Monthly Archives: March 2007

Getting Business Decisions Made – 2

A few days ago I posted on this subject — this is a continuation of that post. I had already discussed the first of Esther Derby’s six steps. (Again, I am trying to discuss something different from what she was going at, so naturally there will be differences.) Now, let’s discuss her second step: Step […]

Carnival of the Agilists

We are honored to have been selected for the Carnival of the Agilists, in the latest “issue”. See Pete Behrens’s blog (post not only available) and Agile Alliance for the other blog entries selected. Agile Alliance has all the previous Carnival selections. “Carnival” I hope suggests the joyous creative side of Agile, and the variety […]

Getting Business Decisions Made – 1

It is wonderful how we humans make decisions in life, and, in a certain way, it is even more wonderful how we make decisions at work. I do not wish to digress too much, but perhaps the first subject is the illusion of power. For example, perhaps most decisions in our business lives must be […]

Judgment Under Uncertainty

Tom Peters’ blog has this post about Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases, by Daniel Kahneman, Paul Slovic and Amos Tversky. They are psychologists, but Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in economics for prospect theory. The issue — making decisions in a world of uncertainty — seems quite relevant to Agile. For the customer, for […]

Elements of Agile Style – 1

I have written a short handbook, called “The Elements of Agile Style.” (Current draft available in PDF.) What got into me? Well, I had to do it. We need more reminders of the basic stylistic elements before we move forward to work in our own individual style. This is the way with any art. You […]

Face To Face Still Matters

Last Friday, Esther Derby wrote a blog entry that struck a nerve. Part of the reason I started this blog is because I see so many people worrying about costs without considering the benefits, or the means without considering (enough about) the ends. Esther’s entry is “Face to Face Still Matters,” and of course it […]

Waste in projects…Working hard is not enough.

The second big idea in Lean is waste, or getting rid of waste (muda in Japanese). Seems obvious. Not many would say they are in favor of waste. First: Why do I want to talk about this? Many reasons. I meet so many development team members who are so gung-ho, they want to impress everyone […]

Customer Value & Lean

To discuss Lean and Lean Software Development is a long task. Permit me to start slowly, with background, and to start with some digressions. There has been a lot of talk lately of the auto business and what will happen to Chrysler. Is there something there we can learn? Lean, as you know, is most […]