Here are the slides (as a PDF) and the 1-page handout for the speech I gave at Code Camp this morning, which was entitled Simplicity Appreciation 101. The slides are also available on slideshare.net as http://www.slideshare.net/craigj191/simplicty-appreciation-101
Category Archives: Simplifying Business
Booming While-You-Wait Service
Here in Orange County, CA we’ve finally begun to buck urban sprawl with “urban living” apartments —
buildings with rows of shops on the ground floor beneath loft apartments. I want to tell you about the tailor I found who has set up shop in one of those buildings. It’s the Original Hems Studio across from the Main Place Mall, and they are remarkable for two things: while-you-wait service and convenient hours — two aspects of business that support each other.
As a customer, I find that these are drastic simplifications over the tailor shop I was using before. Continue reading Booming While-You-Wait Service
Fullerton Code Camp Next Weekend (1/29 & 1/30)
The schedule for the SoCal Code Camp next weekend (1/29 & 1/30) has been posted: http://www.socalcodecamp.com/schedule.aspx. My talk, Simplicity Appreciation 101, is during the first session on Saturday, so be sure to get there early. It starts at 8:45 in room H 123, which appears to be the designated room for the, “agile & project management track” (quotes are mine). Building H is the Humanities/Social Sciences Hall, which is to the right as you walk in from the parking lot (lot F).
After me, Llewellyn and Woody give their Agile Introduction talk. Then, Woody keeps going with “10.5 Easy Code Excellence Techniques”, and that’s followed by various talks about project management survival. Note: the schedule is subject to changes up until Thursday (1/27).
This promises to be the best Code Camp yet. I’m looking forward to the fact that I get to give my speech early, so I can then kick back and enjoy the rest of the conference.
State of Agile – Survey Results
VersionOne today released the results of their fifth annual “State of Agile Development” survey. For those of us who have been in the trenches, these results are not surprising, but it’s sure nice to see our anecdotal evidence backed up by a survey that sampled over 4,500 respondents.
As you read the survey results, pay special attention to the question, “How Many Teams Adopted Agile?” 29% of those surveyed work for companies with 10 or mores agile teams, with another 17% reporting between 5 and 10 agile teams. That’s huge — and it should put rest any lingering doubts about whether or not Agile has gone mainstream.
You can read the survey results online and/or download them as a PDF here: http://www.versionone.com/state_of_agile_development_survey/10/
Simplicity Appreciation 101
If you happen to be near Raleigh, NC on December 7th, I’ll be speaking at the local Agile developer’s group while I’m out there on business. The title of my speech is “Simplicity Appreciation 101,” and here’s the synopsis…
Update: Due to a scheduling conflict, I was not able to deliver this talk in Raliegh, but I did present it at the Fullerton Code Camp on January 29th. The slides are available for download on the Downloads page.
Complexity is insidious. It creeps in and takes hold and doesn’t let go. Time and again, we see major undertakings fail due to overwhelming complexity. That’s why proponents of Agile methodologies all tout the virtues of simplicity. “Do the simplest thing that works.” “YAGNI.” “KISS it!”
But what exactly is “simplicity?” Can it be dissected and described? In many ways, simplicity is ethereal and personal, gleaming only in the eye of the beholder. But, yes, it can be broken down and viewed with an objective eye. In this presentation, we’ll explore dozens of examples of simplicity from the realms of software development, business enterprises, and life, in general. We’ll look at specific cases of simplifications as well as tools and techniques recommended for achieving simplicity.
Our starting point will be ten observations about simplicity by an MIT professor named John Maeda. In his book, “The Laws of Simplicity,” he describes how simplicity relates to size, time, context, emotions, trust, and more. These revelations alone provide a solid foundation for making better decisions to achieve simplicity, but, time permitting, we’ll also consider the nuanced wisdom of Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, and others.
For further information about this event, see the group’s MeetUp page: http://www.meetup.com/agileRTP/
Prudent/Inadvertent Technical Debt
On the subject of Technical Debt, Martin Fowler identified a TechnicalDebtQuadrant in which technical debt is classified as either Deliberate or Inadvertent and either Prudent or Reckless. He then makes the case that software projects can reasonably see all four combinations, including Prudent/Inadvertent — even though he can’t think of a real-word analogy that can be used to describe it to management.
How about this? Continue reading Prudent/Inadvertent Technical Debt
Team Names – Gotta Have a Slogan
One early, easy win to be had when organizing a new Scrum team is to let the team members name their team. It takes less than five minutes out of the first Scrum planning meeting, but gets team building and camaraderie off to a great start.
Encourage everyone to come prepared with at least one name suggestion each, along with a slogan for each name. Winning names always seem to have a catchy slogan.
This Simplification is a Lifesaver (literally)
Somebody at the American Heart Association figured out that, in most cases, CPR can be just as effective if only the heart-massage part is done, without the breathing part, and that hands-only CPR is WAY better than doing nothing. So, they’ve launched a campaign to spread the word, complete with how-to videos and smart-phone apps. See http://handsonlycpr.org/.
This is a drastic simplification, and there’s a big lesson in this for us Agilsts. Continue reading This Simplification is a Lifesaver (literally)
Take 5 – A Tip for Running Retrospectives
Quite by accident, I discovered a bit of magic to running a 2-hour retrospective meeting. Halfway in, between the brainstorming part and the planning part, I needed to find a resource on my laptop that was eluding me (a file I had misplaced). So, I called for a 5-min break. I left the conference call phone bridge up and told the distributed team members to just set down their phones and come back in five.
What I discovered is that a few people hung out during the break and started to chat socially across the phone bridge — on the subject of marathons and bike races, in this case. I realized that it was a rare occasion for the distributed team to bond on something other than work. So, I let the conversation continue for a good 10 minutes after the break. I also realized that when we eventually got back into the task of turning our brainstorms into action items, it was with a clean slate and a slightly elevated outlook. I’m positive that the decisions we made during the second half of the meeting were better than they would have been had we gone straight from brainstorming to acting. For one thing, the break allowed everyone to unhook themselves from their particular brainstorm contributions and come back at the whole list with a wider view.
So, from now on, I’m going to find any excuse to take a break, and I’ll be sure to specifically prompt everyone to “chat amongst yourselves while I’m busy doing X.”
User Stories: It’s SMART to INVEST
The basic framework for a good user story has 3 parts: identifying which user/role (or other stakeholder) benefits, what that person wants (the goal), and the payoff (why it’s important). You’ll often see this framework expressed as the following template: “As a ________, I want ______, so that __________”. To paraphrase Mary Poppendieck’s quintessential requirements example,
“As the VP of Distribution, I need us to redesign the REAR windshields of our cars to withstand wind-speeds of up to 130 MPH (as our FRONT windshields already do), so that we don’t have any more accidents when our cars are loaded onto transports facing backwards and then hauled at 70 MPH into a hailstorm with headwind gusts of 50 MPH.“
Since the second blank represents a goal, a lot of user-story writers find the SMART mnemonic helpful. It’s one that’s taught in traditional goal-setting seminars, but as you can see, there’s no consensus on exactly what the mnemonic stands for:
Specific / Significant / Stretching Measurable / Meaningful Attainable / Achievable Realistic / Relevant / Reasonable Time-bound / Testable / Trackable
So, a better mnemonic that’s especially pertinent to user-stories is INVEST (think “Return-on-INVESTment”): Continue reading User Stories: It’s SMART to INVEST