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Coffee, Loosely Coupled

Mike Rosen | Aug 12, 2009 1 Response

Aug 122009

A few weeks ago, I had a little electrical incident at my house. After the fire department left and the mess was cleaned up, we took stock of the damage. Except for the offending surge “protector” that caught fire, our UPCs pretty much did their job. No computers were damaged — just a dead scanner, a zapped paper shredder, fried cordless phone, and, most frustrating of all, an ex-coffee maker. I really like coffee … a hot cup of joe for breakfast, espresso in the afternoon, coffee to take in the car, iced coffee on a hot summer day, coffee for entertaining — you get the point. I had already been suffering coffee cravings because …

Beyond Scope, Schedule, and Cost: Measuring Agile Performance

Jim Highsmith | Aug 10, 2009 22 Responses

Aug 102009

If agile methods are to achieve the position of strategic organizational capability rather than tactical engineering capability, then one of the key factors in achieving that position is changing the way we measure success. Many agile teams are now caught in a dilemma. On one hand they are told to be agile, flexible, and adaptable, but on the other they are told to conform to pre-planned traditional Iron Triangle framework of scope, schedule, and cost. In essence they are being told “be flexible in a very small box.” Agile teams are striving to meet one set of goals and managers and executives are measuring against another set. Measuring success it tricky. Motorola’s ill-fated, multibillion-dollar satellite-based …

The Early Problem Problem

Jim Highsmith | Aug 4, 2009 2 Responses

Aug 042009

One of the touted benefits of agile development is better early information on project problems and issues. This early detection enables management — project and otherwise — to take adaptive actions. However, early problem detection comes with its own problem — discomfort with early information. In waterfall projects management and staff are used to getting information about problems late. This leads to a perception that projects are typically on-track until late in the lifecycle. In fact, the lack of working software until late in the project provides a false sense of progress. Because coding and testing come late in waterfall projects, they “appear” to be in good shape — until the end when the project …

Will the Slightest Breeze Blow Your Architecture Down?

Lou Mazzucchelli | Aug 4, 2009 1 Response

Aug 042009

A primary function of IT architecture is managing change. This change happens at varying rates in and between levels of abstraction (think of wind moving at different speeds at different altitudes). So we can think of “horizontal” change — change in time within a particular level — as well as “vertical change” — the relationship between one level and another. A robust IT architecture maximizes the potential for improvements in all levels while minimizing the negative impact of change between levels. Sometimes IT architecture emerges through acquisition. In the old days, vendors imposed architecture that was bundled with their software development products. (Why would anyone have otherwise considered something like systems application architecture [SAA]?) As …

Cutter Blog on Top 200 List

Anne Mullaney | Aug 3, 2009 1 Response

Aug 032009

The Cutter Blog is again on Noop.NL’s list of Top 200 Blogs for Developers. Though it sounds like it’d be a list of really technically-focused blogs, it’s not. The blogs cover the broad topic of managing software development. Jurgen Appelo (@jurgenappelo) puts a lot of thought and work into pulling together this impressive list every quarter. Thanks Jurgen!

What’s New in the 2nd Edition of “Agile Project Management”

Jim Highsmith | Jul 27, 2009 3 Responses

Jul 272009

Agile Project Management, 2nd Edition, July 2009. by Jim Highsmith. Listen to a podcast interview with Israel Gat and Michael Cote later this week at http://theagileexecutive.com/. The new edition: Focuses on fundamentals of Agile project management, plus a new emphasis on issues impacting enterprise agility. Includes a new chapter Beyond Scope, Schedule, and Cost: Measuring Agile Performance. The Agile Triangle: Value, Quality, Constraints; what quality is and why it is important; outcome performance metrics; output performance metrics; shortening-the-tail. Revises agile values and concepts chapters to reflect three agile management values: Delivering Value over meeting Constraints (Value over Constraints), Leading the Team over managing Tasks (Team over Tasks), Adapting to change over Conforming to plans (Adapting …

One Small “Oops” for Amazon, One Giant “Holy #$@%” for Mankind

Ken Orr | Jul 23, 2009 1 Response

Jul 232009

“Hey, Honey, what happened to my 1984?” If you were one of the thousands of people around the world who were in the process of reading (or researching) George Orwell’s famous novel 1984 and woke up Friday, 17 July 2009, to find that it had somehow disappeared from your Kindle, take heart: this is not a bug; it is a feature — though a feature that Amazon, we are told, is in the process of reviewing and revising. That the book that introduced much of the world to the concept of centralized “mind control” was instantly erased on tens of thousands of “connected” devices is just too delicious to let pass — if there is …

How is IT governance management being applied? Help us find out.

Kim Leonard | Jul 23, 2009 No Responses

Jul 232009

Cutter Senior Consultant Bob Benson is researching how IT governance management practices are actually applied in organizations — and the effectiveness of those practices. We’re hoping you’ll let us know your opinions on this topic by participating in our survey. We’ll thank you with an immediate download of the Cutter Consortium article by Steve Andriole, New Governance vs. Organizational Terrorism“, when you complete the survey. If the IT Governance Survey isn’t a good fit for you, we’re also currently surveying on Software Project Requirements, and invite you to participate. Cutter’s constant flow of new research provides our clients with accurate forecasts about the business and technology strategies, tactics, and trends that will have an impact …

Time to rethink software engineering? Tom DeMarco thinks it could be

Kim Leonard | Jul 21, 2009 2 Responses

Jul 212009

Cutter Fellow Tom DeMarco‘s IEEE Software Computing Now magazine editorial Software Engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone? has caused quite a stir. Tom’s article has spread like wildfire through the Twitterverse (beginning with @yourdon), and has inspired many surprised (and insightful) blog posts. Johannes Ernst finds Tom’s statement that he’s “gradually coming to the conclusion that software engineering is an idea whose time has come and gone” as shocking as “the pope declaring that perhaps god doesn’t exist.” Coding Horror‘s Jeff Atwood went further, stating “If your head just exploded, don’t be alarmed. Mine did too.” In the piece, Tom re-evaluates his trademark focus on metrics and control (including his oft-quoted “You …

Agile Roots–Complex Adaptive Systems Theory

Jim Highsmith | Jul 20, 2009 6 Responses

Jul 202009

Every so often I like to revisit some of the threads of thought that wove themselves into the agile movement. One of these is Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory which could be considered a science of adaptation. CAS concepts, found in several agile methods, are an important backdrop to many agile principles and practices. As quantum physics changed our notions of predictability and Darwin changed our perspective on evolution, complex adaptive systems (CAS) theory reshaped scientific and management thinking. In an era of rapid change, we need better ways of making sense of the world around us. Former Visa International CEO Dee Hock drew on CAS when he coined the word “chaordic” to describe both …

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Coffee, Loosely Coupled

Beyond Scope, Schedule, and Cost: Measuring Agile Performance

The Early Problem Problem

Will the Slightest Breeze Blow Your Architecture Down?

Cutter Blog on Top 200 List

What’s New in the 2nd Edition of “Agile Project Management”

One Small “Oops” for Amazon, One Giant “Holy #$@%” for Mankind

How is IT governance management being applied? Help us find out.

Time to rethink software engineering? Tom DeMarco thinks it could be

Agile Roots–Complex Adaptive Systems Theory

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