Posted by Robert Merrill on May 4, 2010 under Agile Methods, Uncategorized | 
I’m always on the lookout for where I need to be heading with my practice, and the idea of Agile User Experience Development is now on the short list.
I’ve been on teams with some fairly good usability/user experience people over the years, and they love the waterfall. Identify all the users, develop all the personas, and then make a complete set of wireframes and subject them to some level of user testing before doing a whole lot else. The result can be months of calendar time and up to 20% of the project budget gone, and you still don’t have any working code, and therefore the accompanying established team velocity that lets you hold the ever-present launch-date wolves at bay and keep the project from turning into a Death March. Read more of this article »
Posted by Robert Merrill on December 17, 2009 under Agile Methods, Waterfall (SDLC) |
Serhiy Kharytonov published a fine summary of software methodologies for non-technical leaders at Executive Brief. He makes several excellent observations, but he also perpetuates a destructive myth. I’ve worked with all three of Waterfall, RUP, and Agile, and here’s my take.
Excellent observations
Then, stay agile in the approach to the process itself, constantly looking back, re-evaluating and revising the development process until it fits your current circumstances most successfully.
If you learn nothing else from Serhiy and I, learn this. Change from a culture of blame-fixing to a culture of continuous improvement, with no political unmentionables, and you will get a lot more value for your software-development money, and everything else besides.
Then, if you want to learn one more lesson the easy way rather than from a painful and expensive experience, Read more of this article »
Posted by Robert Merrill on November 16, 2009 under Agile BA, Agile Methods |
This is the third of three parts on how to sabotage Agile adoption in your company, especially for Business Analysts.
If you want Agile to succeed, don’t do this stuff.
If you want Agile to fail because you’re benefitting from the status quo, good luck with that, too. Just make sure you have each item covered, especially the last one.
- Find like-minded saboteurs at other companies, so you can say, “They tried Agile at BigCo, and it was a disaster!”
- When assigned to an Agile project as Business Analyst (BA) or Product Owner, insist that all communication from business people to developers go through you, “To keep a handle on scope and keep things consistent.”
- As BA, insist that developers ask you all business questions first, because, “You know the business better than they do, and they’re all really busy anyway.”
- As BA, if instructed to coach people on User Stories or Test Cases, call in sick. Or just do it badly (but don’t be too obvious about it). On break, tell the most frustrated-looking person, “The only reason we’re doing this Agile stuff is that the CEO read about it in an in-flight magazine.”
- Hope that your firm’s competitors have people like you in them. When the ship you’re on sinks, proving that the leak wasn’t in your end won’t keep you from getting wet.
In case you missed them, here’s
How to Sabotage Agile, Part I and How to Sabotage Agile, Part II.