Category Archives: Agile

Elaborating on “it depends”

Posted on March 12, 2013 by Jimmy Bogard

On the discussion on “When should I test?”, I followed up with a conversation: When it provides value. When is that? It depends. And it truly does depend. But upon what? That’s trickier to answer – and there is no … Continue reading →

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Build Metrics with Distributed Teams & Large Organizations

Posted on November 21, 2012 by Eric Hexter

With some recent changes at work and I am looking at the quality of software development teams across a very large software organization. I am currently looking at getting the teams back to the basics in terms of software quality. … Continue reading →

Also posted in Continuous Improvement, Pragmatism, Tools and Vendors | 7 Comments

Estimation scoping

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Jimmy Bogard

Read any book about estimation and you’ll probably see a picture of this: This is the cone of uncertainty, a measure of the accuracy of our estimation of effort as we get closer to finishing work. Very close to finishing, … Continue reading →

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Don’t forget your users

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Jimmy Bogard

Some time ago, we at Headspring were brought in to help replace an existing legacy system based on Excel with a new web application built using the latest and greatest architectural patterns and practices. During the initial discovery phase, we … Continue reading →

Also posted in Product Reviews | 11 Comments

Feature branches and toggles

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Jimmy Bogard

I’m a huge Martin Fowler fan, but one bit of advice I still can’t understand is the recommendation to eschew feature branches for feature toggles. The argument against feature branches are not just merge problems, but semantic merge problems, such … Continue reading →

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Why I’m done with Scrum

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Jimmy Bogard

My first foray into Agile was with a product team back in 2004-2005. It was my first “real” job out of college, and my first experience with a death march. During the death march, I was struck on how bad … Continue reading →

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Our Post-Agile World

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Jimmy Bogard

It’s been a looooong time since I’ve posted anything about Agile, and today I sat down to try and figure out why. It’s not that I don’t care about the values in the Agile Manifesto, nor that I’ve gone completely … Continue reading →

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Constraints, expectations and real estate

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Jimmy Bogard

One of my favorite shows on TV these days is (don’t laugh) the show Property Virgins on HGTV. In it, an experienced Realtor walks first-time home buyers through the house selection and offer process. A lot of times the “let’s … Continue reading →

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Continuous Integration: Early indicators mean inexpensive fixes

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Sharon Cichelli

Earlier this year, I bought a car—my first new car. Although it fills me with sanctimonious hybrid glee (it really does), it’s making me neurotic with instrument panel indicator lights. The low-tire-pressure indicator after the weather turned cold. The insistent … Continue reading →

Also posted in Albacore, Rake | 7 Comments

Disruptive versus iterative change

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Jimmy Bogard

Scrum is a rather interesting phenomena. As a process, the feedback system it incorporates encourages incremental and iterative improvements not only in the software, but the process itself. Once scrum is in place, things can go rather smoothly, although I … Continue reading →

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