All Blog Posts (36)

Here's the Scenario:

The Scrum team (Consultants) is doing well in Release 10, Sprint 2. The client (waterfall) is looking at Release 1, sprint 1 and is looking at production and saying, "Hey! Production doesn't match your Requirements!". Of course not, the current state production version has changed 10 times! So, how does the team deliver (to the client) a document that shows current state? Giving them a stack of user stories isn't a real option. What artifact shows current state of…

‘Agile’ is a set of approaches founded on the basic philosophies of customer and team collaborative working, self organized teams, and the delivery of software incrementally through an iterative approach.

A brief history of Agile

Agile methodologies, especially Scrum, have been influenced largely by Lean Production techniques, which were introduced in the Toyota Production System by Taiichi Ohno. The Toyota production system employs lean thinking which has four…

The tool

This is a new tool online and free we just released.

http://www.burndown-charts.com

Original post available here: http://accurev.com/blog/2012/01/16/doing-it-wrong-for-how-long-agile/

I was browsing reddit.com the other day and ran into this post:…

I needed something to quickly create the burndown chart for me with right dates on the bottom.

I have stories & hours on the burndown, but you could swap quickly for points (we have our reasons for not including the points...that's another story)

http://agile.logihelgu.com/agile/scrum/excel-burndown-chart-template/

Original post available here: http://www.accurev.com/blog/2011/11/28/agile-kids-say-the-darndest-things/

I hope I don’t end up with a seized engine on the side of the road, but if I do, I’ll know I should have had that oil change. I hope I don’t end up on the Worst Dressed List, but if I do, at least I’ll know I should have given away those old shirts.  I feel sorry for those on the…

Original entry available here: http://www.accurev.com/blog/2011/10/31/before-agile-we-never-called-it-waterfall%E2%80%A6/

A funny thing has happened over the last couple of years…. we started calling waterfall software development… er… “waterfall”. By this I mean, we never had a name for the process… waterfall was just called “software development”. There was no…

Time: November 22, 2011 at 8:30am to November 23, 2011at 4:30pm

Location: Columbus, OH

Street: 2300 West 5th Avenue

City/Town: Columbus, Ohio

Website or Map: http://www.babsim.com/register/?course_id=AGM

Phone: 614.481.4366

Event Type: Agile Practices for…

http://www.infoq.com/articles/design-for-hybrid-agile-adoption

What do you think about it?

Every Scrum Master should know that the Daily Scrum is not for him (or her). A good Scrum Master should make sure that the team understands the value of it and conduct it independently from the Scrum Master. Some coaches ask – will the team conduct their Daily Scrum when you’re on vacation? I dare you to check it!

If you have more than one Scrum Master in your organization ask others to abduct you on an unknown day, exactly in time for your team’s Daily. Or abduct some other SM – I…

Original article at: http://www.accurev.com/blog/2011/06/20/continuous-integration-builds/

Goals of Continuous Integration

If a primary goal of continuous integration is to improve software quality and reduce downstream build and test failures, then perhaps the single most important SCM…

For original entry, read http://www.accurev.com/blog/2011/06/15/scm-best-practices/.

There’s no denying that this has certainly been the Agile decade for the software development industry.  It’s evident all around us in this tenth year since the Agile Manifesto was created. Most companies and development organizations today have implemented some form or aspect of Agile methodology into their software…

When Edward Deming, the Grandfather of Quality, taught his methods to the Japanese in the 1950's, he was working with a group that had historically been known for poor quality. Invited by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers to assist Japan in their post-war reconstruction efforts, Deming taught Japanese management, scholars and engineers to focus on quality in order to produce world-class results and become competitive in world…

Original post available at: http://www.accurev.com/blog/2011/04/15/cross-functional-teams-agile-success/

I ask you- what do you think is the most important characteristic of an Agile team?  If you were to ask me, I would answer with cross-functional teams; I believe they are one of the most important contributors to success with Agile. A cross-functional team is ideally…

Original post available here: http://the-tread-way.blogspot.com/2011/03/ramblings-on-story-point-estimation.html

One of my favorite agile planning techniques is to use story points for story estimation. In a nutshell, story point estimation means the team decides on the size of the story, rather than how long it will take to get the story done. The size of…

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Kairos Society’s Global Summit in New York City – a networking event for college entrepreneurs and current industry leaders. The event was held at the United Nations and the New York Stock Exchange – not typical networking venues, but conducive to the Society’s goal of “Uniting the Brightest Young Minds to Fuel Innovations for a Better Tomorrow.” Beyond the fervent entrepreneurial ambition exhibited by …

Original post available here: http://www.accurev.com/blog/2011/03/23/from-merge-hell-to-merge-master/

Are you frequently called on to perform the daunting task of ‘the merge’? Does tension mount and do groans grow louder when it’s time for a merge?  Are only a select few are willing to stand up and do the work?

Maybe these stages describe your merge…