10 Questions to Think About Before Adopting Agile

Agile. Everyone is doing it, so should you, right? Not so fast. Even though it’s being sold as a silver bullet by various vendors and consultants, agile is far from easy. In fact, I’d argue that adopting agile is harder than moving to a process heavy software development methodology. At least with the process heavy …

Project Vision – Don’t Even Start Without One

It’s amazing to me how many projects start up without a clear vision. I’m not talking about an idea. I’m talking about a no kidding vision. And, no, I’m not picking on those who start projects on the side or just for fun. I’m picking on the those of us who are involved with projects …

Agile and Estimates and Contracts! Oh My!

Over the last six months, I’ve been mulling over one of those subjects that has often been a stumbling block for IT providers considering adoption of agile for their customers’ software development projects. The dilemma revolves around contracts and estimating projects. The two tend to go together. Once you have one figured out it seems …

Oxymoron: Enterprise Agile Project Management Software

My favorite agile software development topic of them all — tools. More specifically, agile project management tools. If you’re old school, you bust out some index cards, some butcher paper, some writing utensils, and you get to work. If you’re trying to use one of the simplest of agile project management software tools (that most …

Your Search is Over: The Definition of Done in 3 Easy Steps

Has your team struggled to define “done” for user stories? You are alone. Everyone has this one figured out.  You must be new to this thing called agile software development. What’s that? You’ve been doing this agile thing for some time now?  Wow, that has got to be depressing. I’m sorry to hear that you’re …

Distributed Agile Teams Don’t Work

The title of this post is misleading. I think distributed agile teams do work, but only if everyone is remote. I’ve come to the conclusion that what doesn’t work are what I call “semi-distributed” teams. Semi-distributed teams are those where some people are co-located and others are not. I’ve seen all sorts of arrangements over …