Clik here to view.
The challenging setup of an offshore project
After managing a few agile projects from India and learning the tricks of the trade, I have been wondering why life is much easier when you are working closely with the client as compared to working...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Models of a Project Manager role in an agile project
The roles a project manager can play in an agile project are endless and a lot depends on where one’s interest lies and also the type of project one is working on. Again not all of these roles are...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ROI on automated testing - a stepping stone for frequent releases
Every so often, I end up having to explain the benefits of automation in terms of either tradeoffs or statistics, to people who still question the value of automated testing and the investment to be...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The end of regression, stabilisation,hardening or release sprints
A lot of seasoned agile project managers have always included a stabilization or a regression/release iteration before planning a release of their project. This has been a common norm for the last 10...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The case for reducing focus on estimation
Why is an estimate required ?An estimate on a task, story or a feature is really required to answer 2 questionsa. How long is it going to take to build it ?b. How much is it going to cost ? Who really...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Integrating experience design in an Agile project lifecycle
Many organizations now employ experience designers to design products and services with a strong focus on the end user experience.According to Wikipedia Experience Design isAn emerging discipline,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Experience design and continuous delivery
While integrating experience design in the overall agile lifecycle is a challenge, teams working in a continuous delivery mode can prove to be a boon for experience designers.Using the release...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Try not to be yet another project management overhead
ContextMost of our teams in Thoughtworks India work for clients outside India, which results in an “All Thoughtworks team” which is quite high in the Agile maturity scale. When I used to interview...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How much does IT matter to clients (or businesses) ?
As a consultant I have the privilege of working with a variety of clients. I try and help them build good quality software by applying Lean and Agile methods. I ask teams to embrace changing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Why you should care about experience design and continuous delivery as a...
I had written earlier about how a good project manager in a mature Agile team needs to go beyond managing scope, time and budget to be really effective in his/her role. The key is to understand the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The problem with Continuous Delivery & DevOps as an IT investment
In Thoughtworks we have a lot of experience in implementing Continuous Delivery , and we have done it project after project under some name or the other. In fact we did it long before Jez even wrote...
View ArticleClik here to view.
When Agile meets yearly IT budget
There is a well-known problem when Agile projects meet a client’s yearly IT budgets. The problem with the yearly budget is that1.It is largely incorrect as it has been planned with minimal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Prefer partnering with craftsmen over contractors
If you are in an IT department in one of the bigger organisations working in the major verticals of banking, telecommunication, insurance, retail etc... you are probably looking at a portfolio of work...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Books that helped me build better software delivery teams
I have learnt a lot by making mistakes on the job but there have been books that have influenced my thinking to a great extent. I will try to list the ones that were the most influential in changing my...
View ArticleBuild enough trust before you can stop estimating
A lot of people in the Agile community these days are talking about estimation being wasteful and suggesting not estimating projects at all. One radical view amongst all of this is to tell clients that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Measuring progress
Measuring progress in software development has always been up for debate. There was the waterfall era of Gantt Charts created using MS Project which used to breakdown effort into smaller work items...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Distributed Team working out of a Common Backlog
Even though working out of a common backlog might seem the most obvious thing to do, a lot of teams I worked on previously did not do it, or do it that effectively.Having a common product backlog of...
View ArticleStop locking down the Agile project management tool
I have seen this common behaviour at many of the bigger client organisations I have worked with, who are transitioning to organisation wide agile adoption. The company will invest a lot in researching...
View ArticleAn agile enterprise...really ?
Every IT enterprise claims to be agile or wants to transform into one pretty soon. There are roles, processes, consultants and certifications, that specialise in Agile these days. But deep within these...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A false sense of agility at scale
"Agile does not scale" is one of the common challenges in the Agile community and one of the answers recently has been the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). While SAFe has been packaged and marketed...
View ArticlePainful truth about "Agile QA" in the enterprise world.
When Agile brought the idea of cross functional teams with Devs and QAs working closely together every day, it created enough disruption and a feeling of insecurity amongst the traditional QA...
View ArticleRelease trains are a good first step, not the last one.
In software development, the release train concept tries to bring about some cadence in releasing software. Once it is agreed that the software will be released "every X weeks", product development...
View ArticleHow to measure productivity in Agile teams ?
No, the answer is not story points. Mike Cohn describes the answer to be cycle time.A lot of people have written similar articles but I always end up finding people in the senior leadership who want to...
View ArticleAgile won't scale with average talent and a prescriptive framework.
A common question amongst many large enterprise clients is how do we "Scale Agile". And most often than not these enterprises don't have the time and patience to work through the values of using agile...
View ArticleAgile planning & estimation mindset (as a manifesto)
In the time I have been at Thoughtworks, almost every year there is a debate about how one should estimate and plan, in the delivery engagements that we work on.Given the variety of engagements that we...
View Article
