Troubleshooting Agile

In this week's podcast Jeffrey tells us a story about the dangers of blaming human error in the workplace, and we discuss root cause analysis, the blameless postmortem approach and how these are essential components in building productive systems and a great agile team.

Normal Accidents – http://bit.ly/2CtawMg

http://troubleshootingagile.com/

The Blameless Postmortem Approach

In episode 2 of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey look at what to do when you've adopted good agile practices but are not seeing good business outcomes; how the most beautiful kanban board on earth doesn't necessarily mean results; and why the 12 agile principles work as a form of feedback and a great guide.

Shownotes:

- Jeffrey's 2008 blog post – https://blog.jeffreyfredrick.com/2008/11/08/searching-for-an-agile-core/

- The 12 agile principles – http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

- Chris Matts's blog – https://theitriskmanager.wordpress.com/2015/04/19/communities-of-need-community-of-solutions/

Why not let us know what you think on Twitter @TShootingAgile https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile

The Importance of the Agile Principles

In this third episode of Troubleshooting Agile, Squirrel and Jeffrey take a look at the first of the 12 Agile Principles: "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.” As Jeffrey point out, this principle contains so much that it "could have been an agile manifesto in itself.” 

Squirrel and Jeffrey both tell stories about previous consulting experiences to highlight where clients have failed to fully deliver on this vital principle in the past, and how businesses can troubleshoot various common problems that arise.


Show Notes:

- The 12 Agile principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html 

- “The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement”, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Goal-Process-Ongoing-Improvement/dp/0566086654/ref=sr_1_1 

- CITCON website: http://citconf.com/


We’d love to hear any thoughts you have about this Agile Principle, or about the podcast in general. 

You can email us, here:
agile@troubleshootingagile.com

Or send us a tweet, here:
https://twitter.com/TShootingAgile


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The First Agile Principle: Delivering Fully

In this episode Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the Second Agile Principle: ‘Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.’

We hear how the principle is closely related to Lean Startup and Minimal Viable Product, and how, at its core, it is about understanding and learning from one’s environment as quickly and as often as possible.

This reminds Squirrel of the OODA loop, the decision cycle developed by military strategist and US Air Force Colonel John Boyd, and he tells us a story about fighter jet dogfights in the Korean War.

Jeffrey also tells us a story, about a startup he started way way back in the first dotcom bubble in 1999, which brings to mind another military lesson that ‘no plan survives contact with the enemy.’.

Finally, we hear examples of common errors witnessed over the years, such as refusals to fully embrace the Second Agile Principle in favour of misguided efficiency and an often irrational attachment a plan.

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SHOWNOTES:

-The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

-The OODA Loop: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OODA_loop

-Lean Startup: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_startup

***

We’d love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode (or regarding anything else, for that matter).

You can email us, here:
agile@troubleshootingagile.com

Or send us a tweet, here:
twitter.com/TShootingAgile

Or you can find our website, here:
http://troubleshootingagile.com/

Also, here is a link to our iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troubleshooting-agile/id1327456890?mt=2
If you felt like liking, Sharing and/or Subscribing, we’d really appreciate it.

Embracing Change & Maximising Validated Learning

In episode 5 of Troubleshooting Agile we discuss the Third Agile Principle: 'Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.'

Evolution in our thinking, since the Agile Manifesto was written back in 2001, makes what was once considered 'shorter timescales' seem laughable now, but, when retrospecting, 'working software frequently' remains one of the core agile disciplines. But, as Squirrel and Jeffrey highlight through various client stories, it is far from easy to implement continuously.

We hear where, why and how so many companies fail to fully employ this principle, and Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss some interesting techniques to overcome common problems - from slicing up elephant carpaccio to  employing continuous integration with nothing more than a rubber chicken.

*We apologise for a few sound difficulties at the start of the episode with Jeffrey's mic. Stick with it and they soon pass.*

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Squirrel and Jeffrey have told us which common obstacles they regularly witness that prevent organisations from delivering working software frequently. Now we want to hear from you guys on the matter. You can leave your answers in the comments below, you can email us at agile@troubleshootingagile.com, or you can find a poll on our Twitter feed @TShootingAgile.

What are the obstacle for your organisation to delivering working software frequently?

1. The tech team aren't offering to do this, or don't know how.
2. Customers (external or internal or both) don't know it's possible or how to use it if offered.
3. Both 1. and 2.
4. Neither - we already deliver frequently!

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SHOWNOTES:

-Agile Manifesto Principles - http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

-Continuous Delivery, by Jez Humble and David Farley - https://martinfowler.com/books/continuousDelivery.html 

-Continuous Delivery - https://continuousdelivery.com 

-CITCON - https://citconf.com 

-James Shore's blog: "Continuous Integration on a Dollar a Day - http://www.jamesshore.com/Blog/Continuous-Integration-on-a-Dollar-a-Day.html

-Alistair Cockburn's blog: "Elephant Carpaccio" - http://alistair.cockburn.us/Elephant+carpaccio

***

We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the episode (or regarding anything else for that matter).

You can email us, here:
agile@troubleshootingagile.com

Or send us a tweet, here:
twitter.com/TShootingAgile

Or you can find our website, here:
troubleshootingagile.com/

Also, here is a link to our iTunes:
itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2
If you feel like liking, Sharing and/or Subscribing, we'd really appreciate it.

Delivering Working Software Frequently & Continuously

We're on to Agile Principle 10 this week: "Simplicity - the art of maximizing the amount of work not done - is essential."

In comparison to the dark old days when the Agile Manifesto was written, the way projects are simplified and broken down seems a huge improvement. But simplicity plays an essential role in achieving the all-important first Agile Principle of "satisfying the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software," so Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss why this principle is still so important today.

They discussed:

-How simplicity asks you to exercise discipline and restraint.
-How Elephant carpaccio helps to provide an environment in which that restraint is easier.
-How simplicity is not just a call for businesses to restrain themselves in their demand for features, but for developers to restrain themselves in their demand for best practices- and how they can employ YAGNI instead.
-What YAGNI is.
-How to build a whole application's worth of software without actually writing any software.

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SHOWNOTES:

-The 12 Agile Principles: http://agilemanifesto.org/principles.html

-Alistair Cockburn's brilliant Elephant Carpaccio lesson: http://alistair.cockburn.us/Elephant+carpaccio

-What is YAGNI?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_aren%27t_gonna_need_it

-Zapier: https://zapier.com/

-IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/

***

We'd love to hear any thoughts, ideas or feedback you have regarding the show.

Email us: agile@troubleshootingagile.com

Tweet us: twitter.com/TShootingAgile

Also, if you'd like to leave us a review on iTunes (or just like and subscribe), you'll find us here: itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/troub…d1327456890?mt=2

The Art of Agile Simplicity

Troubleshooting Agile is a problem-solving session for agile teams. Jeffrey Fredrick and Douglas Squirrel look at common problems agile teams face and provide practical, immediately useful advice for getting back on track.