Risk-aware Product Development (a.k.a. Agile)

By |2015-02-05T21:47:45-05:00February 5, 2015|Export, Innovation|

"There's no predictability/commitment in Agile" Over the years I've heard my share of these kinds of statements from various levels of executives: "When my guys run a product development release I really want to know what I will get at the end so I can make business plans accordingly" "In the old days when we ran projects we knew the timeline, we knew the scope, there were no surprises. These days it seems like the inmates are running the asylum. [...]

Comments Off on Risk-aware Product Development (a.k.a. Agile)

Explore Product Owner / Team responsibilities Exercise

By |2012-01-31T22:57:41-05:00January 31, 2012|Games, Product Ownership|

I wanted to share an exercise I created in a workshop last week One of the topics we wanted to explore was the responsibilities/activities of Product Owners and the Agile Team and how do they relate. The objective of the exercise was to understand the various activities and how they map in the continuum between PO and Team and across the product development life cycle. The steps of the exercise are the following: Map all the activities related to the [...]

Comments Off on Explore Product Owner / Team responsibilities Exercise

How does the performance objectives process change in a Lean/Agile world?

By |2012-01-26T14:37:29-05:00January 26, 2012|Agile, Management|

Seems like every January I get questions from HR leaders in organizations I'm working with that go something like this - "We are working on the yearly performance objectives process, and we were wondering whether it needs to change in an agile environment?" The main evolution I see in the Performance management process is leaning towards measuring up and across as well as focusing on capabilities improvement rather than a set of concrete product deliverables specified up front. Measuring up [...]

Comments Off on How does the performance objectives process change in a Lean/Agile world?

“We are already Lean/Agile” – Really?

By |2012-01-20T20:34:33-05:00January 20, 2012|Agile, Change Management, Management|

These days more and more organizations think they are Agile A couple of years ago when you talked to people about agile a common response "why should we", "it won't work here", or "so this is the new fad? What will come next?" Times have changed. And a sign of the fact that agile is becoming more mainstream is that it being diluted and a common response these days is "but we are already agile!". I want to share a [...]

Comments Off on “We are already Lean/Agile” – Really?

How to use Kanban to help improve your recruiting process

By |2011-10-23T12:23:23-04:00October 23, 2011|kanban|

Background I recently had the opportunity to talk with a couple of HR managers who were interested in how agile can help the HR department become more effective. This was a context where the product development is well into their agile journey, and we are talking about a group of about 20-30 people providing HR services like recruiting, training, social events to an enterprise R&D organization in the 1000 people range. What does agile mean for HR Well, I tend [...]

Lean/Kanban approach to Teams

By |2011-10-22T08:38:42-04:00October 22, 2011|Agile, Blog, Export, kanban|

To Team or not to Team? If you look at the definition of Kanban or Lean, you wouldn't find teams anywhere there. If you look at the Agile Manifesto, you can find "The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams" Scrum is quite clear about the topic (Quoting the Scrum Guide 2011) "Scrum Teams are self-organizing and cross-functional. Self-organizing teams choose how best to accomplish their work, rather than being directed by others outside the team. Cross-functional teams [...]

Read my article on the journey of a Tester from waterfall land to Agile/Kanban land (in Hebrew…)

By |2011-04-15T10:19:21-04:00April 15, 2011|Agile Testing|

A couple of months ago I ran into Think Testing - a new magazine for testers in israel (published in Hebrew). I found it very interesting, and decided I want to contribute. My article has been published in issue number #3. It tries to provide some insight on the experience of a tester when his organization/team decides to go Agile. (Update: article no longer available in original location so use slideshare now) I also like the design work they are [...]

AgileIL11 is over, what an exciting event! my Slides for Secrets of Flow are available – see below

By |2011-04-12T14:01:26-04:00April 12, 2011|Blog, Israel, kanban|

For those interested in my talk about Secrets of Flow, here it is: [slideshare id=7598563&doc=yuvalyeret-flowforagileil11-yuval-v1-0final-110412053436-phpapp02] see some pictures from the event as well:

Comments Off on AgileIL11 is over, what an exciting event! my Slides for Secrets of Flow are available – see below

What do I need to know to start being a Product Owner?

By |2011-01-05T20:36:31-05:00January 5, 2011|Agile, Product Ownership|

  What is the basic role of the Product Owner? http://blog.crisp.se/2012/10/25/henrikkniberg/agile-product-ownership-in-a-nutshell (New) http://scalingsoftwareagility.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/ch-11-role-of-the-product-owner-rev-12.pdf http://www.agileproductdesign.com/downloads/patton_product_owner_role.ppt Starting with user stories: User stories are the most common way to handle requirements in the agile world. One of the first things you'll need to do as a product owner is familiarize yourself with them, and start to provide them to the delivery team. Mike Cohn on Effective User Stories - http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/presentations/42-effective-user-stories-for-agile-requirements User Stories Primer http://trailridgeconsulting.com/files/user-story-primer.pdf Recommended Book - User Stories Applied by Mike Cohn http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/books/2 User Stories Advanced [...]

Why I think slack is highly important during an Agile/Kanban transition

By |2010-09-15T23:12:01-04:00September 15, 2010|Agile, kanban|

(Note, this post is about slack the concept not Slack the collaboration platform. Though Slack the platform is great as well. We use it at AgileSparks and love it, although it eats up some of our slack time...) Actually, the title is wrong. I think slack is highly important during any change initiative where you expect continuous improvement of the process and practices. The importance of slack is not new. Not in manufacturing, and not in the Software Engineering world. [...]

Go to Top