story in the previous entry. This time I want to tell a bad news story. This is every classical Project Managers’ fear about Agile, its story we don’t tell often but it can happen. Once I’ve told this story we can proceed to the
- [The good Agile demand curve](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/569/the-good-agile-demand-curve/) - I’ve been slow with this entry on Agile and the Demand Curve, apologies. Part of the reason for the delay is software demand is not simple.In my last entry on software economics I discussed why the Software Demand curve for custom software is both high (i.e. people want a lot of software) and inelastic (i.e.
- [Honoured - I'm on a 100-top lists](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/571/honoured-im-on-100-top-lists/) - Bit thank yo to the guys at ProgramCreek.com for including this blog on their list of “100 High-Quality Java Developers’ Blogs”. Strictly speaking this is not a Java blog but most of the issues I talk about do effect Java developers.It also seems that in listing this blog at number 55 (yeah, still room for
- [Software demand curve](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/572/software-demand-curve/) - Returning to my series of posts applying the tools of economics to software development - Supply & Demand in software development, Software supply over time and Software supply & demand - this time its Agile - it is time to turn our attention to the demand curve. First a reminder of how things start...First I
- [Agile is like sex](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/574/agile-is-like-sex/) - I’ll get back to software development economics, there are more posts in the works, but right now I need to say something....I have blogged before on the subject of “What is Agile” - I’ve even expanded on that blog in an unfinished piece of writing called “What is Agile? Perspectives on Agile” - but sometimes
- [Software supply & demand - this time its Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/575/software-supply-demand-this-time-its/) - Carrying on from my previous posts applying the economists tools to thinking about software development (Supply & Demand in software development and Software supply over time). In this post I want to see what happens when we apply Agile... We start with our supply and demand curves as before: First we need to define Agile,
- [Software supply over time](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/582/software-supply-over-time/) - Having outlined the theory of supply and demand in the software market I want to spend this, and the next few posts examining what this analysis can teach us. I’m starting with the supply curve and will look at the demand curve later.First I want to consider what happens to a software system over time
- [Requirements, User Stories and Backlogs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/489/requirements-user-stories-and-backlogs/) - User Stories, half of me hates them, that half of me wonders “What is all the fuss about?” and that half wonders “How did Mike Cohn write 200 pages about something so simple?” The other half of me see that people find them useful. They fill a need. They contain the key elements of requirements
- [Iterative or Incremental?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/490/iterative-or-incremental/) - Hopefully most of my readers have noticed by now that I regularly stray from the Agile Gospel, or rather, I have a tendency to go against the common form of Agile. (And if you haven’t noticed you probably haven’t read My warped, crazy, wrong version of Agile post and its philosophical successor, Xanpan.) Today I
- [The Prolonged Death Spiral Business Model](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/491/the-prolonged-death-spiral-business/) - I recent message from a friend tells me he is putting on his parachute. He can’t take it anymore. He’s tried hard, very hard, to change a challenged company. Actually, I know a little bit more about this company than I should. I once told him that working there was like being aircrew in Catch-22:
- [Scarcity, not Slack](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/493/scarcity-not-slack/) - Question: What is the opposite of Slack?Or, perhaps a better question: What is the problem to which Slack is the answer?Lots of software people like to advocating the benefits of slack for development teams. I’m not talking about the popular collaboration tool Slack, rather I’m talking about Slack in the sense discussed by Tom DeMarco
- [Agile is Punk - Agile is Democracy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/494/agile-is-punk-agile-is-democracy/) - From time to time I’ve been heard to say: “Agile is Punk.” But I’ve never explained myself.I’ve also been heard to say things life “Agile is about democratising the workplace” but I’ve never explain myself there either.Let me try…What I mean when I say this is: Agile (software development) has a lot in common with
- [Some notes on Taking the Temperature](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/496/some-notes-on-taking-temperature/) - There is a technique sometimes used in retrospectives, and sometimes called “Taking the temperature” but in truth it can be used in many settings and I’m sure it goes by various names. Basically, you pose some question to a group, for example:“How well do we feel the last iteration went?”“How much do you know about
- [The Kanban paradox](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/497/the-kanban-paradox/) - I’m a big fan of David Anderson’s Kanban method, I always said my brand of “Agile” was heavily infused with Lean before David presented Kanban. In the same way that Kent Beck said Extreme Programming was about “turning the dials up to 10” David turned the Lean ideas behind Agile up to 10 and in
- [Managers are not homogenous](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/498/managers-smell/) - (If you are not a coder please bear with me…. we’ll get to the business point in a moment.)When a programmer finds a class named Manager in a code base they know - or at least should know - that it is probably a smell. It might be innocent but until proven so it should
- [Agile on the Beach voting procedure](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/499/agile-on-beach-voting-procedure/) - Nothing exciting but to save me from explaining this again and again…. Yesterday the Agile on the Beach conference committee finalised the speaker lineup. I’ve just this morning sent the acceptances and the “Sorry” e-mails. Since there were about 150 submissions and only 41 slots to speak in we cold only accept less than a
- [Thoughts on 6-Sigma and Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/500/thoughts-on-6-sigma-and-agile/) - Question that comes up from time to time: "Does anyone have Agile project which is Six Sigma? How these two things Six Sigma and Agile complement each other on software product development project? “ My answer: In theory Agile and 6-Sigma should fit, they both have their roots in the quality movement. A cursory glance
- [Requirements, Customers and a new Dialogue Sheet](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/501/requirements-customers-and-new-dialogue/) - I’ve written many many times in this blog about Dialogue Sheets. On the whole I offer dialogue sheets as a retrospective technique. However they have other applications, for example:The Agile Discussion sheet serves to help teams decide what Agile practices they wish to adopt. I use this to close training sessions and I’ve seen teams
- [Common Agile objections](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/502/common-agile-objections/) - Last time (“Waterfall works when…”) I promised to discuss some of those common objections to “Agile.” (Actually, reading back this this post I’m struck by how like my “12 Myths of Agile Development” which was originally a blog post 2 years ago called “11 Agile Myths of 2 Truths”.)(Apologies by the way, “Waterfall works when…”
- [Conclusion: Agile & ERP, part 5](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/421/conclusion-agile-erp-part-5/) - The story so far…Agile & ERP?The Good News about Agile & ERPERP Culture v. Agile CultureTh Bad News about Agile & ERP 5. Where does this leave us?For a modern software developer, who understand agile and is well versed in the current ways of working encountering an ERP system is like stepping back 20 or perhaps 30
- [The Bad News: Agile & ERP, part 4](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/422/the-bad-news-agile-erp-part-4/) - The story so far…Part 1: Agile & ERP introducedPart 2: Good News: Agile can work with ERP!Part 3: Culture: How Agile & ERP cultures conflictIn this mini-series I’m discussing Agile development on ERP systems. If you are doing this and you’ve just Googled “Agile and ERP” there is a good chance you’ve found this blog
- [Culture problems: Agile & ERP part 3](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/423/culture-problems-agile-erp-part-3/) - I suggested some cultural problems with software development in an ERP setting in my second post on Agile and ERP, this time I want to look more closely at the differences in the two cultures. Many of the cultural issues revolved around the fact that ERP tends to happen in a corporate IT environment, and
- [The Good News - Agile & ERP, part 2](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/424/the-good-news-agile-erp-part-2/) - First the good news: there is a lot of Agile practices which work just fine in an ERP environment. These are mostly the process practices and some from the demand side (i.e. requirements, “what are we going to build”).All of the following work just fine and will improve work of teams in ERP:Stand-up meetings work
- [Agile & ERP? - part 1](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/425/agile-erp-part-1/) - This is the first of several blog posts about working in an Agile way with ERP systems…Most of the developers, testers, BAs and managers I know have little, if any, awareness of ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning. The big software systems sold by SAP in particular but also by Oracle, Microsoft and others. Strictly speaking ERP
- [Zen'in keiei - more Japanese - every person a manager](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/428/zenin-keiei-more-japanese-every-person/) - There are a few words of Japanese that have permeated the lingo of Agile and Lean folk - Kanban and Kaizen being probably the two best know. Well, I recently discovered another one I think we should embrace.A family friend works at Uniqlo in Moscow and I recently noticed a Japanese word on her LinkedIn
- [Magic software dust or a bashed up Peugeot?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/429/magic-software-dust-or-bashed-up-peugeot/) - Creating a new software application… is that a glass is half-full or a glass is half-empty thing to you?Does the thought of actually employing programmers fill you with joy or with dread?Get it right and software technology is magical, get it right and software technology can change the world. The browser you are reading these
- [Surge or pivot? - notes on failure](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/431/surge-or-pivot-notes-on-failure/) - Failure is good.We learn from failure.Failure is learning; the information content of a failure may be more than the information content of success.Failure isn’t failure, it’s an opportunity to pivot.Failure is capitalism’s Darwinian evolutionary mechanism to remove the less productive, the less relevant.Fail fast, fail cheap, learn, try again.Creative Destruction is the way capitalism remove
- [Using cost of delay to determine schedule](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/432/using-cost-of-delay-to-determine/) - “When does the business need it?” is far more important than “When will the developers have it ready?”. Business needs should drive schedules, engineers need to create solutions which fit within business schedules. That does not mean cutting corners, it does not mean shipping with bugs or technical debt. Its the art of the possible
- [Servants, not leaders, not managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/436/servants-not-leaders-not-managers/) - Sharp eyed readers of my management mini-series will have noticed I referred to managers doing administration several times, Peter Hilton mailed me to ask me more about this. Let me image such a manager, let me imagine the worst possible scenario…This manager spends a lot of time involved in admin. Finance forms a lot of
- [#NoProjects applies to bread machines too](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/438/noprojects-applies-to-bread-machines-too/) - #NoProjects continues to attract an increasing amount of attention. In fact the idea now has its own NoProjects website - many thanks to Evan Leybourn for that.From time to time I get asked:“Surely #NoProjects doesn’t apply to embedded software? After all, the software is installed, the device ships, end of story.”Maybe, but as in other
- [Some things can never be spoken](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/439/some-things-can-never-be-spoken/) - “Some things can never be spokenSome things cannot be pronouncedThat word does not exist in any languageIt will never be uttered by a human mouth” Talking Heads, Give me back my name, Little Creates 1985Some things shouldn’t be spoken. Some things shouldn’t be targeted, some things should be created as a side effect. In Life, the
- [Management - what are we left with?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/440/management-what-are-we-left-with/) - Over the last four months I have written a dozen blogs concerning management of software development. I will write more, but I’d also like to draw a line under this mini-series for now - there are other things I want to blog about.Management in and of software development is an important topic, simply abolishing it
- [Advice for conference submissions (Agile on the Beach feedback)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/441/advice-for-conference-submissions-agile/) - For Agile on the Beach 2016 we had over 240 submissions. Thank you to everyone who submitted, I’m sorry we could have so few of you - 41 sessions if I remember correctly.I find sending the “Sorry you weren’t accepted” mails the hardest part of organising Agile on the Beach. That is especially true when
- [Managers as information hubs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/442/managers-as-information-hubs/) - One of the arguments that is made for manager-less teams runs something like this:“Managers were useful when they were information hubs, when they heard company information, policy, direction, etc. and cascaded it down to their staff.But in a world with e-mail, web, slack and a myriad of information systems there is no need for the
- [Managers, change and strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/443/manages-change-and-strategy/) - In response to one of my posts on management Sergey Timanin ‏tweeted:“the work [of managers includes] steering the organisation in times of change might be the most invisible to tech people and most under appreciated”I agree completely with Sergey, many of the changes in and around organizations are invisible to those doing the work. Indeed
- [Advice for managing software development?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/444/advice-for-managing-software-development/) - When I started writing my management blog series one reader expressed their hope that I would give advice on how to manage software development. I’m sorry, but this series has contained very little advice on how to manage software development. There is a good reason for that: It is hard to give specific advice to
- [Management for the masses?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/445/management-for-masses/) - This is an important post. This is the ninth blog post in my mini-series on management, it is the blog post all the others have been building up to, let me recap some key points:When creating software there there is coding work, testing work, requirements work and some unavoidable management workRemoving managers may remove some
- [Managing requires skills and intuition](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/446/managing-requires-skills-and-intuition/) - If you’ve been reading my series of blogs on management it should be clear by now that I think some element of management is essential in software development. You might also have picked up that management, in various forms, is bigger than is commonly realised. I also believe that good management can make a
- [Management work: Strategy and Planning?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/447/management-work-strategy-and-planning/) - In my list of management work last week I left what some people will think of as a major omission: strategy and planning.There is a school of thought that says that managers spend, or at least should spend, a lot of their time engaged in thinking big thoughts, having big discussions, creating company and product
- [What is management work?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/448/what-is-management-work/) - Continuing my discuss of management, broadly speaking my argument is: There is management work to do - the same as there is coding, testing and customer understanding. To pretend there isn’t such work to do, that all software development might be reduced to rational engineering is naive. Much of management work may be administration, we
- [Thoughts on the nature of management work](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/449/thoughts-on-nature-of-management-work/) - Returning to my Management, my mini-series of blog… (Non-Commissioned Managers, Analysts aren't managers and Managers who are not managers)Lots of Agile advocates have a real downer on Management. I think (like myself) they dislike the authority conferred on “managers”. This may be dressed up as a rational dislike of top-down reasoning - and they have
- [Agile Project Manager/Scrum Master - Wrong,  so, so wrong](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/451/agile-project-managerscrum-master-wrong/) - I shouldn’t do this, it raises my blood pressure, I have better things to do, I have better things to blog about but I can’t help myself….I made the mistake of opening a mail from a recruitment agent, the title: “Agile Project Manager/Scrum Master”, let me dissect it for you…“My client based in the West
- [Opportunistic salvage driven by tests](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/452/opportunistic-salvage-driven-by-tests/) - Taking a break from my recent series of blogs about management, I’d like to discuss something that has come up with my current client - OK, I’m bending my rule to and blog about live events but this isn’t about the client, its about an idea.Opportunistic salvageMany readers will have seen this scenario before: there
- [Non-Commissioned Managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/453/non-commissioned-managers/) - The last two blogs have all been about roles and people who are commonly thought of as “managers” in software development but who aren’t - Managers who are not managers and Analysts aren’t Managers - either because they happen to have the word “manager” in their title or because exhibit characteristics which programmers associate with
- [Analysts aren't managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/455/analysts-arent-managers/) - Continuing from my last blog, Managers who aren’t managers, I need to say a bit more about people who aren’t managers but get talked about managers.This is a group of people who aren’t managers and wouldn’t consider themselves managers but programmers and testers consider to be managers. I’m thinking specifically about Business Analysts but there
- [Managers who are not managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/457/managers-who-are-not-managers/) - I’m continuing my theme of management from my January blog (“It takes an engineer to manage engineering”) we need to clear up some terminology.I often hear form people at Agile conferences that we should get rid of managers but they offer up no definition of manager. Let me suggest that the title “manager” is thrown
- [It takes an engineer to manage engineering](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/460/it-takes-engineer-to-manage-engineering/) - I’ve been meaning to write about the managers and Agile software development for a long time. And, apart from a few asides, I haven’t. Why not? Well partly because the topic is difficult, or rather large, but mostly I’ve not written it because I’m fearful of the flames that will come down on me.You see
- [The staffing pyramid](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/461/the-staffing-pyramid/) - When I see development teams I expect to see more programmers than requirements people (BAs, Product Managers, etc.), and I expect to see even fewer management types. Think of it like a staffing pyramid structure: Programmers (and often testers) should form the largest group, without programmers there is no software, and while in an ideal
- [Agile adoption by numbers - and some problems](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/464/agile-adoption-by-numbers-and-some/) - I’ve done a few agile introductions in my time, in fact I’ve started to feel I could almost write a book entitled “agile by numbers”. So yesterday when this question appeared on some LinkedIn group I thought I’d give it a quick go:“I am working with an organization which wants to explore agile adoption. What
- [Dear boy, have you ever tried programming?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/466/dear-boy-have-you-ever-tried-programming/) - I sometimes come across teams who are wrapped up in discussing what they should be building. OK, I suppose this is because I hang out with too many management types. Sometimes there are only a couple of programmer, occasionally one, or maybe they haven’t got that far.Sometimes I come across pre-teams, people who will form
- [This blog & Whats next? after Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/469/this-blog-whats-next-after-agile/) - This blog has been noticeably quieter than usual over the last couple of months, and whats more, when I have posted something up its often been of the “this is what I’m doing” type rather than the “here’s something to think about” type post. Well…In the last few months I’ve been putting my energy into
- [A Little Book about Requirements and User Stories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/470/a-little-book-about-requirements-and/) - As mentioned a few weeks ago I’m compiling my recent Agile Connection series on User Stories and Requirements into a LeanPub book.I’ve now released the first couple of chapters, you can get them from LeanPub right now!I intend to add more chapters over the coming weeks. The bulk of the material will be straight from
- [Software has diseconomies of scale - not economies of scale](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/472/software-has-diseconomies-of-scale-not/) - “Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.” John Maynard Keynes Most of you are not only familiar with the idea of economies of scale but you expect economies of scale. Much of our market economy operates on the assumption that when
- [Large companies and fast cars](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/478/large-companies-and-fast-cars/) - A few weeks ago I tweeted:“Large companies trying to be Agile remind me of middle aged men buying sports cars”I wasn’t saying large companies couldn’t be Agile - heaven knows most are trying and a few have successful software teams but on the whole the successes are few and far between. My thinking has nothing
- [Stop empowering people - End disempowerment!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/481/stop-empowering-people-end/) - In the last two posts I’ve discussed some problems with of self-organizing teams and highlighted the need to be clearer about what is actually meant when talking of, that is naming, self-organizing teams. At a minimum the labels need clear definition (I suggested some definitions and I hope someone knows some better ones.)I went further
- [Self-organizing, self-directing, self-managing and authority](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/482/self-organizing-self-directing-self/) - Quick as a flash Eben Halford on Twitter pointed out the mistake with my last blog (Question for self-organizing teams). I was mixing up self-organizing teams with self-directing teams. Well maybe I was… much of my post still stands either way, and as Eben himself pointed out, we might be trying to split a hair
- [Question for self-organizing teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/483/question-for-self-organizing-teams/) - Try this thought experiment.You are a software development manager. You learn about agile and you think it is good. You adopt agile and you make all your teams into self-organizing teams. (Leave aside the question of whether you then quit in a fit of “no managers needed” - we can talk about that later.)Most of
- [On programming in the summer](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/484/on-programming-in-summer/) - In the summer my training and consulting business gets quiet. That allows me to take some holiday and to pursue some stuff I don’t get much time for otherwise. This summer I’ve picked up a programming idea I started last summer, worked on over Christmas and still haven’t finished. This means I’m programming!It is getting
- [Team Start Dialogue Sheet](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/488/team-start-dialogue-sheet/) - I’ve updated the Team Start Dialogue Sheet. Many thanks to Marta Kolenda who used the sheet with two of her new teams and sent me some feedback. Incorporating her feedback gave me a chance to make some more changes to the sheet too.I’m always glad to have feedback from people and teams who try any
- [Programmer's Rorschach test](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/324/programmers-rorschach-test/) - The picture above, I recently added this picture to Continuous Digital for a discussion of teams. When you look at it what do you see: An old style structure chart, or an organization chart? It could be either and anyone who knows of Conway’s Law shouldn’t be surprised. When I was taught Modula-2 at college
- [Medium range capacity planning](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/378/medium-range-capacity-planning/) - My last blog, “Creating Beautiful Roadmaps - NOT!”, highlighted how the term “roadmap” is used and abused. While I’m probably in the minority in seeing a roadmap as long range scenario planning exercises to enhance learning there isn’t really a consensus on what a roadmap is…To some a roadmap is a plan of how a
- [Create Beautiful Roadmaps in Minutes - NOT!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/380/create-beautiful-roadmaps-in-minutes-not/) - Subject: Create Beautiful Roadmaps in MinutesBody: Hi >,I hope you enjoyed reading our guide to product roadmaps. If you haven't already built a roadmap in _____, I'd encourage you sign up for a free trial. Why did this email annoy me so? - apart from the failed name substitution that is.This e-mail,
- [Stockholm developers & Back seat managers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/384/stockholm-developers-back-seat-managers/) - When does empathy become Stockholm syndrome?“Stockholm syndrome is a condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors as a survival strategy during captivity. These feelings, resulting from a bond formed between captor and captives during intimate time spent together, are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured
- [Responsabilisation, Command & Control and Jira](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/386/responsabilisation-command-control-and/) - A big part of Agile is about giving the workers, or rather the team, authority to do their job - putting people into control of their own work. Many people talk about self-organizing and self-managing teams, I prefer to talk about distributing and devolving authority but its all about the same thing.I recently stumbled across
- [Why do devs hate Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/388/why-do-devs-hate-agile/) - Someone asked me this the other day: “Why do devs hate agile?” and as I worked through my answer I thought it worth writing down. There are three reasons I can think of but before we get to them… First off, I don’t think all “devs do hate Agile”. Or rather, I don’t think the
- [Clinic: Product Owner/Manager question](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/390/clinic-product-ownermanager-quuery/) - An old product manager friend writes….“Just started a new gig as senior product manager at blah blah blahDiscovering that scrum teams aren't organized around products but rather engineering components. For instance a product manager has to work with three different scrum teams:- front end- back end- data scienceThis makes it hard for Product Managers to
- [Heavy lifting is the easy bit](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/391/heavy-lifting-is-easy-bit/) - If you want to annoy me say something like “Building software should be like building a house…”. To say I’m not a fan of physical building metaphors is something of an understatement, but… I think I may have notice something.Take that picture above, no they are not space rockets, they are swords.The Sunday morning, for
- [Continuous Digital - the new name for the #NoProjects book](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/392/continuous-digital-new-name-for/) - Regular readers will be familiar with my rants against projects and my posts about NoProjects - if not you have a lot of catching up to do: NoProjects Q&A, Beyond #NoProjects, the podcast with Tom Cagley, presentations and lots more. And as many readers will know I’ve been working on a #NoProjects book on Leanpub.The
- [Stating the obvious: Pre & Post conditions and TDD](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/394/stating-obvious-pre-post-conditions-and/) - Can you have an epiphany more than once?Well I did. In early January - perhaps the result of all the Christmas drink - I had an epiphany and wrote this blog post. As I finished writing the post I realised I’d said it all before… Something old, Something new: Requirements and Specifications.Still, I think the
- [What does a CTO do?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/396/what-does-cto-do/) - The last few years have been good to me, I’ve enjoyed giving advice to teams and companies and helping people get started with better ways of working, ways of working which usually go by the name of “agile” but the name is the least important thing. But… I’ve been questioning if I want to keep
- [Mimas: What it does](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/398/mimas-what-it-does/) - My last entry I discussed some of the lessons I learned coding the Agile on the Beach submission and review system, Mimas (feel free to have a play). For completeness I’d like to tell you what the system does and what I want to do next for the system:For the speaker….What you get is a
- [10 Lessons from coding the Mimas conference submission & review system](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/399/10-lessons-from-coding-mimas-conference/) - The picture above is the documentation for Mimas, the conference submission and review system I wrote for Agile on the Beach. The documentation is three A4 sheets (2 state diagrams and one short paragraph of an assumption) plus an A3 object model - actually the database object model. All stuck to the wall in my
- [Stockless Production from HP - a Kanban video](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/401/stockless-production-from-hp-kanban/) - Some years ago when I was doing my masters degree I was shown a video called “Stockless Production” which was filmed at HP in the early 1980s. It was a brilliant illustration of Kanban, or Just In Time, or, as they liked to call it Stockless Production. Its brilliant, the video quality is poor and
- [AOTB 2017 - notes on submission selection & review](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/402/aotb-2017-notes-on-submission-selection/) - Phewww… Agile on the Beach isn’t for another 3 months but in one way its just ended for me. So it is a good time to share a few notes, specifically about speaker selection.BackgroundMy role in Agile on the Beach centres on the speakers. In the early days I hand picked the line-up but for
- [What do you mean... Done?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/403/what-do-you-mean-done/) - The Monday status meeting is drawing a close. Doris the development manager was keen to start working through a file of resumes on her desk, Sarah the lead developer knew her pair Jo had started coding without her, Peter the product manager was on a flight to Madrid in a couple of hours, but Pat…
- [Whats Next? - Agile disruption](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/404/whats-next-agile-disruption/) - A question from a LinkedIn follower, I thought I’d share my answer with readers:“Hey Allan,I'm giving this a shot reaching out to you. I recently was exposed to agile in the workplace (I am in a field now that I did not study) and am learning more about the process. My company introduced it to
- [How (not) to impress a potential CTO](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/405/how-not-to-impress-potential-cto/) - The other day I was at an event for start-ups and entrepreneurs - no, not the “Agile for Startups” event I’m speaking at in a couple of weeks, for once I was in the audience. Half way through the organisers decided to do a type of speed networking - so we could get to know
- [Every project is test driven in the end](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/406/every-project-is-test-driven-in-end/) - Let me give you the punch-line and then explain myself:As soon as testing starts every “project” becomes a test driven.If there is no formal testing period then that phase begin the moment customers/users start using the product.I’ve recently been watching a slow motion train-crash, I had no power to avert the train crash and those
- [It's all digital, stupid.](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/407/its-all-digital-stupid/) - I’m the stupid one. For years now I’ve heard people talk about “digital” but I failed to grasp the significance. It started with “digital agencies” which I took to be advertising agencies which did websites, although the websites they were trying to build contained a lot of functionality. These odd advertising agencies seemed to offering
- [Clinic: Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Delivery Managers...](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/409/clinic-agile-coaches-scrum-masters/) - ​From time to time questions show up in my mailbox from people asking questions. I like to post the questions and answers here in the hope that others might benefit. I’ve done this a few times before (“Agile Clinic: problem with our agile…”) I’m always glad to help but it can be hard to find
- [A sad Cobol story](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/410/a-sad-cobol-story/) - This isn’t a happy story, it has no happy ending, I suffered personally, its personal but I want to share. Its about trying to solve a problem with the fashionable solution rather than rolling back the last fashionable solution you applied which created the problem to start with… A long time ago, well, the best
- [Kodak and The Mayor of Rotterdam problem](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/411/kodak-and-mayor-of-rotterdam-problem/) - In The Living Company (one of my favourite business books, highly recommended) Arie de Geus describes the Mayor of Rotterdam Problem, it goes like this. Imagine you have perfect foresight. You can see the future accurately. It is 1920 and you visit the Mayor of Rotterdam. You tell the mayor about how the events of
- [My dyslexia inside the corporation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/412/my-dyslexia-inside-corporation-7/) - This is the first blog post of 2017 so something a little different, a little more personal, a little speculative… I’ve written before about my dyslexia (Dyslexia makes me stronger) and I’ve also noted that what is good for dyslexics what helps them learn, is usually good for the wider population too; i.e. if you
- [Management - an end of year postscript](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/413/management-end-of-year-postscript/) - The end of the year is almost here, a year which has seen two mini-series in this blog: Management and Agile ERP. Well, I was catching up with my reading backlog a little something about management by Tim O’Reilly caught my eye.Writing about the future of management in MIT Sloan Management review O’Reilly makes he
- [Quite on the blog front - #NoProjects and Mimas](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/414/quite-on-blog-front-noprojects-and-mimas/) - This blog has been a lot quieter in the last couple of months than normal. My energy has been going elsewhere.If you would like to catch up with latest thinking - particularly #NoProjects - then please check out my latest work-in-progress book, #NoProjects: Correcting Project Myopia.Early versions of this are available to buy and download
- [Technical liabilities: not technical debt](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/415/technical-liabilities-not-technical-debt/) - (This is refactored version of my earlier blog post Technical Liabilities and not Technical Debt - its shorter and contains few of the references to banking and finance.)Wherever I go I hear developers talk about "Technical debt". Unfortunately the expression isn't used in the way Ward Cunningham originally intended it.The time has come to retire
- [Technical Liabilities and not Technical Debt](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/416/technical-liabilities-and-not-technical/) - My last - frustrated - post finished with this line: “banks are collecting technical debt the way they used to collect sub-prime” I’ve always disliked the tech debt metaphor, in part because the way it is generally used is different to Ward Cunningham original defined technical debt and in part because those using
- [Banking systems stink - the pain of an botched HSBC release](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/417/banking-systems-stink-pain-of-botched/) - I’ve had a very frustrating morning, and it all comes down the failure of bank IT systems - particularly a software release failure at HSBC. Gee, their systems are flaky.I was trying to buy tickets at Eurostar.com for my trip to Lean Kanban France in a few weeks. First I tried to use my American
- [Software diseconomies of scale - any research?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/420/software-diseconomies-of-scale-any/) - To say last October’s post “Software has diseconomies of scale - not economies of scale” has been my most popular post ever is something of an understatement! It has been read tens of thousands of times after being picked up by some very popular publications and newsletters.When I wrote the piece I was writing largely
- [Blogger, Blog move & Comments](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1471/blogger-blog-move-comments/) - “And now, the end is near And so I face the final curtain My friend, I'll say it clear I'll state my case, of which I'm certain” My Way, Paul Anka/Frank Sinantra (public domain picture from WikiCommons) Don’t panic! I’m not going away, this blog is not finishing. But it is changing. And with the
- [What if it is all random?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1530/what-if-it-is-all-random/) - What if success in digital business, and in software development, is random? What if one cannot tell in advance what will succeed and what will fail? My cynical side sometimes thinks everything is random. I don’t want to believe my cynical side but… All those minimally viable products, some work, some fail. All those stand-up
- [Principles of software development revisited](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1550/principles-of-software-development-revisited/) - Summer… my traditional time for doing all that stuff that requires a chunk of time… erh… OK, “projects” - only they aren’t well planned and they only resemble projects in the rear-view mirror. Why now? Why summer? - Because my clients are on holiday too so I’m quiet and not delivering much in the way
- [Documentation is another deliverable and 7 other rules](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1595/documentation-is-another-deliverable-and-7-other-rules/) - “Working software over comprehensive documentation.” The Agile Manifesto Some have taken that line to mean “no documentation.” I have sympathy for that. Years ago I worked on railway privatisation in the UK. We (Sema Group) were building a system for Railtrack - remember them? We (the programmers) had documentation coming out our ears. Architecture documents,
- [Definition of Ready considered harmful](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1615/definition-of-ready-considered-harmful/) - Earlier this week I was with a team and discussion turned to “the definition of ready.” This little idea has been growing more and more common in the last couple of years and while I like the concept I don’t recommend it. Indeed I think it could well reduce Agility. To cut to the chase:
- [Continuous Digital & Project Myopia](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1625/continuous-digital-project-myopia/) - This seems a little back to the future… those of you who have been following the evolution of Continuous Digital will know the book grew out of the #NoProjects meme and my extended essay. I think originally the book title was #NoProjects then was Correcting Project Myopia, then perhaps something else and finally settled down
- [Utilisation and non-core team members](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1640/utilisation-and-non-core-team-members/) - “But we have specialists outside the team, we have to beg… borrow… steal people… we can never get them when we want them, we have to wait, we can’t get them enough.” It doesn’t matter how much I pontificate about dedicated, stable, consistent teams I hear this again and again. Does nobody listen to me?
- [MVP is a marketing exercise not a technology exercise](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1654/mvp-is-a-marketing-exercise-not-a-technology-exercise/) - … Minimally Viable Product Possibly the most fashionable and misused term the digital industry right now. The term seems to be used by one-side-or-other to criticise the other. I recently heard another Agile Coach say: “If you just add a few more features you’ll have an MVP” - I wanted to scream “Wrong, wrong, wrong!”
- [Tax the data](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1672/tax-the-data/) - If data is the new oil then why don’t we tax it? My data is worth something to Google, and Facebook, and Twitter, and Amazon… and just about every other Internet behemoth. But alone my data is worth a really tiny tiny amount. I’d like to charge Google and co. for having my data. The
- [Friday throughts on the Agile Manifesto and Agile outside of software](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1686/friday-throughs-on-the-agile-manifesto-and-agile-outside-of-software/) - While I agree with the Agile Manifesto I’ve never been a great on for defining “Agile” in terms of it. As time goes by I find the manifesto increasingly looks like a historic document. It was written in response to the problems in the software industry at the turn of the millennium - problems I
- [Reflections on learning and training (and dyslexia)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1709/reflections-on-learning-and-training-and-dyslexia/) - German readers might recognise the image above as a Nuremberg Funnel. For the rest of you: the Nuremberg funnel represents the idea that a teacher can simply open a students head and pour in learning. First off, a warning: this blog entry might be more for me than for you, but its my blog! Still,
- [The Solution defines the Problem](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1752/the-solution-defined-the-problem/) - How many times have you encountered a user/customer/client who describes the thing they want in terms of Microsoft Excel? - “What I want is a macro in Excel to pick up all these data points and then…” Many a Business Analyst has started from this point and worked back to discover what the clients real
- [Books update: User Stories, Continuous Digital and Project Myopia](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1803/books-update-user-stories-continuous-digital-and-project-myopia/) - Someone told me the other day “I can’t keep up with your books” - and you know what? I’m not surprised, it has been a busy couple of months for me on the books front but actually, there has been very little new writing - except with this blog. First off, “Little Book of Requirements
- [Kanban paradox](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1827/kanban-paradox/) - For a while now I’ve been seeing a paradox with Kanban. Specifically, Kanban compared to Scrum. For a team new to Agile - although some regard this as heretical I place Kanban under the Agile umbrella, yes I know its more about Lean than Agile but of cause Agile is itself a Lean method, anyway…
- [How much did it cost?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1845/how-much-did-it-cost/) - An interesting question came up at an event last week: “My Kanban team has been asked by accounts to put a cost on each story that is done. How do I calculate this?” My initial thought was: easy, and it is easy to give a simple answer to this question but if you unpack the
- [How much is it worth? - more about money](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1898/how-much-is-it-worth-more-about-money/) - My last post - How much did it cost? - tapped something inside me. Time and again I notice how people in the technology business, indeed, even business in general, are quite capable of using the words of business, management, finance and money without really understanding them. Even people in managerial positions don’t seem to
- [1% improvement](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1920/1-improvement/) - Keeping with the numerical and financial theme of the last couple of blogs I want to turn my attention to improvement and how really small improvements add up and can justify big spending. This also turns out to be the case for continual improvement and continual delivery… How would you like it if I promised
- [When does a Start-Up need Agile?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1936/when-does-a-start-up-need-agile/) - I started writing another piece on more economic and agile/software development but it got to long, so right now, an aside… Back in 1968 Peter Drucker wrote: “Large organizations cannot be versatile. A large organization is effective through its mass rather than through its agility.” Last week I presented “Agile for Start-ups” here in London
- [I'm delighted - I'm in the 20 TOP Agile Blogs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1949/im-delighted-im-in-the-20-top-agile-blogs/) - I’m delighted, this blog has been listed in the “20 TOP Agile Blogs for Scrum Masters (2017 edition)”. I recognise most of the other bloggers in this list and frankly it is an honour to be classed with them. (The news also gives me something to publish in this blog be because I’m real and
- [Who should work on what? - Comparative advantage part 1](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1955/who-should-work-on-what-comparative-advantage-part-1/) - Returning to my theme of numerical and economic analysis of software development, I’d like to address that old chestnut: Shouldn’t every developer work on the software where they are most productive? We can model this question using a bit of economic theory called Comparative advantage - which is also the economics that justifies free trade.
- [Adding value - Who works on what? - part 2 of comparative advantage](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1959/adding-value-who-works-on-what-part-2-of-comparative-advantage/) - In my previous post I tried to use the economic theory of comparative advantage to answer the question: Who should work on what? or Shouldn’t every developer work on the software where they are most productive? The economic model gave an answer but more importantly it provided a framework for answering the question. As I
- [Conclusion: Who works on what - Comparative advantage  part 3 of 3](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/1966/conclusion-who-works-on-what-comparative-advantage-part-3-of-3/) - In my last two posts - Who should work on what? part1 and part 2 - I’ve tried to apply the comparative advantage model from economics to the question of which software developer should work on what. The model has come up with two different answers: If productivity (measured by quantity of features is the
- [Nature abhors an information void](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2003/nature-abhors-an-information-void/) - No. 6: What do you want? Voice: Information No. 6:You won’t get it Voice: By hook or by crook we will Information… we all want information… Facebook updates, Tweets, 24-hour rolling news, the Donald Trump Big Brother House… the opening scenes and words of The Prisoner continue to echo, Patrick McGoohan and the other writers
- [Minimally Viable Team in a nutshell](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2011/minimally-viable-team-in-a-nutshell/) - Last week I was in Holland helping a client with their agile adoption and digital transformation. When the subject of teams came up I started talking about Minimally Viable Teams. Yesterday I found myself writing an e-mail to the client expanding on the idea. And it seemed to me that the e-mail - or an
- [Outsourcing banana skins: Warning signs that your supplier isn't as good as they claim](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2015/outsourcing-banana-skins-warning-signs-that-your-supplier-isnt-as-good-as-they-claim/) - So you think you want to contract out some development work? - yes, you know this area is full of banana skins to slip on, and you know others have problems but you still want to do it. And you want to contract it out to an “Agile” development shop? There are no laws against
- [Down with management!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2079/down-with-management/) - Si: Welcome Peter, thank you for taking the time to attend this annual performance review Peter: As long as you know I don’t want to be here, performance reviews are pointless, I told that to my manager Roger. I should be at my desk coding. Si: Yes, I understand your position, in fact many of
- [Sprint Zero](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2085/sprint-zero/) - Starting a new project? A new product? Have a team transitioning to “Agile” (aka Scrum) and wanting to get ready? Why not try a Sprint Zero? - Why not indeed. Sprint Zero is a way to get everything ready to start work, to buy the tools you need, set up your databases, perhaps do some
- [Product Owners need 4 things](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2090/product-owners-need-4-things/) - To be an effective Product Owner - and that includes product managers and business analysts who are nominating work for teams to do - you need at least four things. You may well need more than these four but these are common across all teams and domains. 1. Skills and experience There is more to
- [Product Owner or Backlog Administrator?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2101/product-owner-or-backlog-administrator/) - In the official guides all Product Owners are equal. One size fits all. In the world I live in some Product Owners are more equal than others and one size does not fit all. The key variable here is the amount of Authority a Product Owner has. In my last post I said that Authority
- [Busy busy busy: What Product Owners do](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2140/busy-busy-busy-what-product-owners-do/) - If you hadn’t noticed I’m building a blog mini-series on the Product Owner role. Its a role I’ve long felt didn’t get the attention it should have. Frankly, in a Scrum setting, I think the Scrum Master gets too much attention and the Product Owner not enough. One aspect in particular of the Product Owner
- [What Product Owners should not do](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2158/what-product-owners-should-not-do/) - Last time I set out some of the things a Product Owner should be doing - or at least considering doing. Even a quick look at that list will tell you the Product Owner is going to be a busy person. So in this post I’d like to suggest some thinigs Product Owners should NOT
- [The Product Owner is dead, long live the Product Owner!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2174/the-product-owner-is-dead-long-live-the-product-owner/) - For years I have been using this picture to describe the Product Owner role. For years I have been saying: “The title Product Owner is really an alias. Nobody should have Product Owner on their business cards. Product Owner is a Scrum defined role which is usually filled by a Product Manager or Business Analyst,
- [The Product Owner refactored: the SPO/TPO model](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2186/the-product-owner-refactored-the-spo-tpo-model/) - Surprisingly I’ve never blogged about the Strategic Product Owner / Tactical Product Owner model, this is surprising because it is a model I both find again and again and advocate again and again. I find lots of companies who have a version of this model in place, they have created the model to deal with
- [Closing the Product Owner mini-series: they are all different!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2213/closing-the-product-owner-mini-series-they-are-all-different/) - With some final words I’d like to draw this mini-series on the Product Owner to a close and open a new chapter with a new book. I’ve written six blog posts in the last two months and I have drafts for more but there are other things I want to blog about. Product Owners need
- [Estimation, planning, teams and money, some data](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2238/estimation-planning-teams-and-money-some-data/) - When I deliver Agile training for teams I run an exercise called “The Extended XP Game”. It is based on the old “XP Game” but over the years I’ve enhanced it and added to it. We have a lot of fun, people are laughing and they still talk about it years later. The game illustrates
- [Because your "competitors have it" IS NOT STRATEGY](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2361/because-your-competitors-have-it-is-not-strategy/) - “We need a product that does X because our competitors have a product that does X” “Our product needs feature Y because our competitors product has feature Y.” It makes me want to cry. Let me clear: building something because your competitors have it IS NOT A STRATEGY. Neither is it a particularly good tactic.
- [Best practices considered harmfull](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2403/best-practices-considered-harmfull/) - I’ve long worried about “Best Practices”. Sure I usually play along at the time but lurking in the back of my mind, waiting for a suitable opportunity are two questions: Who decided this was best practice?Who says this practice can’t be bettered? I was once told by someone from the oil industry that it was
- [Organizational structure in the Digital and Agile age](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2438/organizational-structure-in-the-digital-and-agile-age/) - Someone asked the other day: how should an organisation be designed? There are two potential answers, which actually aren't as contradictory as they look at first sight. The first is very simple: Don't. That is, don't design your organization, don't set out an organizational chart, don't set out a plan and aim to restructure your
- [Agile is the process digital technology needs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2455/agile-is-the-process-digital-technology-needs/) - In my presentation at Agile on the Beach last week I continued my discussion of Agile and Digital. It is increasingly clear that digital and agile are intrinsically linked. Specifically, business need agile processes to get the most out of digital technology. My “Agile, Digital & the new management paradigms” presentation is online but let
- [Release or be damned](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2507/release-or-be-damned/) - Back when I was still paid to code I had a simple question I posed to troubled development efforts: “Why can’t we release tomorrow?” This short simple question turns out to be amazingly powerful. I remember one effort I was involved with in California where a new CEO took over and started cutting jobs. I
- [How should we organize our teams?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2603/how-should-we-organize-our-teams/) - Q1: How should we organize our teams? My team is owner of different trading platforms and the core services around it. But we depend heavily on other products (e.g. financial feeds, client identification, services to send orders to stock markets, etc.). And of course each of the team managing these services have other platforms that
- [How do we organise with a parallel team?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2650/how-do-we-organise-with-with-a-parallel-team/) - 2) Offshoring - When Project meets #NoProject In our department, we maintain products, … we deliver small features. In parallel, we have some offshore teams working in traditional project mode The hard part comes when we need to integrate/merge our code. We have different cycles, schedules and objectives. How do we manage code handover code
- [Dealing with unplanned but urgent work](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2705/support-devops-in-a-continuous-world/) - 3) Maintenance and Evolution To keep a product alive, we choose backlog stories that will bring value, and do them one after the other. But… as support of the application may take a huge part the work. And when the problem is critical, there is nothing you can do but stop what you do and
- [More Continuous #NoProjects questions](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2737/more-continuous-noprojects-questions/) - Three short questions and answers to finish off my series of left over questions about #NoProjects, #NoEstimates and the Continuous model. Q4: How do we prioritize and organize requests on a product that are from opposite business owners? - for example legal (who wants to reduce the risk and annoy more customers) and sales (who
- [Agile won the war but lost the peace](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2762/agile-won-the-war-but-lost-the-peace/) - “I’ve spoken of the shining city all my political life, … in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had
- [Money talks: A tale of two change programs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2799/money-talks-a-tale-of-two-change-programs/) - Like many in the agile community - or what sometimes gets called the agile industrial complex - I am all for piecemeal adoption, small scale before large scale, get good at doing stuff then expand it out… - what else would you expect from Mr Diseconomies of Scale? The “start small” and grow might even
- [The power of small declines](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2855/the-power-of-small-declines/) - Last year I wrote about the power of 1% improvement, and how powerful this can be when that improvement occurs frequently. For example, if a team improves 1% a week then over the course of 50 weeks (a year) they would improve by over 62%. A few days ago I had a revelation: the opposite
- [Error handling omitted for brevity](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2890/error-handling-omitted-for-brevity/) - Q: What is the difference between programming in college and programming in the real world? A: Error handling Do you remember when you were learning to program? Do you remember those text books you had back in college? And do you remember what they said about error handling? As I remember it most of what
- [Throwing mud at a wall](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2932/throwing-mud-at-a-wall/) - Throwing mud at a wall is a metaphor I use again and again. As a description of what I do and as a metaphor for creating change in organizations. When you throw mud at a wall most of it falls off immediately. Some will stick for a little while then falls off. A little sticks
- [An (agile) coach's dilemma](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2943/an-agile-coachs-dilemma/) - I'd never met the team before. It was a small company in Cornwall and the big boss man was away on holiday that week. They took me upstairs to the meeting room. We talked for about an hour and I could tell there was something on their mind. Eventually one of them asked: "we have
- [Tyranny of the backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/2985/tyranny-of-the-backlog/) - The backlog is a great idea: all the things we think the team will build, or perhaps: things they might build, and it might contain other work, like evaluation or reviews. Yes, the backlog is a great idea, all the stuff the team might do, well perhaps not all, it is seldom complete, after all,
- [Story Generators](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3004/story-generators/) - Recently I've been looking again at Jobs to be Done and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). I increasingly see them as story generators and a potential solution to the tyranny of the backlog I described last time. When I first looked at Jobs to be Done (and OKRs actually) I wondered if they constituted a
- [Building software is not like building houses (thankfully)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3062/building-software-is-not-like-building-houses-thankfully/) - I hate the “building software is like building buildings” metaphor. For a start most software people know so little about physical building that they are comparing the messy world of software construction with a idealised image of what they think happens in construction. The above is a picture from my back garden last week. Only
- [Identity over roles and responsibilities](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3086/identity-over-roles-and-responsibilities/) - When was the last time you read your “roles and responsibilities” description? My guess is, it was about the time you applied for your current position. Of course, if your HR department, or agile coaches, have decided to change your description you might have read the new document but even then, did you? My guess
- [Agile is a Crunchy Nut Frog (and some dirty secrets)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3098/agile-is-a-crunchy-nut-frog-and-some-dirty-secrets/) - Remember the Monty Python Crunchy Nut Frog sketch? - especially the final section.. Officer: Well why don't you move into more conventional areas of confectionery, … I mean look at this one, 'cockroach cluster', 'anthrax ripple'. What's this one, 'spring surprise'? Shop keeper: Ah - now, that's our speciality - covered with darkest creamy chocolate.
- [The Agile virus](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3117/the-agile-virus/) - The thing we call Agile is a virus. It gets into organizations and disrupts the normal course of business. In the early days, say before 2010, the corporate anti-bodies could be counted on to root out and destroy the virus before too much damage was done. But sometimes the anti-bodies didn’t work. As the old
- [The Product Owner Delta](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3127/the-product-owner-delta/) - As regular readers might know I'm working on a book called The Art of Product Ownership to be published by Apress later this year. One of the chapters is entitled "Why have a Product Owner" and a few days ago a bunch of ideas crystallised into this... The aim of the Product Owner is to
- [In the beginning there is architecture, well maybe](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3171/in-the-beginning-there-is-architecture-well-maybe/) - I was on a panel last year when someone asked that old chestnut: “Surely before you start coding anything you need to design an architecture?” As regular readers might guess I took a very simple stand: “No, you need to get something that works, you need to show you can address the problem in a
- [Are we there yet?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3191/electronic-monks/) - Those of us who don’t code any more, and perhaps many of those who do, need Electronic Monks to help us with software development. There is an old Douglas Adam’s book (Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency) which features an Electric Monk. The job of an electric monk is to believe things for you. In Adam’s
- [The problem of the problem](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3276/the-problem-of-the-problem/) - Some years ago I was managing a team at an internet TV pioneer. Shortly after a release our biggest customer - ITV - was on the phone complaining about a bug. Unfortunately one set of data fields were retaining their value when they should be wiped clear. It took a couple of months before we
- [Mission Impossible: the Product Owner](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3554/mission-impossible-the-product-owner/) - Is the product owner role impossible to fill well? Do we set product owners up to fail? Have you ever worked with a really excellent product owner? Someone you would be eager to work with again? The lack of really outstanding product owners isn’t the fault of the individuals. I think product owners are asked
- [4 things every product owner need](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3598/4-things-every-product-owner-need/) - To coincide with my new book, The Art of Agile Product Ownership, I’ve written a post which appears on the publishers website: Four Things Every Product Owner Needs.
- [Product Owner: all about the what](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3602/product-owner-all-about-the-what/) - I feel compelled to write this blog because I keep coming across the wrong type of Product Owner. I feel bad about writing this blog because a) I’ve made these points before in other forums so I’m repeating myself, and b) at the end of the day you, your team, and your organization, is free
- [Flipping job descriptions](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/3697/flipping-job-descriptions/) - When was the last time you read your job description? Or, if it is a separate document, your “roles and responsibilities” description? My guess it was about the time you applied for your current position. Of course, someone decided to change your description you might have read the new document but even then, did you?
- [Plan less, do more](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4071/plan-less-do-more/) - "Planning has rapidly diminishing returns: plan less, do more, learn more, redesign governance to kill early and often." Happy new year! - There is always a special responsibility that comes with the first blog post of a new year. Fortunately Tom Cagley of SpamCast fame asked me a fantasy question: If there is one piece
- [In defence of hierarchy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4187/in-defence-of-hierarchy/) - Hierarchy, it is one of those topics which provokes a reaction. There are many in the agile community who believe hierarchy is a bad thing. Teams - and whole organizations are better off without hierarchy. It is simply(!) a case of finding better ways of organizing which don’t involve hierarchy. Then there are those who
- [Object oriented hierarchy? - a postscript](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4213/object-oriented-hierarchy-a-postscript/) - My last post on hierarchy generated a fair bit of interest - both online and offline. Once it is pointed out people recognise there is a positive side to hierarchy, it is not so much “hierarchy bad, no hierarchy good” as it is “how much hierarchy?” and the culture around that hierarchy. But there is
- [Dear customer, the truth about IT](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4243/dear-customer-the-truth-about-it/) - “Dear Customer, the truth about IT projects” was originally published in The Agile Journal way back in 2012. Unfortunately the essay has stood the test of time and is still regularly re-discovered online. A couple of weeks ago I recorded an audio version of Dear Customer which I have now posted online. You can find
- [Framing the question frames the answers - my crown jewels](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4247/framing-the-question-frames-the-answers-my-crown-jewels/) - Today I’m giving away my crown jewels. Once you have read this post I can’t run my favourite exercise with you. There is a bit of experiential learning I can’t give you. So if you’ve rather have the experience stop reading and go and book yourself on my May workshop. I’m describing an exercise that
- [Agile on the Beach - update on review process](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4257/agile-on-the-beach-update-on-review-process/) - 294 submissions 54 volunteer reviewers 2,400 votes 2 rounds of review 40 accepted submissions Over the weekend I did the hardest thing I do all year: I sent the “sorry your submission to Agile on the Beach has not been chosen.” The declines. I have explained how we review sessions for AOTB before but things
- [Notes on Agile on the Beach submissions](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4259/notes-on-agile-on-the-beach-submissions/) - More notes on Agile on the Beach - this is going to go on all week, sorry but there is a lot to get on the record. Maybe only conference-geeks and those thinking of submitting to AOTB will find useful but I’d like to get it on the record and this is my blog :)
- [Why does AOTB have its own submission system?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4284/why-does-aotb-have-its-own-submission-system/) - Anyone who has submitted to Agile on the Beach in the last few years will have used our submission system: Mimas. Like so many other conference we, or rather I, created our own system. “Why does AOTB have its own submission system?” Flippant but true answer: because nobody else (yet) has decided to share out
- [Mimas is OpenSource](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4295/mimas-is-opensource/) - That picture above is Mimas, one of the moons of Saturn - yes, I’m still a bit of a “geek”. Mimas is the name I chose for the Agile on the Beach submission system I started developing about four years ago. I am a bit surprised that Mimas has grown to over 10,000 lines -
- [All about Agile on the Beach](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4297/all-about-agile-on-the-beach/) - This week has been a bit of a feast about Agile On the Beach. So here is a list of this weeks writing and some previous posts. Agile on the Beach - update on review process Notes on Agile on the Beach submissions Why does AOTB have its own submission system? Mimas is OpenSource: the
- [#NoProjects everywhere](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4313/noprojects-everywhere/) - After years of shared #NoProjects advocacy I finally for to meet Evan Leybourn exactly two years ago. Over lunch in a Melbourne cafe we talked #NoProjects and how we were both moving on. It may have been a little pre-emptive and some might call it arrogant but we felt #NoProjects was triumphant. Two years on
- [Coaching conflicts](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4330/coaching-conflicts/) - Last year I was coaching a team. One of the big problems the team faced was excessive work in progress - and tendency for developers to start new work when they hit a blockage. Eventually, with the help of the Product Owner who saw the problem too, we starved the work pipeline. The team actually
- [Pandemic in the digital age](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4359/pandemic-in-the-digital-age/) - It was hoping to keep this blog virus free. Indeed my “Conflicts in coaching” was going to be the first of several on agile coaching (what else could I do in the air going to and from Agile on the Beach New Zealand?) But…. the world has changed, I’ve changed… It is a very scary
- [The problem with Product Owners](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4399/the-problem-with-product-owners/) - After submitting his review of The Art of Agile Product Ownership one of the reviewers sent me a note about the review was and said: “Gee, I really wish I could be that type of Product Owner.” His comment made me smile. He nicely summarised much of the argument in Art of PO. The book
- [User stories are not...](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4479/user-stories-are-not/) - When started writing what became “Little Book of Requirements & User Stories” I thought I was writing a few thousand words about the relatively straight forward subject of User Stories in agile development. A “few thousand” became a dozen online articles for Agile Journal and a few tens of thousands of words in the book.
- [I'm an Agile Guide](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4652/im-an-agile-guide/) - Anyone who keeps a keen eye on Linkedin might have noticed I recently changed my job description to Agile Guide. I feel “guide” more accurately reflects what I do: part coach, part advisor, part teacher. I work as a consultant - a hired gun - but “consultant” is a very vague term and covers a
- [The future of office working](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4655/the-future-of-office-working/) - The lockdown hasn’t effected my work environment that much. This is a picture of my home office, my garden office, my “man cave.” I am very lucky. When I’m not on site with clients I spend most of my time working here. Still, I miss visiting clients and conferences - although I did squeeze in
- [Agile & OKRs - the next book](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4684/agile-okrs-the-next-book/) - Last year I had a surprise: the company I was working with introduced OKRs - Objectives and Key Results. I started off very cynical about how effective these were likely to be but … Not only did I come to like OKRs and the OKR setting process I came to see how they plugged a
- [Is Agile is obvious?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4703/is-agile-is-obvious/) - Now booking: September micro-workshops - spaced limited User Stories Masterclass, Agile Estimation & Forecasting, Maximising value delivered Early bird discounts & free tickets for unemployed/furloughed Book with code Blog15 for 15% discount or get more details Is Agile Obvious? From time-to-time people say to me: “Agile is obvious” When I’m being honest it is kind
- [Agile & OKRs - the end is in sight](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4724/agile-okrs-the-end-is-in-sight/) - The end is insight for my new book “Little Book of Agile and OKRs”. There are only a few more (short) chapters I want to write and I have put the wheels in motion to get a professional cover. After that there is a lot of editing - including a professional copy edit - and
- [Agile: Prix fixe or a la carte?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4727/agile-prix-fixe-or-a-la-carte/) - Advert: September micro-workshops - spaced limited User Stories Masterclass, Agile Estimation & Forecasting, Maximising value delivered Early bird discounts & free tickets for unemployed/furloughed Book with code Blog15 for 15% discount or get more details “They don’t do Scrum so much as ScrumBut” “We don’t do Scrum by the book, we changed it” “We follow
- [Agile Guide podcast with Woody Zuill and Tom Cagley](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4745/agile-guide-podcast-with-wood-zuill-and-tom-cagley/) - I’m on a mission to popularise the term Agile Guide. A few weeks ago Wood Zuill (farther of Mob Programming and force behind #NoEstimates) and I recorded a podcast with Tom Cagley - another in his SpamCast series - on the Agile Guide role. You can download the Agile Guide podcast from libsyn or you
- [Regular releases reduce risk, increase value](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4776/regular-releases-reduce-risk-increase-value/) - “If you're not embarrassed by the product when you launch, you’ve launched too late.” Reid Hoffman, founder LinkedIn Years ago I worked for a software company supplying Vodafone, Verizon, Nokia, etc. The last thing those companies wanted was to update the software on their engineers PC every months, let alone every week! I was remembering
- [But our users don't want to change](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4778/but-our-users-dont-want-to-change/) - A good question came into my mailbox: “Much of the writing I’ve seen assumes that software can be shipped directly into the hands of customers to create value (hence the “smaller packages, more often” approach). My experience has been that especially with new launches or major releases, there needs to be a threshold of minimum
- [What ever happened to #NoProjects? - post-projects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4796/what-ever-happened-to-noprojects-post-projects/) - “I’m frankly amazed at how far the #NoProjects throwaway Twitter comment travelled. But even today, in the bank where I work, the same problems caused by project-oriented approach to software are manifest as the problems I saw at xxxx xxx years ago.” Joshua Arnold Once upon a time, 2 or 3 years back, #NoProjects was
- [The big mistake with Platform Product Owners and what to do about it](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4800/the-big-mistake-with-platform-product-owners-and-what-to-do-about-it/) - From time to time I come across software platform team - also called infrastructure teams. Such teams provide software which is used by other teams rather than end customers as such they are one step, or even more, removed from customers. Now I will admit part of me doesn’t want these teams to exist at
- [Most software dies young](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4815/most-software-dies-young/) - My old ACCU friend Derek Jones has been beavering away at his Evidence Based Software Engineering book for a few years now. Derek takes an almost uniquely hard nosed evidence driven view of software engineering. He works with data. This can make the book hard going in places - and I admit I’ve only scratched
- [Coordinating teams like synchronised flying?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4819/coordinating-teams-like-synchronised-flying/) - I don’t really know what piloting a plane is like. I’m not a pilot. I have only ever been in the cockpit at museums (sitting in an SR-71 Blackbird was amazing). But, whenever I hear of software teams who need to work together - perhaps because they deliver different parts of the same product or
- [Videos: ITIL & the Product Owner](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4832/videos-itil-the-product-owner/) - Last month I appeared in two videos now available on YouTube. First I was interviewed by Adrian Reed about the Product Manager and Owner roles for The BA Fringe. My interview appears about 12 minutes into the programme and lasts about 10 minutes. I also joined an expert panel discussing the ITIL 4 High Velocity
- [The "people problem" problem and the great agile divide](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4834/the-people-problem-problem-and-the-great-agile-divide/) - "Its always a people problem." Gerry Weinberg, The Secrets of Consulting, 1985 The great, unspoken, divide in agile is between those who believe the individual is all powerful and the centre of everything, and those who believe the individual is the product of the system. Weinberg's "law" is taken as unquestionable truth by most people
- [My story, my why](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4848/my-story-my-why/) - I thought I'd open 2021 year with a personal story of how I got where I am today (no, I'm not in San Francisco, although that is the Golden Gate in the picture) I started programming when I was 12 (ZX81 then BBC) and then led a very successful career into my 30s - including
- [Dear customer, the truth about IT](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4852/dear-customer-the-truth-about-it-2/) - 10 years on I feel the need to repost this classic letter from the IT industry to our clients. Audio version, read by Allan Kelly. Dear customer, I think it's time we in the IT industry came clean about how we charge you, why our bills are sometimes a bit higher than you might expect,
- [Warning signs of a failing outsourcer](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4860/warning-signs-of-a-failing-outsourcer/) - It is 2021 and unfortunately on Friday I felt the need to repost "Dear Customer, The Truth about IT". Little has changed in the 10 years since I wrote the original - if I was writing it today probably the only thing I would change is "IT", I'd write "Digital" (I should probably also change
- [Words I avoid using: should, empower, commitement](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4911/words-i-avoid-using-should-empower-commitement/) - For the record there are a few words I avoid using if I can. Should: "we should feed the starving millions", "we should create world peace." Should is useless.It is also a declaration of what should be but also an admission of defeat, we give up immediately, we don't even try. Empower and empowerment: "I
- [New podcasts and video](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4914/new-podcasts-and-video/) - Before Christmas I recorded a couple of new podcasts which went live this week. The first was with Luke Szymer for his Align Remotely podcast series and focused on the topic of my new book, Succeeding with OKRs in Agile and is release in two parts. Luke also has a new book, it is timely
- [Technical Debt: Engineers, you are not alone](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4917/technical-debt-engineers-you-are-not-alone/) - Listen to Allan read this blog I don't read many books about software or technology these days, I tend to read outside the domain: economics, business and management - which after all is much of what I do in the technology world these days. Recently I've been reading Winning now, winning later by David Cote
- [Best seller - Succeeding with OKRs in Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4935/best-seller-succeeding-with-okrs-in-agile/) - I'm delighted that my new book Succeeding with OKRs in Agile went on sale at Amazon yesterday. By this morning it was the number #1 best seller in Amazon's IT Project Management category - and not doing badly in Computer Programming and Business Management & Leadership either. (Although the publisher has some power over which
- [Purpose over Backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/4939/purpose-over-backlog/) - Backlogs are a good idea. Backlogs ease the transition from the old "requirements up front" world to the new more dynamic agile world. Backlogs provide a compatibility layer for agile teams to interface to more traditional project management and governance. Backlogs even allow you to take a stab at done date! Backlogs allow you to
- [OKRs in Agile Q&A (part 1)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5161/okrs-in-agile-qa-part-1/) - It shouldn't surprise you to learn that I'm doing a lot of talks about Succeeding with OKRs in Agile at the moment. Last Tuesday spoke to Digital Transformation in London and Lean Agile Coaching London groups (a joint Meetup). At the end there were a lot of questions and I didn't get to answer them
- [OKRs in Agile Q&A part 2: The Backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5207/okrs-in-agile-qa-part-2-the-backlog/) - In my OKR book I advice teams to forget about the backlog and instead use the OKRs as a story generating machine. As I expected, this grabs people's attention. For many this might be the most surprising piece of advice in the boo, and perhaps the most controversial.
- [What is it with Business Agility?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5223/what-is-it-with-business-agility/) - Top of my Slack channels is the Business Agility Institute, just below that is the old #NoProjects slack that sometimes comes to life. Recently someone on #NoProjects asked: Q: What do you guys think about Business Agility? My reply: Business Agility, bit like apple pie, how can one not be in favour? Of course, what
- [OKRs in Agile infographic](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5281/okrs-in-agile-infrographic/) - I am indebted to Yoan Thirion for created this infographic to illustrate Succeeding with OKRs in Agile. He's done a brilliant job on both the graphics and the summary - undoubtedly better graphics than I could have done and probably a better summary than I would too, sometimes one can be too close to a
- [Developer becoming a product owner/product manager?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5341/developer-becoming-a-product-owner-product-manager/) - A few weeks back I had an e-mail exchange with a blog reader about the product owner role which I think other readers might be interested in, it is a question that comes up regularly with clients. In this context the product owner is a product manager (regular readers know I consider product manager to
- [OKRs top-down? bottom-up? or ripples in a pond?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5382/okrs-top-down-bottom-up-or-ripples-in-a-pond/) - One of the great things about writing a book is that you get a greater understanding of the subject. So it was with "Succeeding with OKRs in Agile". In particular writing the book forced me to think about how OKRs fitted with agile and hierarchal structures. I get the impression that many people are interested
- [Our brains want more but less is more](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5421/our-brains-want-more-but-less-is-more/) - Less is more - I say it so often but it is still a lesson I still have to relearn regularly. Go small. You could say that my most famous blog post is saying just the same thing in fancy language - Software has diseconomies of scale – not economies of scale. So a couple
- [Cascading OKRs and White Space OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5433/cascading-okrs-and-white-space-okrs/) - A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the top-down or bottom-up question - "OKRs top-down? bottom-up? or ripples on a pond?" The idea of top-down OKRs keeps cropping up: it needs a name. So please let me introduce Cascading OKRs, or C-OKRs for short. I only just invented the term so I don't use
- [Software is not a lump or work to do (and the laws which prove it)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5485/software-is-not-a-lump-or-work-to-do-and-the-laws-which-prove-it/) - Building software is not like digging a hole in the ground: your target changes as you dig, the people and machines you use change the outcome beyond the original idea, and you never really know when to stop digging. Years ago I was hired by Reuters to build an interface connector between the Liffe trading
- [Succeeding with OKRs in Agile, Podcast with Agile Uprising](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5511/succeeding-with-okrs-in-agile-podcast-with-agile-uprising/) - Agile Uprising has just published a new podcast they recorded with my a few weeks ago about, well OKRs and my book Succeeding with OKRs in Agile. Succeeding with OKRs in Agile podcast is available for download now - for free Subscribe to my blog newsletter and download Continuous Digital for free - normal price
- [Documentation, another case of rapidly diminishing returns](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5516/documentation-another-case-of-rapidly-diminishing-returns/) - No body writes documentation in startups. Writing documents is a luxury only established companies can afford. One might ask: are companies successful because they write documents or do they write documents because they are successful? But I'd be hard pushed to find anyone to argue the latter. Back in 1996 I worked on the ill-fated
- [Have Google made a $billion skateboard mistake?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5536/have-google-made-a-billion-skateboard-mistake/) - How do you design a car? - It is one of the most famous diagrams in the agile world drawn by Henrik Kniberg. I'm guessing many readers know this already: one approach (top of the diagram) is to iteratively design and build all the pieces, put them together and you have a car. This is
- [Why on-ramps and off-ramps are more important than highways](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5570/why-on-ramps-and-off-ramps-are-more-important-than-highways/) - It begins with a simple request: "we need to know when it will be done." Or, when there is an agile-savvy manager, "our velocity needs to be higher." But the more I look the more it appears the dev team aren't really that bad, in fact they might actually be good. And, if you doubled
- [Unplanned work after the sprint starts?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5601/unplanned-work-after-the-sprint-starts/) - "Should unplanned work be allowed after the sprint starts?" One of those questions which comes up again and again. And it came up last week when I visited a clients offices - yes I actually visited a client! The answer to this question is, as often happens: It depends. So let me give you my
- [The Sprint Goal?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5620/the-sprint-goal/) - Hi Allan, what do you think of this as a Spring Goal? Prototype store locator Deploy product selector to live Fix accessibility defects identified by client Complete visual design of search feature Security fixes & updates Team improvement: refactor VX tables, page template processor" I answer: "This looks more like a sprint backlog than a
- [Questioning the great work from home experiment](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5633/questioning-the-great-work-from-home-experiment/) - 18 months ago everyone who worked in an office was sent home, and told "work from home." Suddenly even the most anti-work from home companies and bosses had to accept it. Even the slowest, bureaucratic, IT departments had to support remote working. In many ways it has been a great experiment - an experiment that
- [7 habits of highly effective software development?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5641/7-habits-of-highly-effective-software-development/) - "Most of us think we don't have enough time to exercise. What a distorted paradigm! We don't have not to." Stephen R. Covey Try reading that quote again and substituting the word "refactor" for "exercise." Or try substitute the words "test first", or "technical excellence" for "exercise." It was Craig Girvan of Head Forwards at
- [How I prioritise planning over plans](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5697/how-i-prioritise-planning-over-plans/) - You might think that I'm a really organized person. After all, I spend a good chunk of my life helping other people be more organized about their work - and not just organized, prioritised, effective, and all those other good things. That might be true, people who know me well say I'm really well organized.
- [Why I worry about the future of conference speakers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5935/why-i-worry-about-the-future-of-conference-speakers/) - I speak at a lot of conferences and meet-ups, too many. I shouldn't complain I've got books to sell! I've also been involved in organizing many conferences - ACCU, EuroPLoP and Agile on the Beach for the last 10 years. There are some trends emerging which worry me and I want to record. So not
- [What are the first steps in setting OKRs?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/5956/what-are-the-first-steps-in-setting-okrs/) - "What do you see as the first steps in setting OKRs?" I'd like to share my answer to this question, it came as a follow up to a presented "Reawakening Agile with OKRs" to a company last week. This is also an opportunity to expand my thinking. First we need to make some assumptions and
- [A company is not a tree: an alternative map](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6163/a-company-is-not-a-tree-an-alternative-map/) - It seems that everyone dislikes hierarchy in organizations. Even the people at the top of the hierarchy seem to want to get away from the idea. But… the moment we start talking about organizations everyone starts talking about who's at the top, the CEO, and who reports to who. Try to draw it out and
- [OKRs and Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6269/okrs-and-agile/) - "How to combine OKRs and Agile" is a short piece by my published on the GTM Hub blog. GTM Hub is the provider of OKR software. As it happens another OKR software provider Just 3 Things has been running a series on OKRs which I and over 20 others contributed too. This series takes a
- [Top agile books which aren't about agile or software](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6285/top-agile-books-which-arent-about-agile-or-software/) - Christmas is almost here and the end of the year is nye. That means it is time for newspapers and journals to start publishing "Top books of the year" lists and "Christmas recommendations." So, prompted by a recent thread on LinkedIn I thought I'd offer up my own book list: top books for agile folk
- [Signing off 2021 and Not rolling over](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6300/signing-off-2021-and-not-rolling-over/) - "The decision about what to abandon is by far the most important and most neglected. ... No organization which purposefully and systematically abandons the unproductive and obsolete ever wants for opportunities." Peter Drucker, Age of Discontinuity I'm writing this on the last day of 2021 and for once I am confident in predicting that next
- [Can you keep Agile and OKRs seperate?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6303/can-you-keep-agile-and-okrs-seperate/) - "I've been told to keep agile and OKRs separate" The first time I head this I was surprised, "missed opportunity" I thought but then, as I thought about it more, the more I realised that it was impossible. Start with the OKRs: OKRs are about deciding what to put your time and energy into. OKRs
- [Team Retrospective cards are back, and better than before](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6311/team-retrospective-cards-are-back-and-better-than-before/) - Team Retrospective cards are back on sale Agile Stationary have given retrospective cards a new home and are handling all the sales and logistics. That means everything should be slicker and export to anywhere in the world should be hassle free. Agile Stationary gave the cards another print run and in the process enlarged the
- [Practical tips or mindset change?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6314/practical-tips-or-mindset-change/) - How many books on your bookshelves have a number in the title? Specifically a list of X things. Such books sell, blog posts of a similar ilk get read. "50 specific ways to improve your programs" "97 things every dog walker should know" "10 practical things every Scrum Master should know" "51 tips to improve
- [Focus is not divisable so limit you OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6337/focus-is-not-divisable-so-limit-you-okrs/) - From time to time I hear about teams who have 8, 9, 10 or more OKRs in a quarter. That is just plain wrong. In Succeeding with OKRs in Agile I suggest 3 Objectives per quarters each with 3 key results. When I hear the cries of pain and people twist my arm I compromise
- [OKRs as an API for agile teams (Podcast)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6361/okrs-as-an-api-for-agile-teams-podcast/) - The Dreams with Deadline's podcast published an interview with me last week, "Agile and OKRs: publishing your API in a standardized format". It runs to about 50 minutes.
- [Class war in the modern workplace](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6363/class-war-in-the-modern-workplace/) - Writing about "The knowledge worker" in The Age of Discontinuity (1968) Peter Drucker offers this insight: the knowledge worker sees themselves as a skilled professional, or "white collar" to use an old term. To this end programmers, marketeers and conference producers see themselves as akin to doctors and lawyers. But, Drucker says, these professionals are
- [The difficulties of cascading OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6377/the-difficulties-of-cascading-okrs/) - I almost despair when I hear people advocate cascading OKRs: the idea that someone, some team, some central planning department, can set OKRs which then flow down the organization with each "lower" group implementing some small part of some "higher" ask. What could be more waterfall like? I admit, when I started working with OKRs
- [The Agile Elephant and the agile mindset](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6396/the-agile-elephant-and-the-agile-mindset/) - Confession: I've been avoiding the words "agile mindset" for some time because I don't know what it is. And, completely by coincidence, I've recently had a couple of encounters that have caused me to think again. So let me explain… I repeatedly find myself wrestling with the question "What is agile?" The question came up
- [No unified theory of agile (Agile mindset cont.)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6407/no-unified-theory-of-agile-agile-mindset-cont/) - Continuing my quest of "The Agile Mindset" I've been searching for a metaphor to put all the different ideas on agile into order. To cut to the chase: there isn't one. As much as I would love to boil "agile" down to one thing, or even a handful of key concepts and I don't think
- [Réussir avec les OKR en Agile (French OKRs)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6411/reussir-avec-les-okr-en-agile-french-okrs/) - I am delighted to say The French translation of Succeeding with OKRs in Agile - Réussir avec les OKR en Agile - is now available thanks to the hard work of Nicolas Mereaux and Fabrice Aimetti. The book is available right now on LeanPub as an e-book. After Easter we'll start work on getting it
- [Its the engineers, stupid - one from the heart](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6414/its-the-engineers-stupid-one-from-the-heart/) - When I engage with company and teams I'm always keen - nee desperate - to get to meet the engineers and teams who are doing the work. If days, maybe even weeks, go by and I'm not doing that I get very frustrated. More importantly I'm not sure what to believe from those I am
- [How I write books - A book about books](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6419/how-i-write-books-a-book-about-books/) - In the last 15 years I've written and published 3 books with publishers, published 5 books myself, plus edited one conference proceedings and pushed out three "mini books" (one with 3 editions) which I never publicised. In addition I've contributed forwards and chapters to at least six books and had two books translated. Then there
- [Agile OKRs extra - yet another book](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6425/agile-okrs-extra-yet-another-book/) - I blogged last week that I had begun work on a new book - How I Write Books which is now a work in progress at LeanPub - signup and be the first to know when the draft is published. Well a funny thing happened while I was setting up my tool chain to write
- [The only thing you can do wrong, and the opposite of agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6432/the-only-thing-you-can-do-wrong-and-the-opposite-of-agile/) - The only thing you can do wrong in agile is to work the same way you did 3 months ago. Corollary: The opposite of agile is static. "The only thing you can do wrong" is born out of two things: my belief that agile is all about learning and putting learning into action. Second, the
- [How I write books (my new book)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6447/how-i-write-books-my-new-book/) - Regular readers will know I write books - quite a few by now, it gets embarrassing. Being an author is a great conversation starter, when people hear you've written a book or two they want to know more - everyone seems to have a dream of writing their own book. It also means that people
- [Return of the sprint goal? (Infographic)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6454/return-of-the-sprint-goal-infographic/) - Most of the sprint goals I've ever seen are rubbish. Pretty much "do the random collection of stuff we've decided already." Such goals are meaningless - save time by skipping them. If a team adopts OKRs then I really hope they move towards more goal based working, in which case the sprint goal starts to
- [The Excess Strategic WIP problem](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6460/the-excess-strategic-wip-problem/) - Try pouring a bottle of milk into a glass with milk already in it. You have a choice: stop or tidy up the mess afterwards. That is my work-in-progress (WIP) analogy, if you try and do too much - no mater how much you want to do it - you will end up with a
- [Getting key results right](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6464/getting-key-results-right/) - I've contributed a piece on key results to the Zokri blog so wonder over there and read "Getting key results right". Actuallyu, the original idea for that post came from a desire to improve Succeeding with OKRs in Agile, I'm starting to think about a second edition with some revisions adn addtions.
- [Scrum or OKRs, which comes first?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6480/scrum-or-okrs-which-comes-first/) - "Hello Allan , I followed a few of your seminars on OKRs and I am reading your book. I do have one question. I will start a transformation soon. The company has the ambition to move to Scrum and also OKRs; Do you have any advise on where to start? OKRs first or SCRUM first.
- [Succedding with OKRs in Agile Infographic](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6488/succedding-with-okrs-in-agile-infographic/) - Noel Warnell was so impressed with Succeeding with OKRs in Agile that he created this infographic to go with the book - thank you, Noel! Subscribe to my blog newsletter and get Continuous Digital for free
- [How fresh is your backlog?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6491/how-fresh-is-your-backlog/) - Do you struggle with an overwhelming backlog? Do you count the number of product backlog items in your backlog in tens? hundred? or thousands? Does your backlog contain many stories which have been there for months, if not years, and yet never raise to the top of the backlog? Is your success judged on your
- [OKRs in 26 Minutes (video)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6504/okrs-in-26-minutes-video/) - I was recently asked to do a short introduction to OKRs for the Digital Leaders conference. The recording is now online and focuses on the benefits of OKRs. Naturally, I put the emphasis in different places to others! Let me now that you think: OKRs in 26 Minutes.
- [Books to be written](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6509/books-to-be-written/) - I'm entering the final stretch of writing for my new book so it is time to think hard about the name. "How I write books" was only ever a working title, now I think I've hit on the permanent name "Books to be written". What do you think? Let me know - you can check
- [Product Owner car crash story](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6522/product-owner-car-crash-story/) - A few weeks ago I was in Sweden with clients and heard a horrific Product Owner story today - one I can hardly believe... maybe I shouldn't, this was told to me second hand but I think it serves as an useful warning. Reportedly a local car company has told its Product Owners to split
- [Books to be Written new cover](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6529/books-to-be-written-new-cover/) - Books to be written has a new, professional, cover. What do you think? I published an updated version earlier this week with more about working with publishers. There are some loose ends to tie up in the content now then I'm into a big end-to-end edit, the hard bit. After that I move from writing
- [The OKR cycle goes wide-narrow-wide](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6533/the-okr-cycle-goes-wide-narrow-wide/) - Since writing Succeeding with OKRs in Agile I've had the chance to work with a few companies on OKRs and deliver a some training. Structure my thoughts to explain to ideas and concepts to other people is a great way of increasing your own understanding. So much so that I'm contemplating a second edition of
- [Backlogs, #NoBacklog(s) and comfort blankets](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6541/backlogs-nobacklogs-and-comfort-blankets/) - At the first Agile on the Beach in 2011, I had dinner with Mary and Tom Poppendieck. As we talked about the conference, agile, lean and everything else I distinctly remember Mary saying "From a lean point of view backlogs are a problem. In a lean environment when you have a backlog you want to
- [Kazuo Inamori, inventor of Amoeba Management, has passed away](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6557/kazuo-inamori-inventor-of-amoeba-management-has-passed-away/) - It was with sadness that I read this morning of the death of Kazuo Inamori . His is not a name that is widely known in communities I move in (namely the western agile community) but he deserves to be better know, his name deserves to be up there with Shigeo Shingo and other founders
- [Backlog questions and answers](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6571/backlog-questions-and-answers/) - My previous post on backlogs (Backlogs, #NoBacklog(s) and comfort blankets) generated a lot of attention, including a comment from Derek Jones - his is one of the blogs I read most often. I thought I'd post my reply as a fill post so here goes: DJ: "Why is a backlog bad? Isn’t it better to
- [Online: Honey, I shrunk the backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6615/online-honey-i-shrunk-the-backlog/) - Last week I delivered a new presentation "Honey I shrunk the backlog" to Berlin Product People. The presentation is now online and can be downloaded from my presentations page. The presentation builds on the ideas floated in my resent "Backlogs, #NoBacklog(s) and comfort blankets" post and which are finding their way into a lot of
- [Level 1 goals, purpose and meaning](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6651/level-1-goals-purpose-and-meaning/) - Anyone who has been following my posts and reading my books will notice I regularly return to the topic of goals, and specifically "bigger goals", or as I say in Continuous Digital higher purpose. I'm not alone in this. The idea occurs again and again in management literature. Post-covid the idea is even more prominent.
- [Objective Driven Agile - 7 step lightweight method](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6690/objective-driven-agile-7-step-lightweight-method/) - Lets get back to lightweight methods, let me propose a 7 step process with the working name Objective Driven Agile - although I also want to call it Really Simple Agile or maybe Xanpan 2022 - and I'd rather forget the A-word altogether and get back to lightweight. 1) Start where you are, with the
- [Objective Driven Agile, BLDD & Reactive styles of development](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6712/objective-driven-agile-bldd-reactive-styles-of-development/) - Looking across the state of teams today I can clearly see three different styles of agile: Backlog Driven Development, Reactive and Objective Driven Agile. All have their place, all have their uses but the first two of these are a dead end. I've been speaking about the third, which I'm calling Objective Driven Agile, for
- [Nuke your backlog - the podcast & a webinar](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6756/nuke-your-backlog-the-podcast-a-webinar/) - In case you missed it, Tom Cagley has released the "SPaMCast" podcast we recorded a couple of weeks ago: Nuke your backlog! Since recording that I saw Rob England describe similar thinking as "declaring backlog bankruptcy". Certainly bankruptcy is a more business friendly than "nuke". And in the weeks since I releases "Honey, I Shrink
- [Its always time for tea (Oredev keynote)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6764/its-always-time-for-tea-oredev-keynote/) - Last week I delivered the opening keynote at Oredev in Sweden: It's always time for tea - lessons for Alice the software developer. I also picked up a whole bunch of questions - about agile, OKRs and tea - which I intend to answer here in the coming weeks. This was a unique presentation, a
- [Q: When you have a 12 month deadline?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6779/q-when-you-have-a-12-month-deadline/) - What do you do when you have a far out deadline but one you must meet? - starting late is irresponsible, but starting early may make the work increase
- [5 options for when the boss changes the target before you reach the last one](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6782/5-options-for-when-the-boss-changes-the-target-before-you-reach-the-last-one/) - What do you do when leaders change direction before you have finished? - accept it, go small, fix the product owner, create a feedback & fix strategy
- [My customer wants a roadmap with dates](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6800/my-customer-wants-a-roadmap-with-dates/) - What do I do when customer wants a roadmaps with features and dates?
- [What we can learn from Wildebeest about being agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6841/why-baggage-hinders-agility/) - If we really want to be agile we need to address organizational debt and learn from wildebeest, ceremonies and artefacts is not enough
- [New year resolutions & improvement days](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6852/new-year-resolutions-improvement-days/) - New year is traditionally the time for resolutions. Why not create some resolutions for your team? Make your better, I've got a couple of ideas to help
- [Why OKRs require a strategy rethinking](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/6903/why-okrs-require-a-strategy-rethinking/) - OKRs offer a way to connect strategy with delivery. There is a more agile way of going about this and a less agile way of going about it. Connect in the less agile way and you end up back at command and control.
- [Two unspeakable Silver Bullets?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7280/two-unspeakable-silver-bullets/) - If "There are no silver bullets" why do I find myself coming back to 2 solutions again and again? Might there be 2 silver bullets which we dare not speak of
- [Why don't people Test First?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7304/why-dont-people-test-first/) - It is easy to understand why people don't work test first: we (humans) are optimistic. Test first is hard and historically test comes at the end of a process.
- [Why is it hard to reduce WIP?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7307/why-is-it-hard-to-reduce-wip/) - Reducing WIP is easy to comprehend but hard act on. We are optimistic and because we don't like giving bad news people take on more work than they can do
- [Is all management bad? Or is it just bad management?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7320/is-all-management-bad-or-is-it-just-bad-management/) - No management might be better than bad management but good management adds value. So management skills need to be improved too.
- [Lets talk about money: the ultimate feedback loop](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7341/lets-talk-about-money-the-ultimate-feedback-loop/) - Money is information and creates a feedback loop. But this ultimate feedback loop is broken. Hiding financing, cashflow and budgets from teams treats them like children.
- [Digital transformation stuggles](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7367/digital-transformation-stuggles/) - In a digital transformation how to bridge the IT/business divide?
- [How many OKRs should a team have?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7370/how-many-okrs-should-a-team-have/) - Answering the questions "How many OKRs should a team have?" and "Can a bigger team have more OKRs?" (Summary: 3 and No)
- [Books to be Written - done and published](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7380/books-to-be-written-done-and-published/) - Books to be Written is done. Print and eBook versions are now available on Amazon - for the first few days there is a special introductory price of $/€/£2.99
- [Books to be Written - yippee!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7385/books-to-be-written-yippee/) - I'm delighted to announce Books to be Written, my book about writing books, my guide to writing, producing, publishing and marketing you own masterpieces - if finished! Is published! Is for sale on Amazon - both print and e-book version. This is available at a special introductory price of 2.99, thats $2.99, €2.99 or £2.99
- [How can we set an OKR if we don't know the baseline?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7395/how-can-we-set-an-okr-if-we-dont-know-the-baseline/) - Before agreeing OKRs people want to know the starting point, while there are at least 2 ways around this problem but actually, it is the wrong problem to solve
- [It's the workflow, stupid](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7405/its-the-workflow-stupid/) - Sausage making is a great workflow illustration: what comes out depends on what goes in. Fixing workflow is hard because no one person can make a difference.
- [When workflow isn't column, column, column](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7413/when-workflow-isnt-column-column/) - Kanban "start where you are" change requires complex visual layouts to model workflow which is not discrete steps. That can be a problem.
- [When is work done?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7431/when-is-work-done/) - Deciding when work is done, and when it begins, is something of a philosphical question and can lead to very big Kanban boards
- [Connecting the dots - workflow, agile, OKRs, dyslexia and chaos!](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7459/connecting-the-dots-workflow-agile-okrs-dyslexia-and-chaos/) - I have lots of interests and default to systems thinking, I see wholes, I see connections. A strength and a weakness, and it makes it hard to explain what I do.
- [OKRs as a strategy debugger (& sandwich maker)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7464/okrs-as-a-strategy-debugger-sandwich-maker/) - OKRs should reflect company missions and strategy. If they don't that is a symptom not a problem. As in debugging the OKR needs fixing but so too does the cause
- [Why does agile need OKRs?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7483/why-does-agile-need-okrs/) - I have been passionate about agile for over 15 years, but I'm not passionate about OKRs. I'm passionate about what OKRs can do for people working in agile teams
- [What do you mean by "initiatives and OKRs"?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7499/what-do-you-mean-inititives-and-okrs/) - Some OKR practitioners advocate using "initiatives" but this word has multiple meanings. For some people initiatives are small, for others they are big.
- [Winners and looses when AIs program](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7525/winners-and-looses-when-ais-program/) - I feel guilty, the rest of the world has gone AI mad and I've said nothing about it. I've been hiding. Part of me feels sad and threatened, is AI going to wipe out the world I knew? So here is my take. Since I come from a programming background, and since this is where
- [AI will undermine offshore & WFH programers first](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7532/ai-will-undermine-offshore-wfh-programers-first/) - A postscript, continuing from AI might effect the world of software engineering and programming. I'm supposing the power of AI real and it can replace the people we now call programmers. What next? Spoiler alert: This post if going to upset a lot of people, who like working from home or work as offshore. Where
- [Announcing the Succeeding with OKRs in Agile 2nd edition](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7534/announcing-the-succeeding-with-okrs-in-agile-2nd-edition/) - The rumours are true, I've been working on a second edition of Succeeding with OKRs in Agile. Now I'm ready to share, the content is stable, some polishing to do (mainly copy edit). You can buy it now on LeanPub with free updates as they are ready. In addition there is an OKR bundle available
- [Comments, off, sorry](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7572/comments-off-sorry/) - I've always enjoyed the comments people leave on this blog - even when people disagree. Unfortunately, for the last few months the vast majority of comments I am receiving are spam - people trying to add links to their own websites and such. The same comments are made again and again, sometimes a dozen in
- [Nuke your backlog?](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7581/nuke-your-backlog/) - When I deliver "Honey, I shrunk the backlog" and when I tell people "Nuke the backlog" there are a few questions and talking points which come up again and again. So, if you read my last post and have been asking yourself how you live with a backlog you want to nuke… read on… Lead
- [3 ideas until you nuke the backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7583/3-ideas-until-you-nuke-the-backlog/) - Lead with goals Write an “use by” expiry date on new backlog items Keep an ideas list, maybe When I deliver "Honey, I shrunk the backlog" and when I tell people "Nuke the backlog" there are a few questions and talking points which come up again and again. So, if you read my last post
- [User Stories are not Story Points](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7750/user-stories-are-not-story-points/) - Funny how somethings fade from view and then return. Thats how its been with User Stories for me in the last few weeks - hence my User Story Primer online workshop next month. A few days ago I was talking to someone about the User Story workshop and he said "O, I don't use Story
- [David v. Goliath, User Stories v. Use Cases](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7753/user-stories-and-the-achilles-heal-of-use-cases/) - As I was saying, you forget about something, and then suddenly its everywhere. So it was the other day when I saw someone on LinkedIn asking: "Which is best, User Stories or Use Cases?" Unlike the story points, use cases are an alternative to User Stories so this question at least makes sense. But, a
- [Pull, don’t push: Why you should let your teams set their own OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7788/pull-dont-push-why-you-should-let-your-teams-set-their-own-okrs-2/) - There is a divide in the way Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are practiced. A big divide, a divide between the way some of the original authors describe OKRs and the way successful agile teams implement them. If you haven’t spotted it yet it might explain some of your problems, if you have spotted it
- [OKRs create strategy alignment but not in the way you think they do](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7841/7841/) - One of the claims made of OKRs is they solve the problem of alignment, strategic alignment specifically. So, anyone reading Pull don't push OKRs post might be wondering how this can be. I'm sure many people will ask how alignment can be achieved without some master plan and planner? The obvious way to ensure teams
- [Fixing agile failure: collaboration over micro-management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7854/fixing-agile-failure-collaboration-over-micro-management/) - The agile toolset can be used for good or evil: visual tracking, work breakdown & are great self-organizing team. But in the hands of someone who doesn't respect the team, those tools can be used against the team.
- [Software has diseconomies of scale - not economies of scale](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7881/software-has-diseconomies-of-scale-not-economies-of-scale/) - Bigger is more expensive. Most of you are familiar with the idea of economies of scale BUT software development has diseconomies of scale.
- [Big and small, resolving contradition](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/7886/big-and-small-resolving-contradition/) - When it comes to work flow there is merit in working in the small and optimising processes to do lots of small. But it is too easy to get lost in small. What is needed is something bigger: a goal.

## Pages

- [Home](https://www.allankelly.net/) - Your guide to more effective working Connecting Product Strategy with Delivery through Agile Techniques and OKRs I help teams and companies become more effective and productive. I use modern management techniques like agile, OKRs and product thinking pioneered in by tech companies. I help teams connect product strategy with delivery using agile techniques and Agile
- [Dear customer: The Truth about IT](https://www.allankelly.net/dear-customer-the-truth-about-it/) - Dear customer: the truth about IT is one of my most well known essays. Unfortunately, eight years after writing it the biggest change has been how the IT industry has become Digital. Original publication in Agile Connection journal journal (piece now removed) Dear Customer as a PDF download Audio: Dear Customer read by Allan Kelly
- [Videos & Podcasts with Allan Kelly](https://www.allankelly.net/podcast-allan-kelly/) - Podcasts & Videos with Allan Kelly
- [Patterns](https://www.allankelly.net/patterns/) - Quick links New 2025: Learning to Learn, Patterns for building a learning organization Other highlights on this page Encapsulated Context Focus Groups and Conway's Law (report from 2005 focus group) Not a pattern and Pattern writers workshops The Business patterns page Pattern conferences I am a regular attendee at the Hillside Europe EuroPLoP (European conference
- [Succeeding with OKRs in Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/books/succeeding-with-okrs-in-agile/) - Succeeding with OKRs in Agile Buy on Amazon Today Buy from other sellers Succeeding with OKRs in Agile Amazon #1 Best seller in “Agile Programming” and “IT Project Management” Download
- [Books](https://www.allankelly.net/books/) - Explore Books on Agile, Software Development, and Digital Transformation Succeeding with OKRs in AgileA guide to effectively integrating Objectives and Key Results with Agile practices for enhanced team performance and strategic success.
- [Upcoming Events](https://www.allankelly.net/upcoming-events/)
- [Contact](https://www.allankelly.net/contact/) - Contact Need Help or Have Questions? Whether it's about Agile, one of my books, or a presentation, I’m here to assist.Let’s discuss your needs, whether it’s:A presentation for your company, a user group, or a conferenceTraining, tailored to your team or organizationAdvice, ad hoc discussions, occasional consulting, or ongoing guidance Get in touch
- [Services by Allan Kelly](https://www.allankelly.net/services/) - Consulting, Coaching and Training with Allan Kelly Making companies and teams more effective and productive, creating great products. Product Management, OKRs and agile I have helped:
- [Recent presentations (2015-2024)](https://www.allankelly.net/speaker/earlier-presentations/) - Objective Driven Agility Strategy Leadership with OKRs, Business Agility Conference UK, September 2024 Objective Driven Agility: Looking to the future, ACE Conference, Krakow, June 2024 Adding OKRs to Agile: ODA (short version), Unicom showcase, May 2024 Honey, I shrunk the backlog DevSum conference, Stockholm, May 2024 Product Tank Exeter, September 2023 Agile on the Beach,
- [Writing](https://www.allankelly.net/writing/) - Dear customer - perhaps my most famous piece Agile insights - lots of journal articles and unpublieshed pieces about agile OKRs - journal pieces about objectives and jey results Patterns - 2003-2015 including Encapsulated Context, the Porter Patterns and many business patterns later included in Business Patterns for Software Developers ACCU Overload - 1999-2012, mostly
- [Services by Allan](https://www.allankelly.net/services-2/) - Training and consulting from Allan Kelly - Strategy, Product Management, OKRs and Agile in the digital age.
- [Value Poker Cards](https://www.allankelly.net/dialogue-sheets/value-poker-cards/) - Value Poker cards Answer The $64,000,000 question: how much is it worth? Essential tools for putting value on your work to do - your user stories, features or even projects!
- [Retrospective Cards](https://www.allankelly.net/dialogue-sheets/retrospective-cards/) - Turn retrospectives into a fun game for all the team! Modelled on Retrospective Dialogue Sheets. These Retrospective cards give a team the power to hold their retrospective without a facilitator. Simply follow the instructions and have the conversations. Everything needed is here – except a pen and paper to list your actions! These cards are
- [Retrospective Dialogue Sheets](https://www.allankelly.net/dialogue-sheets/) - Dialogue Sheets Retrospective Dialogue Sheets Want to try a new way with retrospectives? Want to promote good conversation? And have fun as you go? Buy printed sheets from Agile Stationery or download for free here and print at home (best with a big printer). Printed Sprint Retrospective version 8 now available to order today –
- [drafts 2](https://www.allankelly.net/drafts-2/) - Dialogue Sheets Retrospective Dialogue Sheets Want to try a new way with retrospectives? Want to promote good conversation? And have fun as you go? Buy printed sheets from Agile Stationery or download for free here and print at home (best with a big printer). Printed Sprint Retrospective version 8 now available to order today –
- [Speak at your Event?](https://www.allankelly.net/speak-at-your-event/) - Speak at your event I regularly speak at public conferences and meetup groups – online and in-person when events allow. In addition I have spoken at internal company conferences for the likes of Barclay’s Bank, to teams and groups within companies (e.g. UBS and British Airways), online (e.g. Rolls-Royce) or simply join an expert panels
- [drafts](https://www.allankelly.net/drafts/) - Speak at your event I regularly speak at public conferences and meetup groups – online and in-person when events allow. In addition I have spoken at internal company conferences for the likes of Barclay’s Bank, to teams and groups within companies (e.g. UBS and British Airways), online (e.g. Rolls-Royce) or simply join an expert panels
- [Book draw](https://www.allankelly.net/book-draw/) - Signed print copy of "Succeeding with OKRs in Agile" - Enter your e-mail address below to enter. You address will not be added to any lists unless you chose one of the options below. Loading… In the event of problems use this link.
- [Speaking](https://www.allankelly.net/speaking/) - Speaking
- [Recent Events](https://www.allankelly.net/recent-events/)
- [Subscribe](https://www.allankelly.net/subscribe/) - Subscribe for latest updates & get 'Project Myopia' ebook free Project Myopia Why Projects Damage Software - the ground breaking #NoProjects book
- [Books to be Written](https://www.allankelly.net/books/books-to-be-written/) - Books to be Written /*! elementor - v3.23.0 - 05-08-2024 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=”.svg”]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block} Buy on Amazon Today Books to be Written Thinking of writing a book? Debating between self-publishing and finding a publisher? Wondering how to market your book? Books to be Written describes experiences from writing, publishing, and marketing eight books.
- [Business Patterns for Software Developers](https://www.allankelly.net/books/business-patterns/) - Business Patterns for Software Developers /*! elementor - v3.23.0 - 05-08-2024 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a{display:inline-block}.elementor-widget-image a img[src$=”.svg”]{width:48px}.elementor-widget-image img{vertical-align:middle;display:inline-block} Buy on Amazon Today Buy on Ozon (Russia) Business Patterns for Software Developers A must-have recipe book for building software Perhaps you can relate to this all-too common scenario: you know all about your software product?but could do
- [Upcoming events, workshops & speaking](https://www.allankelly.net/speaker/) - BCS SPA Value Poker, 4 September, London - free, registration required Featureban online, 10 September, Digital Transformation group - free, registration required Business Agility Conference UK, "Strategy Leadership with OKRs in the face of complexity", 25 September, Milton Keynes Writing OKRs - online workshop with Avanscoptera, 4 October Oxford, 13 November - details to follow
- [Guide to more effective working](https://www.allankelly.net/allan-kelly-for-digital-agile-business/) - Making companies more effective with agility and OKRs, connecting product strategy to delivery
- [OKRs - objectives and key results](https://www.allankelly.net/writing/okrs/) - About on OKRs Video recordings on OKRs OKRs in 26 minutes Reawakening Agile with OKRs Articles on OKRs Zokri blog: Getting key results right - May 2022 InfoQ: Reawakening Agile with OKRs? - June 2021 Methods and Tool: Introducing OKRs - March 2021 Podcasts about OKRs Agile Uprising podcast Succeeding with OKRs, July 2021 InfoQ
- [Featureban - liberating flow](https://www.allankelly.net/featureban/) - Playing Featureban generates insights which can change your life – the importance of limiting work in progress, collaborating with others, resolving blockages early and many more. Now booking: Featureban online use code WebDiscount15 fot 15% off While the game is freely available in both physical and online versions playing with an experienced facilitator takes you
- [Audio download](https://www.allankelly.net/audio-download-okra/) - Succeeding with OKRs in Agile Thanks for your interest in Succeeding with OKRs in Agile (audio edition). If you haven't signed up for Allan's updates please do so before downloading - you will be returned to this page to conitnue your download. Download Succeeding with OKRs in Agile as a single file (approx. 200Mb) Download
- [Thank you](https://www.allankelly.net/contact/thank-you/) - Thanks for your enquiry, we'll get back to you soon. In the meantime please have a look around.
- [The great WIP epidemic](https://www.allankelly.net/the-great-wip-epidemic/) - Almost every client I visit has always had too much work in progress, WIP. In fact, I jokingly call it WHIP - work hopefully in progress.
- [About Allan and ...](https://www.allankelly.net/about-allan/) - About Allan Kelly Welcome to Allan Kelly’s home on the internet. Home to Allan and his company, Software Strategy Ltd. Let him take up the story: Once upon a time I was a programmer, people I worked with thought I was quite a good one. I was part of a team building a hand-held PC,
- [Chapters & Contibutions](https://www.allankelly.net/books/book-contibutions/) - #NoProjects: A Culture of Continuous Value Evan Leybourn and Shane Hastie, 2019 Preface by Allan Kelly Today success comes from building products people love, creating loyal customers and serving the broader stakeholder community. In this thoughtful exploration on the future of work, the authors explore the past, present and future of the "project". And why,
- [Dialogue Sheet Downloads - free](https://www.allankelly.net/dialogue-sheets/dialogue-sheets-download/) - All Dialogue Sheet downloads on this page are. If you like the sheets please repay me my adding a link to my website. Please, share your experiences, I'd love to hear how you are using these Dialogue Sheets - allan@allankelly.net. Sprint Retrospective Sheet download This sheets is used at the end of an iteration/sprint by
- [ACCU Overload](https://www.allankelly.net/overload/) - Between 1999 and 2012 I was a regular writer for ACCU Overload - and occasionally ACCU CVu, Overload's sister publication. I cut my teeth writing for Overload and my first forays into conference presenting were at ACCU conferences too. About Business Patterns for Software Developers Overload 111 - October 2012 The Agile Spectrum Overload 102
- [Software Strategy Ltd. (small print)](https://www.allankelly.net/software-strategy-ltd/) - Data policy Organization: Software Strategy Ltd. All enquiries to: contact@softwarestrategy.co.ukThis address can be used to contact our representatives and data protection offices. Data is only held for contact purposes, e.g. marketing mailings (email). Software Strategy aims to minimise the amount of data held. Normally data collection is limited to name and e-mail address. Software Strategy
- [Oredev slides & book draw](https://www.allankelly.net/oredev/) - Use this form to request slides for Allan Kelly's Oredev keynote "Its Always time for Team". In addition you may enter a draw for a copy of "Succeeding with OKRs in Agile" and subscribe for updates. Loading… If you have trouble seeing this form please use this link.
- [Agile insights](https://www.allankelly.net/writing/agile_insights/) - Dear Customer, the truth about IT - probably my best known piece of writing. Getting old but still too true. InfoQ November 2021: Agile Coaches, Agile Guides and Other Family MembersJune 2021: Reawakening Agile with OKRsFebruary 2021: Continuous Digital, #NoProjects, Minimally Viable Teams and OKRs (Podcast with transcript)September 2018: Author Q&A Continuous Digital and Project
- [Making Cornwall Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/clients/making-cornwall-agile/) - Grow Cornwall provides business support for high growth business as part of the regional aid and Objective-1 funding for Cornwall. Between 2010 and 2012 Grown Cornwall offered Agile adoption support to companies in the county. While open to all high growth companies in Cornwall the Agile programme worked mainly with the Cornish technology sector. In
- [Lexis Nexis](https://www.allankelly.net/clients/lexis-nexis/) - Coaching product owners and managers while restructuring the development group to create a ground breaking new product. Lexis-Nexus - a division of RELX corporation - was facing three major challenges: adopting agile in the software development group, creating and launching a new product. All the while walking the customer-specific v. generic product tightrope. Adding to
- [Agile software development training](https://www.allankelly.net/agile-software-development-training/) - Practical and inspiring 2-day Agile software training workshop for teams, frequently run as introduction to Agile for teams changing tomorrow or to improve teams with some experience of Agile. 2-day hands-on Agile training workshop. Free follow-up consulting day when booked direct.Available for private on site delivery.Additional 3rd day option add-on examining requirements and User Stories
- [Clients, case studies & reviews](https://www.allankelly.net/clients/) - "As a result of working with Allan our processes have improved, we are more efficient, more creative and our projects are increasing in terms of measurable output. He is highly recommended if you want to develop your programming department to achieve more."Toby Parkins, UKNetWeb/HeadForward To find out how I can help your team and company
- [Presentations before 2015](https://www.allankelly.net/presentations-events/pre2010presentations/) - Does Agile work outside of software? BCS Brstol, September 2014Agile on the Beach Conference, September 2014Skills Matter "In the Brain", September 2014 Agile Contracts Agile 4 Agencies Meet-up, October 2014 - and on Slideshare Dialogue Sheets for Retrospectives DevConFu, May 2014, Riga LatviaOrdev, November 2012, Malmo SwedenAgile Cambridge, September 2012Agile Dev Practices, March 2013, Berlin
- [Thank you for subscribing](https://www.allankelly.net/thank-you-for-subscribing/) - Please help yourself to a free copy of Continuous Digital from LeanPub where you will be able to choose between PDF, Kindle (Mobi) and iBook (ePub) formats - or read online. Print editions of Continuous Digital are also available to buy from Amazon.
- [Combining Agile and OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/combining-agile-and-okrs/) - A structured support programme for teams and organisation seeking to use OKRs in an agile environment. Based on the best selling book, Succeeding with OKRs in Agile. Stage 1: OKR workshop Introducing OKRs in an agile environment: this workshop is the ideal start for teams adopting OKR. The workshop describes what OKRs are and how
- [Subscribe for updates](https://www.allankelly.net/newsletter/) - Get Continuous Dgital completely free for Kindle, iBooks or in PDF format Be the first to know of new ticketed events Recieve new posts and insights by e-mail Get subscriber discounts to events and be the first for free tickets Subscribe today and receive download instructions for Continuous Digital within minutes Expecting another book? -
- [Fugro](https://www.allankelly.net/clients/fugro/) - Consulting, coaching and training teams on three continuents over seven years. Fugro, the world's leading geo-data specialist, first engaged me to train one of their UK development teams in Agile. The success of that initial engagement has led me to train, coach and advise Frugo managers and teams worldwide - in Europe, America and Australia
- [SWIFT](https://www.allankelly.net/clients/swift/) - Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication Building agility in both software development and marketing teams, successfully introducing OKRS International payments cooperative SWIFT embarked on an Agile transformation programme following the Spotify model with elements of SAFe. I was engaged as an Agile Coach as part of the coaching team within the compliance tribe. I lead
- [Kelly's Laws](https://www.allankelly.net/kellys-laws/) - Kelly's rules of software development These are some of the laws that I see underpinning code development and haven't been stated openly and clearly by others. Kelly's law of advanced code complexity Any code that is sufficiently advanced will appear as unmaintainable to a novice (Adapted from Arthur C. Clarke) Kelly's first law of project
- [Software Architecture & Design](https://www.allankelly.net/software-design/) - Most of these essays are getting a bit old now and most are C++ centric, pre ISO-C++ often. I like to think they stand the test of time but inevitably things have moved on. A complete list of the articles I wrote for ACCU Overload between 1999 and 2012. Encapsulated Context design pattern: also available
- [Planning Dialogue Sheet](https://www.allankelly.net/dialogue-sheets/planning/) - TODO Page about the dialogue sheet for planning
- [Software Development as Organizational Learning](https://www.allankelly.net/seol/) - As part of my MBA at Nottingham University Business School I studied Organizational Learning, this is frequently linked with the more fashionable Knowledge Management. With my background in Software Development it seemed to me that there was a lot the two disciplines could learn from one another. The final part of my MBA programme was
- [High Church C++](https://www.allankelly.net/high-church-c/) - Is high-church C++ fair? I've written this article because I mull over these ideas in my head structuring them in an article helps me understand my thoughts but raises more questions, the more I think and write the more questions arise. So, the second reason for writing this article is an appeal for help: I'd
- [GSMA](https://www.allankelly.net/clients/gsma/) - GSMA Loyalty & Couponing The not-for-profit GSM Association (GSMA) counts almost every major mobile telephone manufacturer and operator among its membership. The association exists to assist members in negotiating the technological, commercial and other challenges to ensuring harmonious operation of mobile phone networks. On behalf of members GSMA is working to expand the use of

## My Templates

- [Default Kit](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=default-kit)
- [Dialogue Sheet Template](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=dialogue-sheet-template) - Dialogue Sheets Retrospective Dialogue Sheets Want to try a new way with retrospectives? Want to promote good conversation? And have fun as you go? Buy printed sheets from Agile Stationery or download for free here and print at home (best with a big printer). Printed Sprint Retrospective version 8 now available to order today –
- [Template - Contact](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=template-contact) - Contact Need Help or Have Questions? Whether it’s about Agile, one of my books, or a presentation, I’m here to assist.Let’s discuss your needs, whether it’s: A presentation for your company, a user group, or a conference Training, tailored to your team or organization Advice, ad hoc discussions, occasional consulting, or ongoing guidance Get in
- [Speak - Event - Template](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=speak-event-template) - Speak at your event I regularly speak at public conferences and meetup groups – online and in-person when events allow. In addition I have spoken at internal company conferences for the likes of Barclay’s Bank, to teams and groups within companies (e.g. UBS and British Airways), online (e.g. Rolls-Royce) or simply join an expert panels
- [Events Loop 1](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=elementor-loop-item)
- [Events Loop 2](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=elementor-loop-item-9629)
- [Events Loop Past Events](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=events-loop-past-events)
- [Books All](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=books-all) - Succeeding with OKRs in Agile Buy on Amazon Today Buy from other sellers Succeeding with OKRs in Agile Amazon #1 Best seller in “Agile Programming” and “IT Project Management” Download free chapters now! OKRs are about goals bigger than the next story, or even epic. OKRs prioritise purpose and strategy over backlogs. Objectives are big
- [TB](https://www.allankelly.net/?elementor_library=tb) - Explore Books on Agile, Software Development, and Digital Transformation Succeeding with OKRs in Agile A guide to effectively integrating Objectives and Key Results with Agile practices for enhanced team performance and strategic success. Buy Succeeding with OKRs in Agile on Amazon Today Business Patterns for Software Developers Essential strategies and patterns for navigating business challenges

## Events

- [Strategy Leadership with OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/strategy-leadership-with-okrs/)
- [Writing OKRs Masterclass](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/writing-okrs-masterclass/) - Do you struggle when writing OKRs? Putting numbers against hard to measure outcomes? Maybe, you want to start using OKRs but the challenge of qualifying results is stopping you? The increasing popularity of OKRs means that more professionals face this challenge. Coinciding with the second edition of *Succeeding with OKRs in Agile* author Allan Kelly is running this small, interactive, masterclass exploring how to write OKRs.
- [ACCU Conference](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/accu-conference/) - How to Value a Story workshop at ACCU conference, April 2025
- [How to Value a Story](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/how-to-value-a-story/) - Learn how to value a story while having some fun and laughs!
- [Business Agility Conference UK](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/business-agility-conference-uk/) - Strategy Leadership with OKRs in the face of complexity
- [Featureban Live](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/featureban-live/) - Experience flow and work in progress limits
- [Value Poker in the Dragons Den (Oxford)](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/value-poker-in-the-dragons-den-oxford/) - Seen the TV show Dragon's Den? Of course you have! We are going to be playing the game and showing how you can put value on user stories. Along the way we'll have a lot of laughs and dig into some deeper questions of "what are you building" and the roles of Product Managers and Oweners.
- [Richmond NewTech: writing books and your career](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/events/richmond-newtech-writing-books-and-your-career/)

## Categories

- [Uncategorized](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/uncategorized/)
- [Agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/)
- [Business](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/business/)
- [Technical](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/technical/)
- [Kanban](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/kanban/)
- [corporate](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/corporate/)
- [Cornwall](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/cornwall/)
- [Requirements](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/requirements/)
- [Agile Process](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/agile-process/)
- [Scrum](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/scrum/)
- [XP](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/extreme-programming/)
- [Xanpan](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/xanpan-the-xp-kanban-hybrid/)
- [Digital business](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/digital-business/)
- [Continuous](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/continuous-digital/)
- [Strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/strategy/)
- [OKRs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/okrs/)
- [Management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/business/management/)
- [Hand-on](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/hand-on/)
- [Scaling](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/agile/scaling/)
- [Conferences](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/category/conferences/)

## Tags

- [agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile/)
- [conways law](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/conways-law/)
- [business](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/business/)
- [Project Myopia audio edition](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/project-myopia-audio-edition/)
- [Xanpan](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/xanpan/)
- [ITIL](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/itil/)
- [Product Owner](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/product-owner/)
- [Product Manager](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/product-manager/)
- [BA](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/ba/)
- [people](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/people/)
- [agile guide](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-guide/)
- [organizational learning](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/organizational-learning/)
- [processes and people](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/processes-and-people/)
- [it](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/it/)
- [outsource](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/outsource/)
- [outsourcing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/outsourcing/)
- [digital](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/digital/)
- [podcast](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/podcast/)
- [video](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/video/)
- [techdebt](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/techdebt/)
- [okrs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/okrs/)
- [bldd](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/bldd/)
- [backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/backlog/)
- [change](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/change/)
- [userstories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/userstories/)
- [documentation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/documentation/)
- [diminishing returns](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/diminishing-returns/)
- [mvp](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/mvp/)
- [highway](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/highway/)
- [scrum](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/scrum/)
- [sprintgoal](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/sprintgoal/)
- [user stories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/user-stories/)
- [7habit](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/7habit/)
- [7habits](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/7habits/)
- [conferences](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/conferences/)
- [meetups](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/meetups/)
- [hierarchy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/hierarchy/)
- [books](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/books/)
- [Discard](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/discard/)
- [2021](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/2021/)
- [retrospectives](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/retrospectives/)
- [midset](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/midset/)
- [practicaltips](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/practicaltips/)
- [knowledgework](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/knowledgework/)
- [agilemideset](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agilemideset/)
- [agilemindset](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agilemindset/)
- [french](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/french/)
- [Normalisation of Deviance](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/normalisation-of-deviance/)
- [gemba](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/gemba/)
- [writing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/writing/)
- [Static](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/static/)
- [strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/strategy/)
- [key results](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/key-results/)
- [pbis](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/pbis/)
- [bookstobewriitten](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/bookstobewriitten/)
- [nobacklogs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/nobacklogs/)
- [noprojects](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/noprojects/)
- [comfort blanket](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/comfort-blanket/)
- [transitional object](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/transitional-object/)
- [Matryoshki](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/matryoshki/)
- [Goals](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/goals/)
- [Level1Goals](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/level1goals/)
- [Purpose](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/purpose/)
- [Meaning](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/meaning/)
- [Missions](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/missions/)
- [Mission Statement](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/mission-statement/)
- [Strategic intent](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/strategic-intent/)
- [agile methods](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-methods/)
- [objective driven agile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/objective-driven-agile/)
- [backlogs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/backlogs/)
- [oredev](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/oredev/)
- [keynote](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/keynote/)
- [roadmaps](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/roadmaps/)
- [value poker](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/value-poker/)
- [debt](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/debt/)
- [techdeb](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/techdeb/)
- [organizational debt](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/organizational-debt/)
- [agility](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agility/)
- [wildebeest](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/wildebeest/)
- [agile improvement days](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-improvement-days/)
- [agile training](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-training/)
- [agile reboot](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-reboot/)
- [entrepreneur](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/entrepreneur/)
- [cto](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/cto/)
- [start-up](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/start-up/)
- [okr](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/okr/)
- [emergent strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/emergent-strategy/)
- [workshop](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/workshop/)
- [Test First](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/test-first/)
- [limit wip](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/limit-wip/)
- [management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/management/)
- [money](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/money/)
- [feedback loop](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/feedback-loop/)
- [amoeba management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/amoeba-management/)
- [agile coaching](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-coaching/)
- [publishing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/publishing/)
- [selfpublishing](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/selfpublishing/)
- [author](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/author/)
- [baselines](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/baselines/)
- [measurements](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/measurements/)
- [workflow](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/workflow/)
- [unplanned but urgent](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/unplanned-but-urgent/)
- [kanban](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/kanban/)
- [kanbanzone](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/kanbanzone/)
- [Kanban Board](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/kanban-board/)
- [DoneDone](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/donedone/)
- [focus](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/focus/)
- [dyslexia](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/dyslexia/)
- [systems thinking](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/systems-thinking/)
- [connections](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/connections/)
- [okr sandwich](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/okr-sandwich/)
- [ai](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/ai/)
- [technology change](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/technology-change/)
- [Bugs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/bugs/)
- [nuke the backlog](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/nuke-the-backlog/)
- [story points](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/story-points/)
- [micro-management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/micro-management/)
- [Diseconomies](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/diseconomies/)
- [milk](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/milk/)
- [millenials](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/millenials/)
- [gen-z](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/gen-z/)
- [risk](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/risk/)
- [ERP](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/erp/)
- [lowcode](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/lowcode/)
- [nocode](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/nocode/)
- [software engineering](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/software-engineering/)
- [democracy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/democracy/)
- [agile transformation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-transformation/)
- [agile change](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-change/)
- [agile initiative](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/agile-initiative/)
- [flawed](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/flawed/)
- [feature factories](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/feature-factories/)
- [flow](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/flow/)
- [featureban](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/featureban/)
- [estimation](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/estimation/)
- [estimates](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/estimates/)
- [cost benefit analysis](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/cost-benefit-analysis/)
- [business value](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/business-value/)
- [cost of delay](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/cost-of-delay/)
- [time value profile](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/time-value-profile/)
- [investment](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/investment/)
- [governance](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/governance/)
- [funding](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/funding/)
- [productivity](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/productivity/)
- [outcome](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/outcome/)
- [Good jobs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/good-jobs/)
- [bad jobs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/bad-jobs/)
- [Growth](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/growth/)
- [modern management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/modern-management/)
- [theory-y](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/theory-y/)
- [beyond budgeting](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/beyond-budgeting/)
- [psychological safety](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/psychological-safety/)
- [good job strategy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/good-job-strategy/)
- [sale](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/sale/)
- [price cut](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/price-cut/)
- [shared leadership](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/shared-leadership/)
- [teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/teams/)
- [self-organizing teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/self-organizing-teams/)
- [self-managing teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/self-managing-teams/)
- [self-directed teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/self-directed-teams/)
- [Scaling](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/scaling/)
- [authority](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/authority/)
- [self-organization](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/self-organization/)
- [book](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/book/)
- [KPIs](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/kpis/)
- [action](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/action/)
- [balanced scorecard](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/balanced-scorecard/)
- [energy](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/energy/)
- [patterns](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/patterns/)
- [europlop](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/europlop/)
- [highly autonomous teams](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/highly-autonomous-teams/)
- [masterclass](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/masterclass/)
- [online](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/online/)
- [continuous engineering](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/continuous-engineering/)
- [roadmap](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/roadmap/)
- [north star](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/north-star/)
- [true north](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/true-north/)
- [lodestar](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/lodestar/)
- [objective driven](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/objective-driven/)
- [test first management](https://www.allankelly.net/archives/tag/test-first-management/)