Earlier this week, Bob Marshall (@flowchainsensei) retweeted an article by Dan McCarthy on The Meaning of Respect, where he discussed respect as a value. I then saw a blog post from Seth Godin entitled "Seven Questions for Leaders" where he asks if you would walk away from a client or employee whose values don't match yours. This weekend, at Agile and Beyond, I got into a conversation with several others about company values and walking away from clients when there is a mis-match. At LeanDog, we proudly display our company values and we often refer to the XP values of Simplicity, Communication, Feedback, Respect, and Courage.
Stabilizing Velocity
Have you ever been on a team where your velocity suffered wild variances? Maybe you ended up using a running average instead of yesterday's weather?
Have you heard phrases like, "Well, our velocity last iteration was 3, but our average is still 22"?
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Dude, we need to get this velocity stable."
Have you worked on teams where they took partial credit for done at the end of the iteration? Where maybe you'd split a card strictly on points and award some apportion to the current iteration and assign the remainder of the card to the next iteration.
Telling the complete story
Pairing is Conversation
I really enjoy pair programming. It seems a natural process to me and I often wonder why it is that I like it so when others may not. Clearly, we have differing tastes and styles. I am sure that contributes to the joy (or lack thereof).
I've been watching others pair lately. And there is something I've noticed; pairing done well is conversation.
A good coach seeks first to understand
Sharpening the Saw
I like to practice my craft. I enjoy participating in Code Retreats. I enjoy facilitating Code Retreats. I like working on kata and koans. And a lot of what I talk about includes references to these practices. We at LeanDog are always on the lookout for people who are passionate about improving their own craft. I thought I'd start a blog entry where I catalog resources that might be of interest to others looking for ways to sharpen their saw.
Would you be willing to preach what you practice?
There's an old saying
Practice what you preach
Practice what you preach is a variation of Practice yourself what you preach. I think we are all familiar with the phrase. I suspect most of us understand the basic sentiment upon first read.
This phrase addresses hypocrisy. It originally spoke to those who demanded others be pious while themselves partaking in sinful activities. It certainly applies to anyone whose personal life is lived in a manner incongruent with the values and behaviors they publicly espouse.
You are a Leader
Leadership is neither assigned nor selected. People choose whom to follow and a leader thereby emerges.
“The led must not be compelled, they must be able to choose their own leader” - Albert Einstein
We always have a choice. We may not like our options. We may feel we are choosing the lesser of two evils, but nevertheless, we follow at a minimum because we choose not to do otherwise.
“The man who lets a leader prescribe his course is a wreck being towed to the scrap heap.” - Ayn Rand
What are you rewarding?
It is nearing the end of the year and we at LeanDog are wrapping up our fiscal year. We're looking at the potential tax benefits of spending some of our reserve and we're mulling over other ideas related to the spend of money. We are not, however, discussing our bonus objectives. We aren't discussing them because we don't have them. I, for one, am happy that we don't.
Plenty of companies have bonus objectives. Many of those companies are spending a great deal of time (and money) trying to make sure that those objectives are met (or at least appear to be met). To some, this sounds like a good idea. To me, it sounds like rampant dysfunction.
Lost in Translation - An Agile Game
The Three "R"s of Clean Code
A client was looking for a way to introduce code quality standards to their development teams. There had been a few meetings prior to our involvement. The prevalent line of thinking was to draft a standards manual for dissemination to the teams. This would consist of a comprehensive set of rules and clear specifications to which all teams need comply.
Keep your ears, your eyes, and your mind open
Developers shouldn't specialize
Davey Brion wrote a post not too long ago warning developers about the dangers of specializing in a particular technology.
The real message
Davey concludes his post with the following paragraph:
"Keep your ears, your eyes and your mind open. If you notice that a group of people gets excited about something new, then figure out why. If you notice that something appears to be working well for others, then figure out why. If you notice an increasing stream of criticism on the technology you’re using, then figure out why. You’ll need information like this to make well-founded decisions about your future."