Wayne Allen's Weblog

Christopher Avery - Responsibility Tip

I've heard Christopher Avery speak once and had a couple of email conversations and I have deep respect for the message he is trying to get across.

His e-Tip from Feb '06 is this:

Three ways you and I reduce our ability to respond and lead everyday:

• Denial. We close our eyes, cover our ears, and hum a comforting tune.
• LayBlame. We take the position that our problem is really 'them'.
• Justify. We say that it is 'just' the way it is.

Which of these 3 things have you seen in your organization today? Maybe all 3?

His suggestion:

• Commit to and trust your ability to respond.
• Stand in the fire and look to see what's true.
• Own it–what to do will become clear to you.

Excerpts from The Deadline – Tom DeMarco

I had never read "The Deadline" by DeMarco, but it turned up on my boss' desk one day and I borrowed it.

I thought it was an enjoyable read and only violently disagreed with his attempt to say that if we would just do more up-front design everything would be better (High-performance projects spend proportionately far more of their time in design).

The Additional Software Tester's Axiom

Axiom VI: Testing? What testing?

Workshop at XP2006 on Agile Process Smells

Come to my Agile Process Anti-patterns Workshop on 6/21 10:45 - 3:30

The 7th International Conference on eXtreme Programming and Agile Processes in Software Engineering
June 17 - 22, 2006, Oulu, Finland

Agile software development methods and solutions have drawn a lot of attention in the software industry in recent years. The rapidly growing scientific and practical evidence show many quality gains including increased productivity, better quality and increased customer satisfaction. Agile innovations are currently moving into new domains, such as the embedded development industry, safety-critical products and other complex development environments. Movement towards business agility is also emerging  in the field.

The XP 2006 conference offers a unique forum for industry and academic professionals to discuss their needs and ideas for incorporating agile methodologies into the production models. XP 2006 facilitates the exchange of ideas in a number of ways, including high-profile keynote speakers and professionals on the cutting edge of the Agile Processes, technical presentations, special activity sessions, panels, posters, code camps, workshops, tutorials, and other opportunities to exchange and elaborate the new findings. XP 2006 also features  a PhD Symposium for PhD students.