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Google, Agile and Business Value

Google announced on 4/20/2007 that it earned $1.002 billion in the first quarter. The Net was up 69% from 2006. The sales increase was not too shabby either. Maybe it’s a company we can learn from. (Or maybe they are just lucky.) Google uses Agile. As I hear, Agile isn’t forced on anyone, and many […]

Three Google/Agile videos

Google is doing Agile, and four people have come to talk at the Googleplex about Agile. (Maybe more.) One is Ken Schwaber, who talked to them for about an hour, mostly about Scrum. The excellent video of his talk is here. The nuances of Scrum become clearer when you hear Ken explain it. His website […]

Adopting Agile (Lean Software Development – 4)

Brad Appleton, whom I mentioned in my last short post, also had this post linking to Agile Adoption as reported in the Agile Journal. This issue is talking about top-down Agile Adoption. My own view is generally that the workers deliver to the customers, and the managers support the workers. So, in line with that, […]

Lean Resources

Brad Appleton had this post with a LOT of Lean resources. I have not reviewed them all. I will endeavor to annotate them later.

Do we have to use the F-word?

OK, it’s a provocative title. I like to talk about two F-words: Feelings and Failure. This post is about failure and how to use it. I was working inside a firm recently and someone said: “We can’t talk about failure around here. That would hurt our careers.” Ummm. First, let me (apparently) change subjects completely. […]

Lean Software Development – 1

This post was partly inspired by Mary & Tom Poppendieck, who are experts in Lean Software Development. It was also inspired by an inquiry. So, I wanted to talk some about Lean. Specifically, about waste, which is known as muda in Japanese. Earlier I posted about waste. This is a different perspective on the same […]

Agile is not like golf

We have to be careful with similes (or metaphors). If you have played golf, you know that any fool can hit the golf ball a few yards with any of the clubs. It is getting that tiny ball in that tinier cup that’s the problem. It is scoring near par that is hard, and mastery […]

Agile is like golf

I went to New York last week to visit friends and to visit one of the greatest cities in the world. Wonderful energy. A fairly well-known joke line goes like this: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Answer: Practice, practice, practice. This is one of my main points as I watch The Masters golf […]

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 […]

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 […]