Barry Hawkins (Posts about consulting)

The Myth of Commoditized Excellence

Barry Hawkins — Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:00:00 GMT

A New Idea

When we learn new things from grappling with problems, it is natural for us to want to share those learnings with others, in hopes that they will face similar challenges with less of a struggle.

How do those well-intended new ideas so often evolve into movements that seem to lose their way, and at times do more harm than good?

In the course of observing and at times being involved in this phenomenon, I sought to understand what I saw happening time and again. Almost a decade ago, I arrived at an explanation that I named The Myth of Commoditized Excellence. What follows are the steps that can lead down this unfortunate path.

Empirical Process Control: Why Scrum Works

Barry Hawkins — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:05:25 GMT

Being in my ninth year of applying the processes and technical practices of Agile and Lean software development, people are sometimes surprised to hear me say that Scrum is still my preferred process. Let me explain.

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The Discipline Deficit

Barry Hawkins — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:02:28 GMT

I consult with all sorts of companies looking to adopt elements of process and practice from the Agile/Lean offerings. Whether it's Scrum, Test-Driven Development, User Stories, Test Automation, Continuous Integration, Agile Estimation and Planning, Sprint Planning, or Sprint Retrospective facilitation, one challenge pervades across most scenarios. I have come to call it The Discipline Deficit.

Is Agile/Lean as good as it gets?

Barry Hawkins — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:29:04 GMT

I was recently catching up on episodes of The Java Posse, and came to the one that features an Open Spaces topic I convened at last year's Java Posse Roundup, Should We Shoot Agile in the Head? It was a vibrant conversation with plenty of input from experienced people. At the 49:50 in the recording, D. J. Hagberg posed an excellent question:

"Is Agile[/Lean] as good as it gets?"

I added Lean, since the question really applies to both, their overlap being so great.

The short answer is no.

Agile: Your Mileage Will Vary

Barry Hawkins — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 17:28:33 GMT

There is one question I can guarantee someone will ask as I begin an engagement with a new client. It usually comes in the second half of the first major session I have, called the Agile Orientation. By that point in the initial training, we have covered the roles and components of Scrum, using it as the primary (and my favored) option for an effective Agile process in most businesses. The looks on at least a few faces at that point let me know that people are starting to process just how disparate their current work life is from what I am describing. One of the more outspoken folks usually asks something like this:

If Agile requires all these things, and we can only implement part of it, is it still worth doing?

The answer is yes, with one caveat. A partial adoption results in partial benefits, so expectations should be adjusted accordingly.

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Is it just my company that has a hard time with Agile?

Barry Hawkins — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:59:15 GMT

After an Agile adoption is underway and the feedback mechanisms of most Agile processes begin to function, one or more team members usually ask me something like the following:

Is it just my company that has a hard time with Agile?

No, it's not just your company. However, don't take comfort in that.

I shared something on Twitter that I think sums up why companies have a hard time with Agile:

Agile practices and processes serve motivated, self-directed teams who work hard. It does not create them. @barryhawkins

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Ask an Agile Coach: What is an Agile Coach?

Barry Hawkins — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:15:41 GMT

This installment of the Ask an Agile Coach series is a question normally asked by persons outside my field, but lately I have been asking it myself:

What is an Agile Coach?

Good question. I am not sure anymore.

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Ask an Agile Coach: What Team Members can be shared across multiple Scrum teams?

Barry Hawkins — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 17:53:26 GMT

Welcome to another installment of Ask an Agile Coach. Today's question centers around how to structure teams in light of constrained skill sets in an organization:

What technical roles, other than QA, can be successfully shared across scrum teams? DBA, UX, etc.? - @jakejgordon

Strive to have people in dedicated teams; only share in order to get work from concept to customer.

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Ask an Agile Coach: Should I count partially complete user stories in my velocity?

Barry Hawkins — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:55:25 GMT

Hello readers, apologies for the lack of posts lately; lots of work at hand. Today's Ask an Agile Coach question comes from a comment on the last installment, which is rephrased here. In one form or another, I have gotten this question for years now:

Should I count partially complete user stories in my velocity? For example, if I have a 100-point story that's almost done, should I add 80 points to my delivered points total for this sprint?

The answer is no, you should not.

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Agile with External Clients: Testing Is Not Optional

Barry Hawkins — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:51:10 GMT

Today's installment in the Agile with External Clients series covers the topic of testing. A decade after The Agile Manifesto and over 16 years since Scrum and XP came on the scene, I still encounter a large number of teams where the use of testing is lip service at best and non-existent all too often. In this context, testing means the use of frameworks like xUnit et al to create of a suite of unit, integration, and functional tests that exercise a body of code by executing it and making assertions about the outcome of that execution at multiple levels of focus and granularity. Of all the practices of Agile software development, both process and technical, testing is the one people most readily acknowledge the value of while at the same time avoiding it altogether. So, let me make this quite plain:

Testing is not optional.

Barry Hawkins (Posts about consulting)

The Myth of Commoditized Excellence

A New Idea

Empirical Process Control: Why Scrum Works

The Discipline Deficit

Is Agile/Lean as good as it gets?

Agile: Your Mileage *Will* Vary

Is it just my company that has a hard time with Agile?

Ask an Agile Coach: What is an Agile Coach?

Ask an Agile Coach: What Team Members can be shared across multiple Scrum teams?

Ask an Agile Coach: Should I count partially complete user stories in my velocity?

Agile with External Clients: Testing Is Not Optional

Agile: Your Mileage Will Vary