Category Archives: Key problems

Agile Carolinas: Requirements with Agile – How to become better

Agile Carolinas meeting: May 17, 2022 – at 5:30 pm.  IN-PERSON. We may try to also broadcast via Zoom.  ie, Hybrid.  (We need someone to help with that.) [Links to be added]   *** Unclear requirements are always a problem.  Always hard in a way. So, let’s discuss how we are doing “requirements” in an […]

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More, Better…

Goethe wrote at the very end of Faust: Alles Vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichnis Das Unzulängliche, hier wird‘s Ereignis Das Unbeschreibliche, hier ist‘s getan Das Ewig-Weibliche zieht uns hinan (For those drawn to this quote, see: https://rvgeiger.blogspot.com/2015/01/das-ewig-weiblich-zieht-uns-hinan-or.html)   So, what makes us want to accomplish more?  What will make your Team want to accomplish more? […]

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An Agile Approach to Requirements

Below is the first draft on this topic.  With a big need to be shorter.  I eventually wrote something shorter. *** An Agile Approach We propose that we discuss this for an hour. INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS When we start working on a product, there are many unknowns, often including: What is the real problem? What is […]

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Agile Requirements Process

The following is a proposal I made to one client.  Might be useful for you. REQUIREMENTS DISCUSSION We propose a 1-hour discussion of the following practical suggestions. NEEDS (I am guessing; these are common.) we need an agile, adaptive solution part of the adaptation is to the specific people and situation of each Team we […]

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Postponing the Sprint Start?

Question: Can a PO postpone the start of a Sprint?  Does the PO have the power to do that? *** Answers: First, why would the PO want to do that? It is important to keep the Team and others (esp the Business Stakeholders) on a regular, consistent rhythm.  Do not let them get used to […]

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Webinar: What should an Agile Manager do?

Webinar: What should an Agile Manager do? Let’s discuss what our current thoughts are. We will propose 8 actions, a small set, of things a manager might start by doing. They are: Set a Goal Check your financial situation Resolve that you want lasting stable Teams Identify the Work for the Team Resolve that you […]

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Iterative and Incremental at 3 Levels – #1 “the what”

THIS IS A DRAFT.  (Comments welcome.) I will try to express two big thoughts. Hopefully these are formed well enough that as I talk about them clearly, you can use them in your situation. * Background So, the two ideas are basically these questions: How do we coordinate at the 3 levels on “the what”.  […]

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Agile-Carolinas Mtg: Waterfall vs Agile – key discussion points

Agile started as a reaction to Waterfall (cf. definition of waterfall in Dr. Royce’s paper). Perhaps not so much a reaction to Royce’s Waterfall, but to how Waterfall was being played in the wild. The reaction was expressed many ways, but a simple short explanation is in the Agile Manifesto (4 lines) and the Agile […]

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The illusion of control

Daniel Mezick has a good post in LinkedIn today: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/danielmezick_the-command-and-control-military-gets-agile-activity-6761443011659370496-itMo About the illusion of control, and the idea that control is an emergent property.  (There’s that darn word emergent again.)  See the article he links to: “The ‘Command and Control’ Military Gets Agile.” https://www.infoq.com/news/2010/06/c2-military-gets-agile/ *** Some quick thoughts. Of course it is an illusion that […]

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Get them Climbing again

It is typical for a Scrum team to start Scrum, get some improvement, and then plateau. That is, find some comfortable level of productivity, and just flatline there. Which I guess is fine, if that level were as good as that Team could do. But the level isn’t, and as they say, anyone can see […]

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