tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20176138678231792542024-03-08T11:39:41.258+00:00It's Tech Up NorthEclectic Tech for Northern CognisatiAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-44404039178180604712018-09-27T10:17:00.001+01:002018-09-27T10:20:50.523+01:00<h1>The Riemann Hypothesis Proved..?</h1>
Does a Radical New Approach prove The Riemann Hypothesis...?<br />
Only time will tell. <br />
<br />
Primes are essential in the contemporary <a href='http://dbpedia.org/page/Cryptography' rel='tag'>cryptography</a> used to secure the internet but the smart money has always been on all primes following the pattern. <br />
<br />
Once this Radical New Approach is published, I expect armies of eager postgraduate students to start mining mathematics using this new tool. And this indirect impact on security may be worth watching.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://t.co/3dcqIPWICG" target="_blank">Read more about the proof here...</a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-10872592618915774682018-03-07T08:47:00.001+00:002018-03-07T08:47:44.317+00:00All About It's Tech Up North<p>For this <span style='font-style: oblique;'>It's Tech Up North</span> blog, I <a href='https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/don#h70026121794180'>don</a> my author's hat and meditate upon matters mostly methodological.
<p>
Heading up the technical side of <a href='https://techupnorth.ltd' rel='tag'>Tech Up North Ltd</a>, I have many hats ― Agilist, Engineer, Technologist, Analyst, Co-Founder, Shareholder, Director and so on. In my <a href='https://www.apache.org/'>Apache</a> days, we considered hats a lot and ― like many ideas from those times ― this one stuck with me.
<p>
The hat as a perspective, as a viewpoint, a way of thinking. Separating concerns. Opinions but loosely held. A hat to be be put on and taken off again, enhancing rather than defining.
<p>
<span style='font-style: oblique;'>It's Tech Up North</span> is a Tech Up North blog but has my personal voice, expressing my personal opinions. Here I wear my author's hat.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comSaltaire, Shipley, UK53.838240199999987 -1.789613499999973153.828870699999989 -1.8097834999999731 53.847609699999985 -1.7694434999999731tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-6005589631569541332018-03-02T06:26:00.000+00:002018-03-02T06:26:06.183+00:00Sunny Memories on a Snowy DaySome photos from my time on site in <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge' rel='tag'>Cambridge</a>. <a href='https://techupnorth.ltd' rel='tag'>Tech Up North Ltd</a> was
engaged there on a project involving <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptography'>cryptography</a> on mobile platforms.<br />
<br />
<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/albums/72157675101589532" title="Cambridge in Autumn"><img src="https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5627/31051069525_9060e0a39f_z.jpg" width="640" height="360" alt="Cambridge in Autumn"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<br />
<p align="centre"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/albums/72157675101589532">On Site In Cambridge, Autumn 2016</a> ― sunny times</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comCambridge, UK52.205337 0.1218169999999645452.1274775 -0.039544500000035454 52.2831965 0.28317849999996453tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-18663456898733774332018-01-29T06:13:00.001+00:002018-01-29T06:13:47.925+00:00Tech Up North LtdLast post back in 2012.<br />
<br />
Been a bit of a roller coaster ride for me in those five years. Maybe I'll share some observations about those years a little later.<br />
<br />
Today — though — in this new year of 2018 I'd like to talk about the future. <br />
<br />
<a href="https://techupnorth.ltd/" rel="author">Tech Up North Ltd</a> — the micro-company I co-founded —is just over a year old and I'll be rebooting this blog with similar content but owned and operated under the Company banner.<br />
<br />
Hope you'll continue to find my words of interest.<br />
<br />
Thanks for reading, <br />
Robert Burrell Donkin<br />
Director, Tech Up North Ltd<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tech Up North Ltd </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Train • Engineer • Develop </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Registered in England and Wales </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Company Number 10340164 </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Registered Office Windsor House LE4 9HA</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comSaltaire, Shipley, UK53.838240199999987 -1.789613499999973153.828870699999989 -1.8097834999999731 53.847609699999985 -1.7694434999999731tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-52735255073449408892012-02-05T13:21:00.000+00:002012-02-05T13:23:52.728+00:00Another Charity Day: Maven Training In Manchester<div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6695900451/" title="Manchester in Winter, 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6695900451_719777645c_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Manchester in Winter, 2012"></a><br />
</div><p>In January, I took the train to <a href='http://dbpedia.org/resource/Manchester' rel='tag'>Manchester</a>, to visit my friends at <a href='http://hedtek.com/' rel='tag'>HedTek</a>. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6695972389/" title="Manchester in Winter, 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6695972389_86f77c521d_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Manchester in Winter, 2012"></a><br />
</div><p>HedTek loves <a href='http://dbpedia.org/resource/Ruby_%28programming_language%29' rel='tag'>Ruby</a> but regularly works with <a href='http://dbpedia.org/page/Java_%28programming_language%29' rel='tag'>Java</a> and <a href='http://maven.apache.org' rel='tag'>Apache Maven</a>. <br />
So, this — the <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/charity-day-of-agile-coaching.html'>second</a> of my <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/11/charity-days-spiking-coaching-mentoring.html' rel='tag'>charity days</a> — would be a Maven master class. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6695922273/" title="Manchester in Winter, 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6695922273_07ea41decf_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Manchester in Winter, 2012"></a><br />
</div><p>The session was hands on: after a short discussion around <a href='#slides'>slides</a> focusing on concepts and philosophy, we dived into some real code.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6695881307/" title="Manchester In Winter 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6695881307_dd56a3f5b2_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Manchester In Winter 2012"></a><br />
</div><p>For the morning, I brought along a mystery code base. <br />
</p><p>Maven's declarative nature means that it's possible to learn a lot about a novel code base from its project build. We started by applying comprehension tips and techniques.</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6695995729/" title="Manchester in Winter, 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7168/6695995729_90b8c274ac_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Manchester in Winter, 2012"></a><br />
</div><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6695854867/" title="Manchester in Winter 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7025/6695854867_f6d02e3a01_m.jpg" width="160" height="240" alt="Manchester in Winter 2012"></a><br />
</div><p style='clear:both'>We completed the morning by moving on to wiring a new <a href='http://maven.apache.org/developers/mojo-api-specification.html' rel='tag'>mojo</a> into the project. <a href='http://maven.apache.org/guides/plugin/guide-java-plugin-development.html' rel='tag'>Plugins</a> are surprisingly easy to create, and illustrate well how Maven works behind the scenes.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6696011549/" title="Manchester in Winter, 2012 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6696011549_fd9a711139_m.jpg" width="240" height="160" alt="Manchester in Winter, 2012"></a><br />
</div><p>In the afternoon, we used Maven to create a new project from scratch: picking <a href='http://groovy.codehaus.org/' rel='tag'>Groovy</a> on <a href='http://grails.org/' rel='tag'>Grails</a>. We finished by reviewing some of the builds HedTek already deals with.<br />
</p><h4><a name='slides'>Slides</a></h4><div style="width:425px" id="__ss_11267772"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin/apache-maven-in-10-slides" title="Apache Maven In 10 Slides" target="_blank">Apache Maven In 10 Slides</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/11267772" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin" target="_blank">Robert Burrell Donkin</a> </div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-83916125668092693922012-01-16T14:16:00.000+00:002012-01-16T14:16:54.280+00:00An Extreme Hour At Agile Yorkshire<p>The qualities that the audience brings — enthusiasm, energy and engagement; experience, knowledge and ideas — are the keys to a successful participatory session. So, thanks to all the <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/'>Yorkshire Agilists</a> who braved the January gloom for our <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/event-announcements/10thjanuaryanextremehour' rel='tag'>Extreme Hour</a>. And a special shout from me to <a href='http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/grant-crofton/4/187/65a'>Grant Crofton</a>, who paired-up with me as co-host. <br />
</p><p>An <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeHour'>Extreme Hour</a> is a <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Process+miniature'>process miniature</a> illustrating facets of <abbr title='Extreme Programming'><a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/'>XP</a></abbr>. Famously XP leavens a tiny process with practices and philosophy, tools and techniques. XP teams often add optional extras into the mix, for example <a href=http://alistair.cockburn.us/Incremental+versus+iterative+development'>iterations</a>, which occasionally obscure XP's essential simplicity. <br />
</p><p>One hour flows by fast: it makes sense to select themes and arrange the focus on them. This time, we stripped down the process to essentials and set out to challenge <a href='http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/communication.htm' rel='tag'>communication</a> and <a href='http://jamesshore.com/Articles/Business/Software%20Profitability%20Newsletter/Trust.html' rel='tag'>collaboration</a> through <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/user-stories' rel='tag'>user stories</a> in the <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PlanningGame' rel='tag'>planning game</a> between <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/customer.html' rel='tag'>customers</a> and <a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/the_xp_team.html'>developers</a>. Our rules-for-today required that each <a href='http://www.allaboutagile.com/user-stories/'>story</a> be written on one <a href='http://www.allaboutagile.com/user-stories-answers-on-a-postcard/'>card</a> using the classic "<a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/advantages-of-the-as-a-user-i-want-user-story-template'>As a, I want</a>" template. <br />
</p><p>Team building happened first and fast: focusing relations within, and limiting ties between, teams. Next, customers were separated and grouped, presented privately with an open, undirected product challenge, then left to brainstorm. This set up customers as domain experts — limiting independent developer knowledge.</p><p>The twist thrown into the mix this time was <a href='http://www.paperprototyping.com/what.html' rel='tag'>paper prototyping</a>. Teams were challenged to create dynamic interfaces from paper, card and stickies using scissors and pens. This went really well — though testing wasn't feasible, <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/pair.html' rel='tag'>pair programming</a> was: with the driver operating the pens and scissors, and the navigator owning the story card.</p><p>I left happy.</p><p>Materials are <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/meetings/10thjanuaryanextremehour'>available</a> to remix and reuse under the <a href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/'>CC-by-3.0</a>.<br />
</p><div style="width:340px" id="__ss_11039936"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin/xp-in-10-slides" title="XP In 10 slides" target="_blank">XP In 10 slides</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/11039936" width="340" height="284" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin" target="_blank">Robert Burrell Donkin</a> </div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-91093690194887358762012-01-09T08:14:00.000+00:002012-01-09T08:23:42.412+00:00Some Extreme Programming<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>Software development fails to deliver, and fails to deliver value. This failure has huge economic and human impact. We need to find a new way to develop software.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained</a></p></div><p><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Extreme Programming</a> (XP) is a <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html' rel='tag'>lightweight</a>, <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Incremental+means+adding,+iterative+means+reworking' rel='tag'>incremental</a> <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AgileProcesses' rel='tag'>method</a>, influential not only as a highly successful process (for smaller projects) but for the innovative practices (tools and techniques) <a href='http://jamesshore.com/Blog/The-Decline-and-Fall-of-Agile.html'>described</a> and the <a href='http://www.agile-process.org/' rel='tag'>agile</a> <a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/'>philosophy</a> espoused. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XP4o0ArkP4s" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>XP <a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>values</a><br />
</p><ul><li><a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/sit_together.html'>communication</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/simple_design.html'>simplicity</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://www.ambysoft.com/essays/whyAgileWorksFeedback.html'>feedback</a> and</li>
<li><a href='http://www.grapscons.com/en/blog/courage-extreme-programming-value'>courage</a>.</li>
</ul><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CJd__8ANvtQC'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>For small projects, Agile, extreme programming and high-level programming languages are key practices because coding is the dominant activity for small applications.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CJd__8ANvtQC'>Capers Jones, Software Engineering Best Practices</a></p></div><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ET3Q6zNK3Io" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>XP <a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>believes</a> in<br />
</p><ul><li>rapid feedback,</li>
<li>assuming simplicity,</li>
<li>incremental change,</li>
<li>embracing change and</li>
<li>quality work.</li>
</ul><div style='padding:2px 5px;clear:both;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>The exact limits of XP aren't clear yet. But there are some absolute showstoppers that prevent XP from working — big teams, distrustful customers, technology that doesn't support graceful change.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained</a></p></div><p>XP <a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>practices</a><br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nqYqQUfPCp8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><ul><li><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PairProgramming' rel='tag'>pair programming</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/planninggame.html' rel='tag'>the planning game</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://xprogramming.com/xpmag/whatisxp#small'>short releases</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?XpSimplicityRules'>simple design</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://xprogramming.com/xpmag/whatisxp#metaphor'>metaphor</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://xunitpatterns.com/' rel='tag'>testing</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/refactoring/' rel='tag'>refactoring</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/collective_code_ownership.html' rel='tag'>collective ownership</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/continuousIntegration.html' rel='tag'>continuous integration</a>,</li>
<li><a href='http://xprogramming.com/xpmag/whatisxp#sustainable'>40 hour week</a>,</li>
<li>with (at least one) <a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/real_customer_involvement.html'>customer on-site</a> and</li>
<li><a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/coding_standards.html'>coding standards</a>.</li>
</ul><div style='padding:2px 5px;clear:both;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>We can drive ourselves crazy with expectation. But by preparing for every eventuality we can think of, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the eventualities we can't imagine.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained</a></p></div><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/X_2PfTvXBeA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>XP separates traditional project management into<br />
</p><ul><li><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TheCoach'>coaching</a> and</li>
<li><a href='http://agilepainrelief.com/notesfromatooluser/2010/07/agile-metrics.html'>tracking</a>.</li>
</ul><div style='padding:2px 5px;clear:both;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>XP is a lightweight, efficient, low risk, flexible, predictable, scientific, and fun way to develop software.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained</a></p></div><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/' rel='tag'>Extreme Programming</a></li>
<li><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ExtremeProgrammingRoadmap' rel='tag'>XP Roadmap</a></li>
<li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html'>The New Methodology</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Extreme programming explained</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=g_ji7cRb--UC'>The Art of Agile Development</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l4zO3OWkdIsC'>Extreme programming installed</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://xprogramming.com/articles/bio/' rel='tag'>Ron Jeffries</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/ronjeffries'>@RonJeffries</a></li>
<li><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?KentBeck' rel='tag'>Kent Beck</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/kentbeck'>@KentBeck</a></li>
<li><a href='http://jamesshore.com' rel='tag'>James Shore</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/jamesshore'>@JamesShore</a> </li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-17420239362151940382012-01-01T14:06:00.000+00:002012-01-01T14:08:56.363+00:00About Business Value And Issue Trackers<p>Pull scheduling allows developers to grab work from a <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum/product-backlog' rel='tag'>backlog</a>. This way of team working is efficient — flowing around impediments — and effective — <a href='http://scrummethodology.com/the-scrum-team-role/'>developers understand software</a> — but is not necessarily well aligned with the business. <br />
</p><h4>Maintaining A Backlog</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://agileconsortium.blogspot.com/2009/07/defining-business-value-1-risk.html'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>I hear many people complain that it is hard to define business value. So they won't do it. Or they won't try any harder to do it.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://agileconsortium.blogspot.com/2009/07/defining-business-value-1-risk.html'>Joseph H. Little, Defining Business Value</a></p></div><p>Software features vary in value (to the business). To align the flow (of features) to maximum business value, empower a <a href='http://top7business.com/?Top-7-Responsibilities-of-a-Scrum-Product-Owner&id=11111' rel='tag'>product owner</a> with <a href='http://www.thenetcircle.com/2010/07/27/five-mistakes-of-a-scrum-product-owner-that-can-make-your-project-fail/'>decisiveness</a> to prioritize the backlog. Healthy software has business value, so factor in gradual repayment of <a href='http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TechnicalDebt.html' rel='tag'>technical debt</a>. Over time feature valuations drift, either in response to an evolving business environment or as domain knowledge is won. So, review valuations regularly.<br />
</p><h4>Tracking The Backlog</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i39yimbrzh4C'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>An information radiator displays information in a place where passersby can see it. With information radiators, the passersby do not need to ask questions; the information simply hits them as they pass.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=i39yimbrzh4C'>Alistair Cockburn, <em>Agile Software Development</em></a></p></div><p>For co-located teams, the physicality of a <a href='http://www.infoq.com/articles/hiranabe-lean-agile-kanban' rel='tag'>Kanban</a> board is great, acting as an <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Information+radiator' rel='tag'>information radiator</a>. Where distribution favours a software solution, use a big screen to <a href='http://www.atlassian.com/wallboards/information-radiators.jsp'>radiate</a> backlog and activity feeds to those co-located. <br />
</p><p>A <a href='http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/overview'>good issue tracker</a> is a flexible tool, and convenient for backlog tracking. When used so, invest in careful configuring: though similar in structure, an Agile <em>backlog</em> is <strong>not</strong> a list of <em>defects</em>, differing in several subtle — but significant — semantics. <br />
</p><p>As the team learns to create <em>higher quality software</em>, the number of defects should <strong>fall over time</strong>. As the team delivers <em>business value</em>, demand — and the backlog — should <strong>increase</strong>. Successful teams should expect these queues to move in opposite directions over time: defects shrinking but the backlog growing.<br />
</p><h4>Issue Priority Is Not Business Value</h4><p>Most issues trackers include a <strong>priority</strong> quality. For example, <a href='http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/overview' rel='tag'>JIRA</a> <em>priority</em> is selected from <code>BLOCKER</code>, <code>major</code>, <code>minor</code>, <code>trivial</code> and so on. These traditional names carry with them baggage from conventional bug and release management. <br />
</p><p>This <em>issue priority</em> may differ radically from <em>business value</em>. Behaviour considered unacceptable when wearing a test- and release-<a href='http://agilewarrior.wordpress.com/2011/07/03/the-rise-of-the-generalist/'>hat</a> might reasonably be given a high <strong>issue priority</strong>, but only the view under a business hat shows the <strong>business value</strong> delivered by work on this issue.<br />
</p><p>Avoid conflating these concepts: add a new <strong>business value</strong> field. Whimsical names (for example <code>gold >> silver >> iron >> paper >> blue skies</code>) are memorable, and help avoid misunderstandings and misuse.</p><h4>An Example</h4><p>5 minutes might sound like a long time to wait for a screen to load. From the testing perspective, this might be a seen as a <strong>major</strong> issue.<br />
</p><p>However, this does not necessary mean that improved start-up time would bring major business benefit. A business might expect an employee to open the screen in the morning, and then go to make their coffee. The screen would remain open all day, closing again only at night. For this business, value lies in responsiveness and stability but not start-up time. Lengthy start-up would then be a <strong>major</strong> <em>issue</em> with <strong>paper</strong> <em>business value</em>.</p><p>In this case, reasonable valuations reached wearing tester and business hats would result in seemingly opposing assessments — until understanding that each measures a different quality. Fitting both qualities into a single field encourages wasteful conflict where there should be harmony.</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-83755847413276051192011-12-22T19:25:00.000+00:002011-12-22T20:01:14.901+00:00A Charity Day of Agile Coaching<div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6543336589/" title="Bradford to London, aboard The James Herriot by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6543336589_6fbf9edaf4_m.jpg" width="240" height="179" alt="Bradford to London, aboard The James Herriot"></a></div><p>The magnificent <a href='http://www.grandcentralrail.com/'>Grand Central</a> swept me to London last week for my first <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/11/charity-days-spiking-coaching-mentoring.html' rel='tag'>charity day</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6543377399/" title="Bradford to London, aboard The James Herriot by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7171/6543377399_4f0fd8d426_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Bradford to London, aboard The James Herriot"></a><br />
</div><p>Thanks to <a href='http://uk.linkedin.com/in/robdyke'>Rob Dyke</a> for inviting me to visit <a href='http://www.tactix4.com/' rel='tag'>Tactix4</a> and for generously pledging £250 to <a href='http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk'>The Woodland Trust</a>, and to the <a href='http://www.neovahealth.com/' rel='tag'>NeovaHealth</a> team for such a warm welcome in this cold weather. <div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/6543377383/" title="Bradford to London, aboard The James Herriot by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7028/6543377383_33e9248bbd_m.jpg" width="240" height="179" alt="Bradford to London, aboard The James Herriot"></a><br />
</div><a href='http://www.tactix4.com/' rel='tag'>Tactix4</a> sustains the <a href='http://forge.tactix4.net/gf/' rel='tag'>eHealthOpenSource</a> community, so we share interests in the open source health space (as well as <a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/' rel='tag'>Agile</a>). Rob and I met through the <a href='http://groups.google.com/group/oss-uk-health'>oss-uk-health</a> group. Exciting times, with <a href='http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/government-ict-strategy'>doors</a> starting to <a href='http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/open-source-procurement-toolkit'>open</a>.</p><p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehub/4386966641/" title="Table in King's Cross Hub by The Hub Network, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4006/4386966641_df98d7afea_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Table in King's Cross Hub"></a><br />
</div><a href='http://the-hub.net/' rel='tag'>The Hub</a>, <a href='http://kingscross.the-hub.net/public/'>King's Cross</a> is a funky space, a <a href='http://www.techrepublic.com/photos/wacky-laptop-tricks/6523?seq=22'>stones throw</a> from the <a href='http://kingscrossstation.com/?page_id=3'>famous station</a>.<div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kpmarek/2190191347/" title="Grand Central HST London Kings Cross by kpmarek, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2168/2190191347_d2d8724f25_m.jpg" width="240" height="180" alt="Grand Central HST London Kings Cross"></a></div><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehub/4386978655/" title="Stairs in King's Cross Hub by The Hub Network, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2714/4386978655_033f4e415b_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="Stairs in King's Cross Hub"></a></div><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehub/4095614120/" title="00_hub kings x_panoramic view ground floor by The Hub Network, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2668/4095614120_89bf533ab6_t.jpg" width="100" height="50" alt="00_hub kings x_panoramic view ground floor"></a></div></p><p style='clear:both'>We were booked into the <a href='http://kingscross.the-hub.net/public/spaces.html'>board room</a> — an interesting space with plenty of glass for drawing on. <div style='padding:5px;float:right'><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/thehub/4095744008/" title="0063_HKX_detail_glass writing by The Hub Network, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2660/4095744008_e48c7051d9_t.jpg" width="100" height="67" alt="0063_HKX_detail_glass writing"></a></div>The board table filled most of the space, imposing some physical limits on our activities. We improvised and adapted to this physicality.<br />
</p><p style='clear:both'>The <a href='http://www.neovahealth.com/' rel='tag'>NeovaHealth</a> team are just starting <a href='http://www.scrum.org/'>Scrum</a>. Our morning focused on building skills and knowledge. The inaugural <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum/sprint-planning-meeting' rel='tag'>planning meeting</a> followed, after lunch.<br />
</p><div style="width:425px" id="__ss_10666149"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin/an-agile-picknmix" title="An Agile Pick-N-Mix" target="_blank">An Agile Pick-N-Mix</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/10666149" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin" target="_blank">Robert Burrell Donkin</a> </div></div><p>For the morning, I brought along pick-n-mix. Before each session, we played decision poker to pick one from five themes:<br />
</p><ul><li>process, featuring <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-scrum.html' rel='tag'>scrum</a> and <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-kanban.html' rel='tag'>lean</a>;</li>
<li><a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-evolutionary-design.html' rel='tag'>design</a> and <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-emergent-architecture.html' rel='tag'> architecture</a>;</li>
<li>planning and estimation, featuring <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-story-points.html'>story points</a>, <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-velocity.html'>velocity</a> and <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-planning-poker.html'>planning poker</a>;</li>
<li>ecosystem with <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-open-design.html'>open design</a> and <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-continuous-delivery.html'>continuous delivery</a>; and</li>
<li><a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-testing.html'>tests</a>.</li>
</ul><p>Thumb voting then picked one activity from the themed mix. One red card session on <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/userstories.html'>user stories</a> was included.<br />
</p><p>We hit our timeboxes, squeezing in five sessions each structured as <code>{5m plan, 20m do, 5m reflect}</code>, with time for breaks. The physicality of my ladybird timer proved popular: personal, quirky and fun.<br />
</p><p>After lunch, I <a href='http://www.agilejedi.com/chickenandpig'>observed</a> the meeting, and offered some feedback, before we all left tied but happy.<br />
</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-30132875199371010722011-12-22T17:23:00.000+00:002011-12-22T17:48:19.980+00:00Some Testing<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>Optimism is an occupational hazard of programming. Feedback is the treatment.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=G8EL4H4vf7UC'>Kent Beck</a></p></div><p><abbr title='Test-driven development'><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TestDrivenDevelopment'>TDD</a></abbr> <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TenYearsOfTestDrivenDevelopment'>seemed</a> so <a href='http://cryptochaos.com/a-discipline-like-extreme-programming-require'>revolutionary</a> when it <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?TestInfected'>test infected</a> <a href='http://jakarta.apache.org/'>Jakarta</a> (and most of the rest of <a href='http://www.apache.org'>Apache</a>). This test automation proved a notable factor in the later <a href='https://www.osscensus.org/packages-rank-public.php'>success</a> of <a href='http://tomcat.apache.org'>Tomcat</a>, <a href='http://struts.apache.org'>Struts</a>, <a href='http://ant.apache.org'>Ant</a>, <a href='http://maven.apache.org'>Maven</a>, <a href='http://commons.apache.org'>Commons</a> (and all the rest). <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FMOyiraCOXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Tests bridge the gap between the language of the customer and the languages of software. <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/testfirst.html' rel='tag'>Test first</a> encourages alignment by starting with the customer then working inwards towards code.</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/c5sNk3RaMFs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Pq6LHFM4JvE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Fine-grain unit tests execute fast, exercising a unit in isolation. Loosely <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CouplingAndCohesion'>coupled</a>, <a href='http://www.codeodor.com/index.cfm/2009/6/17/Strive-for-low-coupling-and-high-cohesion-What-does-that-even-mean/2902'>cohesive</a> <a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc947917.aspx'>designs</a> are <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/stories/testfirst.html'>easier</a> to unit test, so unit testing <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/stories/testfirst.html'>rewards</a> good object-scale design.</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/94bL7_p2Vfc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Coarse-grain tests, exercising integrated components execute much more slowly, even with appropriate techniques (for example, switching to an <a href='http://eskatos.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/unit-test-jpa-entities-with-in-memory-derby/'>in-memory</a> store). Component-scale integration tests encourage cleaner, more reusable API designs.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9AdjitNkx2w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>The outermost layer exercises assembled applications. Fidelity to customer configuration is essential, and often means filling heavyweight stores with data. Set up and tear down costs are almost always high for enterprise applications.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nYPWBGgRiQg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Reasonable coverage using slow running integration and application layer tests costs. Avoid disrupting development flow: separate integration and application suites, and run them outside this flow. Consider triggering <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/continuousIntegration.html' rel='tag'>continuous integration</a> after each <a href='http://producingoss.com/en/vc.html' rel='tag'>commit</a>. To avoid maintenance issues, integration test selectively, invest in good <a href='http://xunitpatterns.com/test%20fixture%20-%20xUnit.html'>fixtures</a> and use the language of the customer.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;'><iframe width="360" height="240" src="http://opentalkware.googlecode.com/svn/talk/TestDoubles/trunk/index.html" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>A <a href='https://github.com/'>wide</a> <a href='http://www.codehaus.org'>variety</a> of <a href='http://producingoss.com/'>open source</a> <a href='http://sourceforge.net/directory/development/os:linux/'>tools</a> continue to emerge, with sweet spots spanning the space. So <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/spike.html'>spike</a>.</p><p>Tools like <a href='http://cukes.info/' rel='tag'>Cucumber</a> and <a href='http://fitnesse.org/'>Fitness</a> use the language of the customer, a fine match for outer (application and integration) layers. <a href='http://www.jmock.org/'>Mocking</a> <a href='http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-easymock/index.html'>frameworks</a> efficiently create <a href='http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TestDouble.html'>test doubles</a> to isolate the unit from its environment, and to efficiently <a href='http://behaviour-driven.org/'>verify behaviour</a> (but not at the same time as <a href='http://www.junit.org'>state</a>). <br />
</p><p>Efficient tools for special topics abound, for example <a href='http://seleniumhq.org/'>web applications</a>, <a href='http://grinder.sourceforge.net/'>load testing</a>, <a href='http://jmeter.apache.org/'>performance testing</a>, <a href='http://fest.easytesting.org/'>Swing</a>, <a href='http://www.dbunit.org/'>data access</a>, <a href='http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-aj-doh/index.html'>JavaScript</a> and <a href='http://docs.jquery.com/QUnit'>so</a> <a href='http://www.gebish.org/'>on</a>...<br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://cukes.info/'>Cucumber</a></li>
<li><a href='http://xunitpatterns.com/'>XUnitTestPatterns</a></li>
<li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/mocksArentStubs.html'>Mocks Aren't Stubs</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gFgnde_vwMAC'>Test-driven development</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=-izOiCEIABQC'>XUnit Test Patterns</a></li>
<li><a href='http://manning.com/adzic/'>Specification by Example</a><br />
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://gojko.net/'>Gojko Adzic</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/gojkoadzic'>@gojkoadzic</a></li>
<li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/'>Martin Fowler</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/martinfowler'>@martinfowler</a></li>
<li><a href='http://dannorth.net/'>Dan North</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/tastapod'>@tastapod</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-28595398511226235192011-12-22T15:42:00.000+00:002011-12-22T15:45:22.221+00:00Daresbury Workshop: IT in Health Care<p>In early December, I took the train to <br />
<a href='http://www.runcornandwidnesweeklynews.co.uk/'>Runcorn</a> and a cab to the <abbr title='Daresbury Science & Innovation Campus'><a href='http://www.daresburysic.co.uk/' rel='tag'>Daresbury</a> SIC</abbr> for the workshop on <a href='http://techcelerate.org/Nov2011ICTKTN2' rel='tag'>ICT Opportunities in Health Care</a> organised by <code><a href='http://techcelerate.org/' rel='tag'>techcelerate.org</a></code>. The doors are closing on a decade of <a href='http://blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2011/11/22/richard-smith-can-information-technology-improve-healthcare/'>failure</a>, and starting to <a href='http://www.openforumeurope.org/' rel='tag'>open</a> for <a href='http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/government-ict-strategy-strategic-implementation-plan#4agile' rel='tag'>agile</a>, <a href='http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/content/government-ict-strategy'>lean</a> and <a href='http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/resource-library/open-source-procurement-toolkit' rel='tag'>open source</a> ideas. I went to raise awareness that change is coming. <br />
</p><div style="width:425px" id="__ss_10666160"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin/public-sector-agile-and-open-source" title="Public Sector: Agile and Open Source" target="_blank">Public Sector: Agile and Open Source</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/10666160" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin" target="_blank">Robert Burrell Donkin</a> </div></div><p>Health sector <abbr title='Information Technology'>IT</abbr> is <a href='http://www.thefifthsector.co.uk/2011/11/27/beyond-digital-health-manchester-2011/'>hot</a> here in England, as our <abbr title='National Health System'><a href='http://www.nhs.uk/'>NHS</a></abbr> starts to open up. I had a great time, hearing about exciting innovations and meeting some interesting people. <br />
</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-87100495154710070742011-12-16T10:54:00.000+00:002011-12-16T11:10:31.135+00:00Some Evolutionary Design<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. <span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html'>A Principle, The Agile Manifesto</a></p></div><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/p5Qj75nJPEs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://xprogramming.com/classics/expemergentdesign/'>Good</a> design — perhaps a <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CouplingAndCohesion'>loosely coupled</a>, appropriate <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/injection.html'>blend</a> of expressive, <a href='http://jasoncoffin.com/2011/03/10/cohesion-and-coupling-principles-of-orthogonal-object-orientated-programming/'>cohesive</a> components — speaks for itself. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/mxF1I7zkBUs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>When <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/'><abbr title='Extreme Programming'>XP</abbr></a> arrived, <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/collective.html'>democratising</a> <a href='http://www.agile-process.org/change.html'>design</a> — <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/rules/refactor.html'>empowering</a> the developer crowd — seemed radical. To some it still does.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/g9F47HuegfA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://www.agile-process.org/'>Agile</a> design bubbles up, just-in-time. Complementary <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/continuousIntegration.html'>practices</a>, <a href='http://luxagile.blogspot.com/2007/02/integrating-fit-with-cruise-control.html'>tools</a> and <a href='http://martinfowler.com/refactoring/'>techniques</a> facilitate design evolution and mitigate risks. <br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/designDead.html'>Is Design Dead?</a></li>
<li><a href='http://xprogramming.com/classics/expemergentdesign/'>Essential XP: Emergent Design</a></li>
<li><a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?BigDesignUpFront'>Big Design Up Front</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=kkMQKQEACAAJ'>Extreme Programming Explained</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=gFgnde_vwMAC'>Test-driven Development</a></li>
<li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/books.html#refactoring'>Refactoring</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/aboutMe.html'>Martin Fowler</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/martinfowler'>@martinfowler</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.thehackerchickblog.com/tag/emergent-design'>Abby Fichtner</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/HackerChick'>@HackerChick</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.threeriversinstitute.org/blog/'>Kent Beck</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/KentBeck'>@KentBeck</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-26148029032313043502011-12-13T14:58:00.000+00:002011-12-13T14:58:28.274+00:00Some Emergent Architecture<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/whoNeedsArchitect.pdf'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>Architecture is about the important stuff. Whatever that is.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/whoNeedsArchitect.pdf'>Ralph Johnson</a></p></div><p>Just-in-time <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/designDead.html'>approaches</a> to design fit well into agile development. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8G--USeqilM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/designDead.html'>Evolutionary design</a> reduces <a href='http://agilesoftwaredevelopment.com/blog/pbielicki/seven-principles-lean-software-development-eliminate-waste'>waste</a> from over-engineering and design stock-piling; at the cost of some future <a href='http://martinfowler.com/refactoring/'>reworking</a> — a <a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/ff476940'>traditional</a> focus of software architects. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/jolcxkJyBxA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-eaed6/index.html'>Just-in-time</a> <a href='http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-eaed5/index.html'>approaches</a> to <a href='http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileArchitecture.htm'>architecture</a> blend <a href='http://www.agilearchitect.org/agile/index.asp'>harmoniously</a> with agile.</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Fy6m2IVYcDQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Let architecture <a href='http://www.agiledata.org/essays/enterpriseArchitecture.html'>emerge</a> <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Incremental+versus+iterative+development'>incrementally</a> with no <a href='http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/bmuf.htm'>big upfront</a> process.<br />
Pay off pressing technical design <a href='http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TechnicalDebt.html'>debts</a> before they become critical.<br />
</p><div style='padding:2px 5px;clear:both'><blockquote cite='http://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/whoNeedsArchitect.pdf'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>Architecture is the decisions that you wish you could get right early in a project.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/whoNeedsArchitect.pdf'>Ralph Johnson</a></p></div><br />
<h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles.html'>Martin Fowler</a></li>
<li><a href='http://scalingsoftwareagility.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/six-principles-of-agile-architecture-part-1/'>Six Principles of Agile Architecture</a></li>
<li><a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/architecture/ff476940'>Software Architecture in the Agile Life Cycle</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/ieeeSoftware/whoNeedsArchitect.pdf'>Who Needs an Architect?</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://martinfowler.com/aboutMe.html'>Martin Fowler</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/martinfowler'>@martinfowler</a></li>
<li><a href='http://scalingsoftwareagility.wordpress.com/'>Dean Leffingwell</a><br />
<br />
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-31012181956528562422011-12-13T14:28:00.000+00:002011-12-13T14:35:50.060+00:00Some Story Points<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/why-i-dont-use-story-points-for-sprint-planning'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>velocity is a useful long-term predictor but is not a useful short-term predictor<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/why-i-dont-use-story-points-for-sprint-planning'>Mike Cohn</a></p></div><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dp6nGBooLCs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><strong>Story points</strong> are an <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/how-do-story-points-relate-to-hours'>artificial</a>, <a href='http://www.agilebok.org/index.php?title=Relative_Sizing_and_Story_Points'>relative</a> unit of measure for <a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2010/04/story-points-why-are-they-better-than.html'>development</a> <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/its-effort-not-complexity'>effort</a>, often combined with <a href='http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jmeier/archive/2007/10/21/how-to-use-time-boxing-for-getting-results.aspx' rel='tag'>timeboxed</a> <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html' rel='tag'>agile</a> <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html' rel='tag'>methods</a> to <a href='http://agile101.net/2009/08/18/agile-estimation-and-the-cone-of-uncertainty/' rel='tag'>estimate</a> <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-velocity.html' rel='tag'>velocity</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qE5h6Q2lMsI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Story points are <a href='http://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-estimation-techniques'>coarse</a> and <a href='http://blog.agilebuddy.com/2011/03/new-found-respect-for-story-points.html'>atomic</a>, arising from <a href='http://scrummethodology.com/scrum-effort-estimation-and-story-points/'>intuitive</a> <a href='http://agilesoftwaredevelopment.com/blog/jackmilunsky/significance-story-points'>inductive</a> <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/how-do-story-points-relate-to-hours'>judgement</a>. Trade accuracy for speed, at the possible cost of future <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/to-re-estimate-or-not-that-is-the-question'>rework</a>. <br />
</p><p><a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/ASD+book+extract:+%22Communicating,+cooperating+teams%22' rel='tag'>Teams</a> may use tools — such as <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/12/some-planning-poker.html rel='tag'>planning poker</a> — to reach collective <a href='http://agileprogramming.org/scrum-and-consensus-based-decisions/' rel='tag'>consensus</a> valuations.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BAGain3T-xU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Estimates for <br />
<a href='http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/userStory.htm#Epics'>epics</a> — supersized stories not yet <a href='http://agile101.net/2009/08/10/the-difference-between-agile-themes-epics-and-user-stories/'>decomposed</a> — are almost always <a href='http://agile101.net/2009/07/17/software-estimation-the-more-precise-you-are-the-less-accurate-you-will-be/'>inaccurate</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/90Xx8QVnXRc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>So avoid unfounded perceptions of <a href='http://www.tamaquatech.com/2011/11/13/the-difference-between-accuracy-and-precision-in-estimating-story-points/'>precision</a> by limiting point values to a sequence — often inspired by <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/tag/relative-sizing/'>Fibonacci</a>. <br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2010/04/story-points-why-are-they-better-than.html'>What Story Points Are Better Than Hours</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.scrum-breakfast.com/2008/02/explaining-story-points-to-management.html'>Explaining Story Points To Management</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/27-advantages-of-user-stories-for-requirements'>Advantages of User Stories for Requirements<br />
</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BuFWHffRJssC'>Agile Estimating and Planning<br />
</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=DHZP_YL3FxYC'>User Stories Applied</a><br />
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/tag/story-points'>Mike Cohn</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/mikewcohn'>@mikewcohn</a></li>
<li><a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/'>Scrum Log</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/jeffsutherland'>@jeffsutherland</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-25788554489346081482011-12-13T14:07:00.000+00:002011-12-13T14:07:24.731+00:00Some Continuous Delivery<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ar01s04.html'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>Release Early, Release Often<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/ar01s04.html'>Eric Steven Raymond</a></p></div><p><a href='http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd997578.aspx'>Agile</a> <a href='http://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game/ar/1'>development</a> <a href='http://www.implementingscrum.com/2006/11/27/done-really/'>finishes</a> features to a regular <a href='http://availagility.co.uk/2008/10/28/kanban-flow-and-cadence/'>cadence</a>, a rhythmic <a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2011/10/takeuchi-and-nonaka-roots-of-scrum.html'>flow</a> of <a href='http://www.christeck.de/wp/2011/11/27/scrum-the-definition-of-done/'>potentially releasable</a> <a href='http://continuousdelivery.com/2011/07/on-dvcs-continuous-integration-and-feature-branches/'>versions</a>.</p><div style='padding:2px 5px;clear:both;'><img height="200" width="400" src='http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Agile-vs-iterative-flow.jpg' alt='A diagram illustrating the contrast between the regular small release events adopted by Agile and the less frequent demand peaks of higher amplitude associated with waterfall.'></img><br />
<p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agile-vs-iterative-flow.jpg'>By Christopher Little</a></p></div><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hY08uMLeJVg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>The <a href='http://www.jedi.be/blog/2010/02/12/what-is-this-devops-thing-anyway/'>DevOps</a> <a href='http://www.planetdevops.net/'>movement</a> <a href='http://www.somic.org/2010/03/02/the-rise-of-devops/'>seeks</a> a stronger but more dynamic <a href='http://dev2ops.org/blog/2010/2/22/what-is-devops.html'>relationship</a> between upstream teams and downstream consumers in <a href='http://www.jedi.be/blog/2011/12/07/devops-from-a-sysadmin-perspective/'>operations</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/t6XUVaPQkKE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://continuous-delivery.thoughtworks.com/'>Continuous delivery</a> engineers a <a href='http://continuousdelivery.com/2010/02/continuous-delivery/'>pipeline</a> for <a href='http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1641923&seqNum=3'>the last mile</a>, extending from <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/continuousIntegration.html'>integration</a> through proof to <a href='http://paulstack.co.uk/blog/post/Continuous-delivery-is-not-continuous-deployment.aspx'>delivery</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KvRBkDMDxXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p></p><div style='padding:2px 5px;clear:both'><blockquote cite='http://www.agileweboperations.com/what-devops-means-for-enterprises'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>move from delivering services using projects to delivering them as products<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://www.agileweboperations.com/what-devops-means-for-enterprises'>Jez Humble</a></p></div><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iYLxw6OsZug" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p></p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1641923'>Continuous Delivery: The Value Proposition</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1621865'>Anatomy of the Deployment Pipeline</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.agileweboperations.com/what-devops-means-for-enterprises'>What DevOps Means for Enterprises</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral-bazaar/'>The Cathedral and the Bazaar</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=6ADDuzere-YC'>Continuous Delivery</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://continuousdelivery.com/'>Jez Humble</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/jezhumble'>@jezhumble</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.davefarley.net/'>Dave Farley</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.planetdevops.net/'>Planet DevOps</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-63017138212766435652011-12-13T10:58:00.000+00:002011-12-13T10:58:20.710+00:00Some Open Design<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://incubator.apache.org/learn/rules-for-revolutionaries.html'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span> Open source is chaotic. With its special magic comes a different reality. <span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://incubator.apache.org/learn/rules-for-revolutionaries.html'>James Duncan Davidson</a></p></div><br />
<p><br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZtYJoatnHb8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Issuing <a href='http://catb.org/~esr/open-source.html'>open source</a> an <a href='http://www.opensource.org/approval'>license</a> is <a href='http://webmink.com/2010/08/27/cause-and-effect/'>not enough</a>. The benefits <a href='http://catb.org/~esr/writings/analog.html'>ascribed</a> arise from <a href='http://osswatch.jiscinvolve.org/wp/2008/10/30/what-is-open-development/'>opening</a> the <a href='http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/odm.xml'>development process</a> to a <a href='http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/communityworkshop2008.xml'>broad community</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/C7HpHSzGyU0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Open design extends domain driven, consensual, <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/designDead.html'>emergent design</a> beyond the <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/ASD+book+extract:+%22Communicating,+cooperating+teams%22'>agile team</a> to engage a <a href='http://opensourceecosystems.com/power-laws.html'>wider</a> <a href='http://techcrunch.com/2011/08/21/linuxcon-open-source-is-an-ecosystem-not-a-zero-sum-game/'>ecosystem</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HMbMimH0pvk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Community building is <a href='http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2011/01/open-source-community-building-a-guide-to-getting-it-right/'>non-trivial</a>.<br />
<a href='http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3911566/Six-Secrets-of-Open-Source-Community-Building.htm'>Sustainable</a> <a href='http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2011/11/18/encouraging-empathy/'>communication</a> and <a href='http://webmink.com/essays/community-types/'>cooperation</a> needs <a href='http://jamesshore.com/Agile-Book/slack.html'>space</a> to <a href='http://www.visionmobile.com/blog/2011/01/open-source-community-building-a-guide-to-getting-it-right/'>build</a> and <a href='http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2011/10/06/what-community/'>maintain</a> <a href='http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/howtobuildcommunity.xml'>relationships</a>. <br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KNS7g6l7N-4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://jukkaz.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/apache-meritocracy-vs-architects/'>Walking</a> the fine <a href='http://www.mularien.com/blog/2008/09/19/how-open-source-is-spring-an-analytical-investigation/'>balance</a> between <a href='http://ceki.blogspot.com/2010/05/forces-and-vulnerabilites-of-apache.html'>technical leadership</a> and <a href='http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/meritocraticGovernanceModel.xml'>openness</a> to <a href='http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/'>crowdsourced</a> design ideas is an <a href='http://blog.springsource.com/2008/05/27/open-source-open-strategy-the-springsource-manifesto/'>art</a>.</p><br />
<br />
<h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/'>OSS Watch</a></li>
<li><a href='http://techblog.aasisvinayak.com/linux-kernel-development-process-how-it-works/'>How Linux Kernel Development Works</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html'>How The ASF Works</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://producingoss.com/en/index.html'>Producing Open Source Software</a></li>
<li><a href='http://webmink.com/essays/community-types/'>Community Types</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/role-foss-foundations'>FOSS Foundations</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/rss/'>OSS Watch</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/osswatch'>@osswatch</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.opendirective.com/about'>Ross Gardler</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/rgardler'>@rgardler</a></li>
<li><a href='http://webmink.com/'>Simon Phipps</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/webmink/'>@webmink</a><br />
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-2699779810660807042011-12-13T08:38:00.000+00:002011-12-13T08:43:10.010+00:00Some Planning Poker<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://blog.mattwynne.net/2011/03/30/the-real-point-of-planning-poker/'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>The estimates are a useful by-product, if your organisation values such things, but actually the most important benefit you get from planning poker is the <em>conversation</em>.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://blog.mattwynne.net/2011/03/30/the-real-point-of-planning-poker/'>Matt Wynne</a></p></div><div style='float:right;padding:5px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wxLRNTSBXds" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Playing <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/planning-poker'>planning poker</a> exploits <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/ASD+book+extract%3a+%22Communicating%2c+cooperating+teams%22'>physicality</a>, <a href='http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/tip/Using-Fist-of-Five-Planning-Poker-to-reach-Agile-team-consensus' rel='tag'>consensus</a> and team <a href='http://agileprogramming.org/scrum-and-consensus-based-decisions/'>collaboration</a> to improve agile <a href='http://drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/184414851'>estimates</a>.</p><p>And it's a <a href='http://www.agileandart.com/'>fun</a> way to get the work <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/planning-poker'>done</a>.<br />
</p><div style='float:left;padding:5px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hwkxryzI__k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/new-planning-poker-card-design'>Buy</a>, make or take a set of cards.<br />
</p><p><a href='http://damonpoole.blogspot.com/2009/09/planning-poker-reduces-risk-and-waste.html'>Numbered</a> each with story points, Fibonacci sequenced or <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/planning-poker/'>not</a>.<br />
</p><div style='float:right;padding:5px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U2ftWr4T37U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Each player is dealt cards with every number for each hand.<br />
</p><p>To <a href='http://damonpoole.blogspot.com/2009/09/introduction-to-planning-poker.html'>play</a> a hand, all reveal a card with their <a href='http://michaellant.com/2010/07/13/agile-planning-poker/'>private estimate</a> then <a href='http://blog.mattwynne.net/2011/03/30/the-real-point-of-planning-poker/'>discuss</a><br />
outliers. <br />
</p><div style='float:left;padding:5px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0FbnCWWg_NY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Until <a href='http://jamesmckay.net/2010/12/understanding-planning-poker/'>consensus</a> - or <a href='http://agiletales.com/agile/stop-wasting-your-time-timebox-it/'>timebox</a> - repeat.<br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.renaissancesoftware.net/papers/44-planing-poker.html'>James Grenning</a></li>
<li><a href='http://damonpoole.blogspot.com/2009/09/introduction-to-planning-poker.html'>Do It Yourself Agile</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/planning-poker'>Mountain Goat</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='renaissancesoftware.net/files/articles/PlanningPoker-v1.1.pdf'>Planning Poker</a></li>
<li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=BuFWHffRJssC'>Agile estimating and planning</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://damonpoole.blogspot.com/'>Damon Poole</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/damonpoole'>@damonpoole</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/planning-poker'>Mike Cohn</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/mikewcohn'>@mikewcohn</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.renaissancesoftware.net/blog/'>James Grenning</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/jwgrenning'>@jwgrenning</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-15094880835940084472011-12-13T07:39:00.000+00:002011-12-13T07:39:36.512+00:00Some Kanban<h4>Essentials</h4><div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://agilemanifesto.org/'><p><span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>“</span>All <strong>kanban</strong> systems are designed to limit work-in-progress, because the more work-in-progress, the slower the flow.<span style='font-size:x-large;padding:3px;'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://www.poppendieck.com/'>Leading Lean Software Development</a></p></div><br />
<div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fGDUjD-eDFw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><strong>Kanban</strong> exploits <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Growth+of+human+factors+in+application+development'>physicality</a> and <a href='http://www.leanessays.com/2010/11/lean-programming.html'>pull</a> scheduling to improve <a href='http://www.leanessays.com/2004/03/why-lean-in-lean-six-sigma.html'>flow</a>, and so <a href='http://www.projectperfect.com.au/info_lean_development.php'>throughput</a>. </p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RPE_rQyD44I" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Downstream consumer demand <a href='http://www.slideshare.net/frankmt/the-lego-lean-game-presentation'>pulls</a> through the <a href='http://leansoftwareengineering.com/2007/08/29/kanban-systems-for-software-development/'>stages</a> of a processing <a href='http://www.leanessays.com/2010/11/managing-pipeline.html'>pipeline</a>.</p><div style='padding:5px;float:right'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QV9SettOtXY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Progress may be <a href='http://www.infoq.com/articles/agile-kanban-boards'>visualised</a> through a grid, <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Information+radiator'>visible</a> to all players, showing the <a href='http://www.infoq.com/articles/hiranabe-lean-agile-kanban'>work in progress</a>. <br />
</p><p>To improve flow, limit work in progress by focussing on <a href='http://www.agilecoach.net/coach-tools/bottleneck-game/'>bottlenecks</a>. Eliminate <a href='http://www.leanessays.com/2004/06/introduction-to-lean-software.html'>waste</a>.<br />
</p><div style='padding:5px;float:left'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Jx6_E5XxqEo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>A good solution for complicated processes, and a useful tool for <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/waterfall-leankanban-and-scrum-2/'>complex</a> problems. <br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.poppendieck.com/'>Lean Software Development</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.limitedwipsociety.org/'>Limited WIP Society</a></li>
<li><a href='http://leansoftwareengineering.com/'>Lean Software Engineering</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.poppendieck.com/'>Leading Lean Software Development</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.leanessays.com/'>Lean Essays</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/mpoppendieck'>@mpoppendieck</a></li>
<li><a href='http://blog.patchspace.co.uk/'>Ash Moran</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/patchspace'>@patchspace</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-31834182647348917772011-12-10T20:11:00.000+00:002011-12-10T20:11:25.632+00:00Some Velocity<div style='padding:2px 5px;'><blockquote cite='http://agilemanifesto.org/'><p><span style='font-size:x-large'>“</span><strong>Responding to change</strong> over following a plan<span style='font-size:xx-large'>”</span><br />
</p></blockquote><p style='padding-right:3em;text-align:right;font-style:oblique;'><a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/'>The Agile Manifesto</a></p></div><div style='float:left; padding:5px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/upkzSvkCAm0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Software development is <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/07/' rel='tag'>complex</a>, <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/the-origins-of-scrums-ideas-and-techniques-an-example/' rel='tag'>developers</a> are not an <a href='http://forums.construx.com/blogs/stevemcc/archive/2008/03/27/productivity-variations-among-software-developers-and-teams-the-origin-of-quot-10x-quot.aspx'>interchangeable</a> <a href='http://www.naelshawwa.com/the-mythical-man-month-2/'>commodity</a> and <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/ASD+book+extract%3a+%22Communicating%2c+cooperating+teams%22' rel='tag'>teams</a> scale <a href='http://blog.assembla.com/assemblablog/tabid/12618/bid/6213/Time-to-Vanquish-the-Mythical-Man-Month.aspx' rel='tag'>chaotically</a>. <br />
Domains with these flavours favour <br />
<a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/empiricism-the-act-of-making-decisions-based-on-what-is/' rel='tag'>empirical</a> <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/tag/agile-estimation' rel='tag'>estimation</a> techniques, such as <a href='http://softwaredevelopmenttoday.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-is-velocity-in-agile-software.html' rel='tag'>velocity</a>.<br />
</p><div style='float:right; padding:5px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pOmScU4JSGk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>This technique <a href='http://www.tvagile.com/2011/04/13/scrum-burndown-chart-process-by-jeff-suther%c2%adland/'>extrapolates</a> <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/category/estimating'>estimates</a> from <a href='http://blog.xebia.com/2011/10/01/the-invincibles-and-the-velocity-trap/'>historic</a> team <a href='http://agilepainrelief.com/notesfromatooluser/2010/02/misuse-of-velocity-in-agile-projects.html'>velocity</a> — <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/tag/story-points'>story points</a> <a href='http://www.implementingscrum.com/2006/11/27/done-really/'>done</a> per unit <a href='http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2004/10/timeboxing/' rel='tag'>timebox</a>.<br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9_OfQgAACAAJ' rel='tag'>Agile Estimation and Planning</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.succeedingwithagile.com/' rel='tag'>Succeeding with Agile</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/tag/velocity'>Mike Cohn</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/mikewcohn'>@mikewcohn</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-60358253258443143282011-12-10T08:28:00.000+00:002011-12-10T08:33:50.554+00:00Some Scrum<h4>Essentials</h4><p><strong>Scrum</strong> is an <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html' rel='tag'>agile</a>, <a href='http://alistair.cockburn.us/Using+both+incremental+and+iterative+development'>iterative and incremental</a> framework for <a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2011/03/cross-functional-teams-work-but.html'>teams</a> <a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2011/10/takeuchi-and-nonaka-roots-of-scrum.html'>developing</a> <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/07/18/microsoft-and-brian-harry/'>complex</a> products, that is simple to describe but hard to master.</p><div style='float:right;padding:3px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9DKM9HcRnZ8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>A scrum team has <strong>one</strong> <a href='http://www.thenetcircle.com/2010/07/27/five-mistakes-of-a-scrum-product-owner-that-can-make-your-project-fail/'>product owner</a>, <strong>one</strong> <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/articles/33-scrummaster'>scrum master</a> and 6±3 <a href='http://ullizee.wordpress.com/2011/10/22/the-house-of-scrum/'>cross-functional</a> <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/the-role-of-leaders-on-a-self-organizing-team'>self-organising</a> <a href='http://www.methodsandtools.com/archive/archive.php?id=17'>developers</a>.<br />
</p><p>Each <a href='http://agiletips.blogspot.com/2011/10/right-sprint-lenght.html'>sprint</a> begins with <strong>one</strong> <a href='http://blog.mountaingoatsoftware.com/clarifying-the-purpose-of-iteration-planning'>planning</a> <a href='http://agileanarchy.wordpress.com/2011/03/25/dont-have-meetings/'>ceremony</a> and ends with <strong>one</strong> <a href='http://www.thedailyscrum.co.uk/post/83412733/the-importance-of-the-sprint-review-meeting'>review</a> and <strong>one</strong> <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/04/retrospectives.html' rel='tag'>retrospective</a>. Every day begins with <strong>one</strong> <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum/daily-scrum'>daily scrum</a>. These events encourage <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/empiricism-the-act-of-making-decisions-based-on-what-is/'>inspection</a> and <a href='http://www.scrumalliance.org/articles/171-effective-retrospectives--reviews'>adaptation</a>.<br />
</p><div style='float:left;padding:3px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/06qP6Lg2LvE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p><a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum/product-backlog'>Product</a> and <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum/sprint-backlog'>sprint</a> <a href=''>backlogs</a> are <a href='http://frank.vanpuffelen.net/2007/08/scrum-utilization-vs-velocity.html'>recorded</a>. The <a href='http://www.scrumalliance.org/'>orthodox school</a> <a href='http://www.scrumalliance.org/pages/scrum_101'>insists</a> on <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/scrum/release-burndown'>burndown charts</a> that are <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/scrum-is-scrum-is-not-2/'>optional</a> in the <a href='http://www.scrum.org/'>reformed school</a>. <br />
<a href='http://www.scrum.org/scrumguides/'>Rules</a> relate these roles, events and artifacts into a <a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/2011/08/11/scrum-is-scrum-is-not-2/'>prescriptive</a> but <a href='http://controlyourchaos.wordpress.com/2011/11/12/combining-kanban-and-scrum-%E2%80%93-lessons-from-a-team-of-sysadmins/'>extensible</a> framework.<br />
</p><div style='float:right;padding:3px'><iframe width="210" height="160" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-M7skOKBWBg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</div><p>Of course, this description captures the mechanics but not the <a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/2011/10/takeuchi-and-nonaka-roots-of-scrum.html'>spirit</a>.<br />
</p><h4 style='clear:both'>Selected</h4><h5>Seed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/scrum'>mountaingoatsoftware</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.scrumalliance.org/pages/scrum_101' rel='tag'>scrumalliance</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.scrum.org/' rel='tag'>scrum</a></li>
</ul><h5>Read</h5><ul><li><a href='http://www.scrum.org/scrumguides'/>The Scrum Guide</a></li>
<li><a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/books/7-succeeding-with-agile-software-development-using-scrum'>Succeeding with Agile</a></li>
</ul><h5>Feed</h5><ul><li><a href='http://kenschwaber.wordpress.com/'>Ken Schwaber</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/kschwaber'>@kschwaber</a></li>
<li><a href='http://scrum.jeffsutherland.com/'>Jeff Sutherland</a> <a href='http://twitter.com/#!/jeffsutherland'>@jeffsutherland</a></li>
</ul>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-20640257891157719732011-11-28T10:59:00.000+00:002011-11-28T10:59:14.125+00:00Charity Days: Spiking, Coaching, Mentoring, Training, Facilitation, Knowledge Transfer And Whatnot...<p>As 2011 draws to its close, I offer a limited number of opportunities for businesses (or people) to book a day (or half) of (well) me for charity. My <a href="http://robertburrelldonkin.name" rel='tag'>experience</a> is broad and deep, filled up with <a href="http://agilemanifesto.org/" rel='tag'>Agile</a> (development and <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/01/agile-development-masters.html' rel='tag'>training</a>), open sourcery at <a href="http://www.apache.org" rel='tag'>Apache</a> and <a href="http://www.ohloh.net/accounts/robertburrelldonkin" rel='tag'>elsewhere</a> (not just coding: community, licensing and organisational stuff too), plus cool academic topics (machine learning, semantic web, reasoning, concurrency and more) fresh from the <a href="http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/" rel='tag'>University of Manchester</a>. It's been a long road back since <a href='#more-on-injury'>injury</a> forced me to drop <a href="http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2010/12/graduation-day-manchester-2010.html">out</a>; hard core 24/7 coding may still be in the distant future but I'm just about ready now to start adding occasional days of pair programming, training, coaching, mentoring, facilitation or knowledge sharing to my recovery mix. See <a href='#more-on-ideas'>below</a> for illustrative samples doable in a day... <br />
</p><p>Sound good? Interested? Then get in <a href='mailto:rob@robertburrelldonkin.me.uk?subject=[Christmas Special]'>touch</a>.<br />
</p><h3>So: What's The Deal?</h3><br />
Cover my train (or air) tickets (as appropriate). Agree a <a href='#more-on-ideas'>task</a> for me but nothing longer than just one full day at this stage. <br />
<br />
If you're pleased, donate something suitable to charity. Suggested donations are £100 (full day) or £50 (half day). My charitable suggestions are <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/'>Literacy Bridge</a> (innovative, technological hope for poor rural villages in developing countries), <a href="http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/">The Woodland Trust</a> (creating a more green and pleasant land in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too) and <a href="http://fsfe.org/">The Free Software Foundation Europe</a> (for digital freedom on this rainy side of the pond). More details <a href='#more-on-charities'>below</a>...<br />
<br />
I'll blog (<a href="http://itstechupnorth.me.uk">here</a>) about my experiences and even throw in some link love (if you like).<br />
<br />
<h3>Want To Know More...?</h3><br />
<h4><a name='more-on-injury'>About The Injury...</a></h4><br />
In mid 2010, nerve and tendon issues in my hand and wrist forced me to drop out from (the <a href='http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/taught/programmes/acs/' rel='tag'><abbr title='Advanced Computer Science'>ACS</abbr> Masters</a> at) the <a href='http://www.manchester.ac.uk/' rel='tag'>University of Manchester</a>. Since then, my life has arranged itself around physiotherapy and building computer time. From zero, I now have over 8 hours a day (excluding regular breaks). The tendons are fine now, the nerves okay in normal use and the muscles stronger. The next stage is to prove my progress by taking on some isolated days in the field.<br />
<br />
<h4><a name='more-on-ideas'>About Ideas Doable In A Day...</a></h4><p style='font-size:smaller'>(some illustrative examples to get those creative juices flowing)<br />
</p><h5>Agile Workshops</h5><p style='font-size:smaller'>Want to give <a href='http://www.scrumalliance.org/learn_about_scrum' rel='tag'>Scrum</a> or <a href='http://www.extremeprogramming.org/' rel='tag'>XP</a> a go? Need new ideas on <a href='http://itstechupnorth.blogspot.com/2011/04/retrospectives.html' rel='tag'>retrospectives</a> for the New Year? Do your team's <a href='http://behaviour-driven.org/' rel='tag'>tests</a> need just a little more polish? Need more comfort and confidence when creating <a href='http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/topics/user-stories' rel='tag'>user stories</a>? Or just want to learn the basics of <a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/'>Agile</a> development? Each doable in a day...<br />
</p><h5>Agile Coaching And Mentoring</h5><p style='font-size:smaller'>Way back in the '90s, my <a href='http://www.warwick.ac.uk/staff/David.Tall/research-students.html'>masters dissertation</a> featured qualitative research examining the way mathematicians learn mathematics. Qualitative and observational methods from anthropology and sociology fascinate me, and I've found this <a href='http://www.jroller.com/robertburrelldonkin/entry/learning_agile_observation'>perspective</a> surprisingly relevant for subjects Agile. It's tough to step back from day-to-day performance, and take time to observe and reflect. Mastering observation may take a lifetime but just a day of one-on-one coaching or mentoring is enough to take the first steps. <br />
</p><h5>Talkin' About Agile Quality Assurance</h5><p style='font-size:smaller'>One myth too often repeated holds <a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/' rel='tag'>Agile</a> incompatible with <abbr title='Quality Assurance'>QA</abbr> management; but quantity is not quality. <a href='http://martinfowler.com/articles/newMethodology.html'>Lightweight methods</a> focus attention on quality by pruning back unnecessary process and documentation. Back in the <a href='http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/'>'90</a>, I coded <abbr title='Visual Basic'>VB</abbr> in a company in transition: committed to recovering <a href='http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_9000_essentials' rel='tag'>ISO9000</a> certification and rebuilding their development team from nearly nothing. <abbr title='dynamic systems development method'><a href'http://www.dsdm.org/'>DSDM</a></abbr> achieved both goals. Maybe we could talk about where your business is, <a href='http://blog.eweibel.net/?p=489'>continuous improvement</a> and how to move towards building higher quality software <a href='http://www.poppendieck.com/'>the Toyota Way</a>.<br />
</p><h5>Open Source: An Inside Track</h5><p style='font-size:smaller'>Whether incoming (building new products from open source components) or outgoing (open source engagement as business tactic or strategy), <a href='http://www.opensource.org'>open source</a> is now a distinctive feature of the technological landscape relevant to most enterprises. All the noisy openness sometimes obscures more subtle stances adopted by corporate players using development, licensing and business models for tactical and strategic advantage. I've contributed at <a href='http://www.apache.org'>Apache</a> for over a decade (elected a <a href='http://www.apache.org/foundation/how-it-works.html'>committer</a> first in 2001 and a <a href='http://apache.org/foundation/members.html'>Member</a> in 2005; served since 2006 on the <a href='http://incubator.apache.org/whoweare.html'>Incubator <abbr title='Project Management Committee'>PMC</abbr></a> and on the <a href='http://www.apache.org/legal/'>Legal Affairs committee</a> from 2007 to 2010), am ranked in the <a href='http://www.ohloh.net/accounts/robertburrelldonkin'>top 500</a> by <a href='http://www.ohloh.net'>Ohloh</a> and (through the <a href='http://commons.apache.org'>Apache Commons</a>) contributed to some of the top 50 most <a href='https://www.osscensus.org/'>widely installed libraries</a>. I have interests in incoming and outgoing license <a href='http://incubator.apache.org/rat/'>wrangling</a> and in community building. Whether one-on-one mentoring, a team workshop or freestyle, finding the inside track is doable in a day.<br />
</p><h5>Tech Spikes</h5><p style='font-size:smaller'>Like the idea of big data but want a gentle introduction to <a href='http://hadoop.apache.org'>Hadoop</a>, <a href='http://code.google.com/edu/parallel/mapreduce-tutorial.html'>MapReduce</a>, <a href='http://jimbojw.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Hbase_and_BigTable'>BigTable</a>, <a href='http://hbase.apache.org/'>HBase</a>, <a href='http://mahout.apache.org/'>Mahout</a> and the rest of the <a href='http://people.apache.org/~rdonkin/hadoop-talk/hadoop.html'>family</a>? Need to get up to speed on techniques for concurrent Java, from locking to non-blocking and beyond to transaction memory? Need a fast track to enterprise Java? Heard about NoSQL, REST and document centric storage but are waiting for an excuse to get up close and personal with <a href='http://couchdb.apache.org/'>CouchDB</a>? Need an introduction to machine learning in the enterprise or to the science behind the semantic web? <a href='http://maven.apache.org'>Maven</a> and <a href='http://ant.apache.org'>Ant</a>? <a href='http://www.osgi.org'>OSGi</a>? <a href='http://subversion.apache.org'>Subversion</a>, <a href='http://git-scm.com/'>Git</a> and controlling versions? Enterprise mail with <a href='http://james.apache.org'>James</a>? <a href='http://www.jroller.com/robertburrelldonkin/date/20090812'>Cryptography</a>? Micro libraries, the <a href='http://commons.apache.org'>Commons</a> way? Take a <a href="http://robertburrelldonkin.name">look</a> for more ideas. Either a workshop for the team, or <a href='http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?PairProgramming'>pairing</a> up for a series of one-on-one <a href='http://codingdojo.org/'>dojos</a> would be doable in a day. <br />
</p><h4><a name='more-on-charities'>About The Charities...</a></h4><br />
<a href="http://www.literacybridge.org/">Literacy Bridge</a> is just about the most innovative charity I know. The <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/talking-book/' rel='tag'>Talking Book</a> project uses cheap, sustainable, viral technology to connect poor, rural villages without electricity in the developing world. The pilot has great <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/our-mission/pilot-results/'>results</a>. Not quite 5 years old, but I'm not the <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/2011/09/10/literacy-bridge%e2%80%99s-founder-and-executive-director-joins-clinton-global-initiative/'>only</a> <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/2011/10/27/literacy-bridge-featured-on-bbc-radio-and-more/'>one</a> to have <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/2011/11/14/back-by-popular-demand-at-microsoft-alumni-foundation-msaf-celebration-2011/'>great</a> <a href='http://www.literacybridge.org/2011/10/28/clinton-global-initiative-cgi-2011/'>expectations</a> for the future of Literacy Bridge.<br />
<br />
<a href='http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk'>The Woodland Trust</a> works towards a country rich in native woods. Help to <br />
<ul><li><a href='http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/support-us/appeals/england/heartwood-forest/Pages/help.aspx'>create</a> the largest new native forest in England near St Albans</li>
<li><a href='http://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/en/support-us/appeals/england/Pages/low-burnhall.aspx'>plant</a> 86,000 native tree and engage 3000 children at Low Burnhall, Co Durham </li>
<li>(much closer to my home) <a href='mailto:saralyons@woodlandtrust.org.uk?subject=SkiptonWoodsProject'>improve</a> paths and access in Skipton Woods, Yorkshire</li>
</ul><br />
The <a href='http://fsfe.org/'><abbr title='Free Software Foundation Europe'>FSFE</abbr></a> fights for freedom in this emerging information age. The <a href='http://www.fsf.org'>Free Software Foundation's</a> younger European cousin.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-91256808686232417092011-11-15T13:05:00.000+00:002011-11-15T13:05:38.799+00:00Timeboxing And The Pomodoro TechniqueThanks to everyone who made <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org' rel='tag'>Agile Yorkshire</a> <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/event-announcements/20111108' rel='tag'>November</a> so special, and my particular thanks to all those who arrived early enough to get involved with my lightning talks on <a href='http://opentalkware.googlecode.com/svn/talk/ThePomodoroTechnique/trunk/index.html' rel='tag'>The Pomodoro Technique</a> and <a href='http://opentalkware.googlecode.com/svn/talk/Timeboxing/trunk/index.html' rel='tag'>Timeboxing</a>. More links and information may be found <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/meetings/tuesdaynovember8timeboxingpomodoroandscala'>here</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-50895913340889870082011-05-21T08:50:00.000+01:002011-05-21T08:50:26.315+01:00Apache Retreat, Knockree 2011<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729772674/" title="The Lip, Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3373/5729772674_dfed4d147c_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Lip, Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh"></a> <br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729091069/" title="Trees, Sky and Sun by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3217/5729091069_6986f7e9f6_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Trees, Sky and Sun"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729102429/" title="Flags In The Sky by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2317/5729102429_f5ea702f41_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Flags In The Sky"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729646192/" title="Knockree Hostel by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5202/5729646192_a08058ee52_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Knockree Hostel"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729257925/" title="The Hostel, Knockree by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2087/5729257925_748913c0e2_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Hostel, Knockree"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729801270/" title="Room, Knockree Hostel by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2452/5729801270_b5a7094af2_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Room, Knockree Hostel"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729806350/" title="The Hostel, Knockree by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5021/5729806350_24a8177764_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Hostel, Knockree"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729811542/" title="Sun and Shade at Knockree Hostel by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/5729811542_40543e4b59_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Sun and Shade at Knockree Hostel"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729816462/" title="The Gate, Knockree Hostel by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3598/5729816462_4fab6f92c5_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Gate, Knockree Hostel"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729260491/" title="S7303668 by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2317/5729260491_c309f9d3ef_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="S7303668"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729271841/" title="Looking West, Knockree Hostel by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3285/5729271841_2a495a15a7_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Looking West, Knockree Hostel"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729268011/" title="Looking West, Knockree Hostel by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2655/5729268011_be56416603_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Looking West, Knockree Hostel"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729803246/" title="Clouds over Great Sugar Loaf by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5066/5729803246_a59d0c262b_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Clouds over Great Sugar Loaf"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729209771/" title="The Drop, Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5262/5729209771_2a77ee3faf_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Drop, Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729771116/" title="The Lip, Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2768/5729771116_e152bf9775_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Lip, Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729199353/" title="Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2373/5729199353_653f8c69db_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Eas Chúirt an Phaoraigh"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729200723/" title="Great Sugar Loaf by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5222/5729200723_f58a188d23_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Great Sugar Loaf"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729739146/" title="The Great Sugar Loaf by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5127/5729739146_d0932a2e2d_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="The Great Sugar Loaf"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729677490/" title="Trees And Sky by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5067/5729677490_cfcf5e3baa_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Trees And Sky"></a><br />
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/robertburrelldonkin/5729178365/" title="Sun sets over Glencree by Robert Burrell Donkin, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/5729178365_2e885f300f_s.jpg" width="75" height="75" alt="Sun sets over Glencree"></a><br />
<p><a href='http://sites.google.com/site/apacheretreatknockree/' rel='tag'>Apache Retreat</a>, <a href='http://www.knockreeyouthhostel.com/' rel='tag'>Knockree Hostel</a><br />
</p><p>Thanks to the staff for friendly smiles and hard work. Kudos to everyone who made it happen. <br />
</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-64334607403987778782011-05-07T08:47:00.000+01:002011-05-07T08:47:19.228+01:00<p>Had lots of fun co-hosting <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/event-announcements/12Apr2011'>An Evening On Retrospectives</a> last month at <a href='http://www.agileyorkshire.org/' rel='tag'>Agile Yorkshire</a> with <a href='http://hedtek.com/about-us/'>Mark</a>. Thanks to everyone there: it's the people make or break participatory sessions like this. <br />
</p><p>I've updated a 10 slide introduction to Retrospectives, complete with notes (at the end). It's <a href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/'>CC-By-3.0</a> so feel free to remix and share :-)<br />
</p><div style="width:425px" id="__ss_7859503"><strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin/retrospectives-in-10-slides-with-notes" title="Retrospectives In 10 Slides (With Notes)">Retrospectives In 10 Slides (With Notes)</a></strong> <iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/7859503" width="425" height="355" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/robertburrelldonkin">Robert Burrell Donkin</a> </div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2017613867823179254.post-45639804288871827132011-04-12T11:53:00.000+01:002011-04-12T11:53:25.583+01:00Retrospectives<h4>(Or Avoiding The Blame Game)</h4><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>A Brief Introduction<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N3Ji2E_rFnU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><h4>Do Reflect Repeat</h4><p>A positive feedback loop lies at the heart of the iterative methods popularized by the <a href='http://agilemanifesto.org/' rel='tag'>agile</a> movement. Millions of words must have been expended on the <em>do</em>. Effective <em>reflect</em>ion is equally essential but often seems to be neglected. <em>Retrospectives</em> are a tool for reflection advocated by agilists, helping teams to build and bond, and to continuously improve their technique.<br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Do, Reflect, Repeat<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nWnWa5hjzVE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>A Longer Introduction<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/20YOGsb4pRE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><h4>The Blame Game</h4><p>Teams bond and learn by doing together. If the only time that a team reflects together happens after things have gone so wrong that <em>something must be done</em>, then the team is likely to lack the collective experience required to succeed under pressure with this review. So reflect regularly and work hard to continuously improve.<br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Are All Retrospectives Agile?<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SDJIA7KYKfg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>When failure is both likely and costly, individuals start to think about themselves first and the team last. Post-mortems (and related forms) applied after failure risk reduction of team morale and reinforcement of failure, substituting blame for reflection. Retrospectives (by contrast) are concerned with positive collective reflective, not negative individual blame. If you must play the blame game, use different tools (for example, semi-structured interviews with individuals).<br />
</p><h4>Developers Have Feelings Too</h4><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Retrospectives verses Reviews<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qZm0SqrxiAo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>An emphasis on the emotional is a distinctive aspect of <em>retrospectives</em>, and sets them apart from more conventional review methods. Given popular beliefs surrounding technologists, encouraging them to talk about feelings might seem - at first - an unintuitive tactic but it's time to stop reinforcing these stereotypes by acknowledging that developers have feelings too. <br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Making Good Teams Great! <br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qqtPZYigfNI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>Modern tools popular with agile developers present plentiful information about <em>what</em> happened: version control systems track (in a finely grained and irrefutable manner) individual contributions to the collective work; build plugins exercise and assess the code; continuous integration servers collect, collate and correlate these metrics; every issue pulled from a task tracker creates a record. By contrast, review meetings seem a wasteful substitute.<br />
</p><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>San Francisco Agile User Group<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="143" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/8Pf-4-kMcQ0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>Agile techniques specify the process side of <em>why</em>: stories recorded in the language of the customer domain are translated to statements in course grain controlled vocabularies; harnesses bind and automate empirical validation of these statements; finely grained tests close to the code in the language of development discover regression.<br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Use The Language Of The Customer <br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nYPWBGgRiQg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>Agile tools and techniques reduce waste by automatically creating a quantitative record of the iterative. This allows more time to be devoted to reflecting on the qualitative, human aspects. So agile approaches are a better match for reflective tools which play well with the emotional side - such as retrospectives - than more conventional reviews.<br />
</p><p>All this adds up to an increased emphasis on maintaining and continuously improving the health of the team.<br />
</p><h4>Form Follows Substance</h4><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Bringing Structure To A Retrospective<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/APcCyORk0h0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>Collective ownership is critical for successful agile retrospectives. Retrospectives should be by the team, for the team, and so should be structured by facilitation (and never directly managed). Always appoint a facilitator early, allowing plenty of preparation time. Teams with retrospective experience often find that rotating the facilitation role helps to build confidence and knowledge, as well as keeping retrospectives fresh.<br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Facilitation Basics<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/arp5OmDvExI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>The form taken by a retrospective should be flexible, and should follow from the expected substance. Think about the aims of the retrospective, and about expectations. Then choose an appropriate form. <br />
</p><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Stand Up Meetings<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lh0Z2VqoIgg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>I find stand up retrospectives are surprisingly successful, especially when learning, building teams, or using short iterations. When time is short, or when the project is progressing well, I find it better to use this form than to skip the retrospective.<br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Learning Using Stand Ups<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/HyncUVcAABA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>When the content is expected to be more substantial (for example, at the end of long sprint), prepare a more structure form. Use physical exercises to gather data, generate insights and move forward. But prepare to be flexible, and adapt the form to the emergent substance.<br />
</p><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>A Minimal Structure<br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GZ4stuCbRAE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>Regardless of form, a minimal lightweight structure helps a meeting to flow and the team to focus. A good patten is for the facilitator to start the retrospective by setting the stage, establishing the tone and engaging the team; to stand back (metaphorically and physically) and observe, measuring interventions carefully; and to close the meeting at the end of the timebox, bringing everyone together to create a clear collective memory.<br />
</p><h4>Space Physicality Location</h4><p>Retrospectives benefit from a less directed, participatory style. For those with less confidence and experience in this style, the loss of direct managerial control may seem intimidating. So, I'd like to close by considering how direct control can be traded for influence.<br />
</p><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Cafes In Space <br />
<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="200" height="180" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wjwXVkZJjdk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
</p><p>I like to think of facilitation acting at the meta-level. Direct control over the proceedings is traded for the ability to step back from participation and observe. The psychological distance created between the facilitator and the group of participants creates a separation of concerns. The facilitator deals with process layer aspects (such as timeboxing, flow and engagement) whilst participants deal with the substantive content. <br />
</p><p style='float:right;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Meetings With Tables <br />
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<p>But a key influence on the health of a retrospective is the environment - the space, ongoing physicality and the location chosen. And this is within the control of a facilitator. Consider location and choose appropriately. Prepare the space carefully. Observe team physicality during the meeting, and step in quickly to remove impediments. <br />
</p></p><div style='clear:both;'></div><h4>And Finally...</h4><p style='float:left;font-size:xx-small;font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;color:#808080;margin:3px;'>Some Agile Humour<br />
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</p>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10034389658230768982noreply@blogger.com