Not sure where I first heard the phrase “you can’t inspect quality into a product” but I have certainly used the phrase myself all too often in my consulting gigs. After a quick Google search, I found the originator of the quote was Harold Dodge and it was first used in a manufacturing context. While I generally eschew appropriating manufacturing analogies for comparison to software development, in this case, it is certainly apt.
Once upon a time I coached one of the most amazing agile scrum teams. They were able to deliver things that their management found quite unbelievable so much so that they conveyed a meeting to find answers to why this particular group of people were able to so greatly outperform others in the organization. As an aside I was not originally invited to the meeting but the team lobbies for me to be there as they considered me one of the team and, as a team member, partially responsible for their success.
As an agile coach that has been fortunate to work at a good number of clients over the years, you … More The Theory of Change & Why I Get In Trouble
One of the most enjoyable parts of my work and my life is delivering presentations or giving talks to outside groups. During one particular Q&A session I was asked a question along these lines – “If you had unlimited power in an organization, what would be the very first thing you would do to ensure agility?”
My answer, “Oh that is easy. The very first thing I would do is get rid of the Project Management Office.” At which I unfortunately took a pause. The collective gasp from the crowd filled that void and the ensuing murmur drowned out my next statement. You see, I was addressing a PMI group, and my statement proved to be provocative to say the least.
The impetus for the gang of four was the desire of four agilists (coaches) to try to do the right things with regards to implementing agile and scrum – to do things that were generally acknowledged as good agile practices but things that were not necessarily politically palatable. In other words, we were something of a clandestine organization.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with hundreds of teams during my time as an Agile coach. I have loved … More The Difference Between True Rockstars & Pretenders
Sometimes my passion provokes long stories, explanations or asides. Lately though when I speak to others about why agile works I eschew my sometimes verbose ways and reply with two words – “timely feedback”.
One of the contacts, who just happens to work at Sony, reached out to me this week and urged me to “blog to the world what really happened” and that the recent hack on Sony was not perpetrated by the North Korean government, but was one of a series of attacks that have been going on “for over two years”. According to my source, these recent attacks were part of a longer term “series of snooping breaches” that included “successful DDoS (denial of service) attacks during the World Cup based on Sony sponsorship of FIFA.”
I was recently invited to write an article about technical debt for Software Development Times (SD Times). My personal experience … More Technical Debt: What It Is and Why You Should Care
This week was a big week in my quest for lifelong learning – one in which the learning should prove … More Deming, Agile and SAFe