I think one of the best aspects of agile development is the ability for a team to frequently learn from their mistakes.  It’s especially crucial that this happens in a blame free environment.  When something goes wrong during an iteration, it’s important that no team member is singled out.  The entire team accepts responsibility for their failures and successes together.  And when a team makes mistakes, they need to learn from them.  The key components for in a team’s ability to learn from their mistakes are the attitude and interactions of the ScrumMaster.  Read the rest of this post

Here at DTS, we’re very focused on consulting-type software development.  As such, we have very direct access to our end users and customers.  Our work is “clearly” defined and prioritized by our customers and we receive direct customer feedback every two weeks.  We do not have a dispersed customer base, it’s usually a single organization.  However, last week I had lunch with a friend who does more “shrink-wrap” development.  His customers and end-users never define or prioritize their needs.  In fact, unless it’s by pure happenstance, the developers never meet or know their customers.  The functionality and feature set for the software is defined by an internal customer proxy who has his “finger on the pulse of the customer”.  Read the rest of this post

OK, don’t be too concerned, I’m not going to break into some bad Bob Seger karaoke.  Here’s the deal:  Today over lunch I planned on doing a quick 20 mile bike ride to refactor my wetware.  Based on my usual average speeds over flat terrain, I figured on about a 1 hour ride.  Before I headed out, I checked the weather and the wind speed was about 2 mph (not much at all).  So, out I go and I’m cranking all the way out toward the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.  I get to my turnaround point and I’m right on my usual average velocity.  I’m thinking, I’m getting back to the office right on time.  So, about a mile in on the return leg, the wind decides it’s time to blow.  And it really starts blowing a strong headwind.  I can’t get over 14 mph!  I get back to the office and it took me 75 minutes instead of 60!  Read the rest of this post