#5 - The Errors of Estimation

"Establishing Effective Agile Teams" by Ben Linders at www.BenLinders.com Episode 9 of the Agile Software Development podcast where we talk about ways in which you can develop effective agile teams. We cover some of the fundamental guiding principles for establishing effective teams, those set out in the agile manifesto, and we've pick up several more that include belonging, psychological safety and trust. As Ben points out - 'imposing change on people isn't just ineffective, it's also unethical and inhuman'. Quite a statement but there's a lot to be said for encouraging your agile teams to travel their own agile journey. If you're interested in learning more building your agile teams then Ben runs various workshops, training, and webinars. You'll find more details about these at https://www.benlinders.com/services/

"The 5 Skills You Need For Managing Complex Projects" by Elizabeth Harrin from www.GirlsGuideToPm.com   Episode 8 of the Agile Software Development podcast where we're looing into some of the skills you'll need to develop for managing complex projects. Elizabeth takes us through why Adaptability, Collaboration, Communication, Expertise and Leadership as so critical.  l And whilst this is a project management orientated blog post these 5 skills are equally critical in Agile projects. There can be no excuses for not.... having a willingness to adapt actively collaborating with your client or customer Being transparent and share, share, share. seeking out a mentor to improve your skill set leading your team by making the complex tangible   If you're interested in learning more about developing your project management skill set you might like to investigate Elizabeth's Project Management Rebels training and coaching program.

"Daddy, Where Do Product Backlog Items Come From?" by Chris Sims from https://agilelearninglabs.com/   In Episode 7 of the Agile Software Development podcast we're delving in to some of the concepts behind the "product back log" with a post from Chris Sims. Chris takes us back to some fundamentals as we talk about the Product Backlog.    Now every Agile team will have their own, slightly different, approach to managing the back log. What I like about Chris' approach is the simplicity and the clarity. Managing the inbound requests with the Protobacklog and pushing the rejected items to the Icebox.  For those lucky enough to make it to the backlog we're organising by order, work estimates, and value estimates.   If topics like 'work estimates' and 'Business value estimates', intrigue you, you might be interested in learning more from Chris with one of his Certified Scrum Product Owner or Advanced Certified Scrum Product Owner workshops. 

"Imperfect Agile or Fit for Purpose?" by James King from https://kingsinsight.com/   “Why batch value when you can deliver it continually?” - James King   In this episode James King takes us through some of his thoughts around the philosophy of value and patterns for 'agile release approaches'. We cover a bit of philosophy around Kanban lacking a bit of imagination and being a bit self-absorbed and then we get to the point. Or rather three ideas around the patterns we can look to recognize, and practices we might want to move towards.   We also find out how James' fitness instructor's mantra applies to agile. That mantra being, "Small amounts of effort applied consistently will eventually overcome large burst of effort applied sporadically". You'll find numerous hidden gems in this episode in the way of quotes from James.   What you'll also find useful from this episode is the list of tools, approaches and techniques that James has collated. Resources covering topics like 'Defining the purpose of the team' and 'games to help people learn agile'. You'll find this invaluable list on his web site at https://kingsinsight.com/kings-guide-links-to-tools-and-approaches-in-this-blog/

"The Errors of Estimation" by Vasco Duarte from his blog at http://softwaredevelopmenttoday.com   In this episode we find out why Vasco sees estimation as a failure point in agile development projects. We look at a number of different estimation approaches and explore their flaws.    Vasco is a big advocate of the alternative 'No Estimates' approach to agile software development. If you'd like to learn more about this approach then Vascos book, 'No Estimates' and accompanying videos, are a great place to start. You'll find more information at https://oikosofyseries.com/no-estimates-book-order

The "Three Ways to Stop Agile Death Marches" by  Johanna Rothman from her blog at www.JRothman.com    The Agile Death March Project, is the Project that you all believe is destined for failure. The project where your superiors are pushing you to complete the project against your better judgment.   In this episode we're taken through three key ideas that you can apply to your agile projects. Three ideas that can help you avoid the Agile Death March. Firstly, Estimations (or rather not estimating), Secondly experimenting with collaboration and lastly starting to collaborate to stop starting and . . . . start finishing.   If you'd like to learn more about these techniques and other insightful techniques then I'd recommend reading Johanna's book       Create Your Successful Agile Project: Collaborate, Measure, Estimate, Deliver   In this book Johanna espouses working from agile and lean principles to design and build your own agile approach in a way that works for you. If you’ve tried to use an off-the-shelf approach to agile, and you've found aspects lacking, then this book is for you.

The "Epic Problem Statement" by  Scott Sehlhorst from his blog at http://www.TynerBlain.com.   In this episode we drill into Epics and Problem Statements. Scott, a product management and strategy consultant, discusses the relationship between the Epic and the Problem Statement.    We look at the objectives of the Epic and see how the problem statement has responsibility of identifying the problem we're solving for the company. Also presented, is an interesting angle on how the problem statement can be used as a communication tool - an elevator pitch for the Epic.

“The effective Daily” by Michael Küsters from his blog Fail Fast Move On at  https://failfastmoveon.blogspot.com.   In this podcast we go through 3 new questions you can ask at your daily and we explain why it's important to focus on the goal. We also provide you with 2 techniques (the law of two feet and personal ownership) that Michael promotes to help you make your daily stand-ups more effective.

Automated Testing in Agile Software Development Projects. Why is it so challenging?    In this episode we explore a slightly controversial approach to automated testing in agile projects. Controversial because it breaks one of the key tenets of agile - that of autonomous teams. This is not an approach many purists would approve of, but if you’re struggling to implement test automation in your agile project then these 7 key techniques could well help.   We've taken content from www.automated-testing.com, summarised the key points and then talk you through techniques you can apply today. Techniques you can apply to help you improve the quality of your deliverables from your agile projects.