Tag: Leading & Following
-
Values and Behaviors of the Successful Agilist
Of course, any discussion of Agile values starts with the Agile Manifesto. The first sentence declares that Agile development is about seeking better ways and helping others. Then, as if espousing self-evident truths, the founders present four relative value statements. Finally, they emphasize appropriate balance, saying that the relatively less valued items aren’t worthless: implying…
-
A New Direction for Data at #EDW17
Obviously, data management is important. Unfortunately, it is not prioritized in most organizations. Those that effectively manage data perform far better than organizations that don’t. Everyone who needs data to do his/her job must drive change to improve data management. That was the theme of the recent Enterprise Data World (EDWorld) conference this week. This year’s EDWorld event might be the…
-
The Faith of Tolerance
Yes this is a post about religion, so at the outset let me assure you that I won’t try to talk you into or out of any religion or otherwise. Nor will I reveal my beliefs. Instead, I will make the case that the beliefs of others are to be celebrated. To those thinking this is…
-
Protect Your Culture: Screening for authoritarian project leaders
It’s fashionable today to talk about the risks of authoritarianism in the political sphere. I’m not going to speculate on that, but such talk got me thinking about the same tendencies among IT project leaders. What is an authoritarian personality? (Yes, that’s actually a thing.) Is it truly antithetical to a healthy project? If so, how…
-
More on the Agile Architect: Process and Knowledge Transfer
I’ve written about groupthink-related quality challenges on Agile projects, and the architect’s role in preventing groupthink from degrading quality. I’ve seen other risks related to the cohesion and potential insularity of successful Agile teams, and the architect is also well positioned to help prevent these: a tendency to neglect setting up and documenting repeatable processes, and a…
-
Assumptions: A Key to Technical Leadership
There’s an unfortunate and rather rude saying about assumptions that I’ve found popular among IT folks I’ve worked with. I say unfortunate because, to me, assumptions that are recognized early and handled the right way are a key to successful projects. Technical players who use assumptions well can help set projects on the right path…
-
Technical Interviewers: Seek Opinions Not Facts
Asking fact questions in technical interviews is like eating a donut, feels great at the time but not so satisfying later. Let’s say the interview consists of facts like this “softball question”: “What is the default port number for SQL Server?” The linked list of questions is a really good high level study guide for…
-
How To Do Well in Your Next Job Interview
Recently I read an editorial about job interviews. It was breezy and funny, but not very helpful. Given that millions are out there looking for work, I want to help by giving my perspective on how to “win” the interview. I do a lot of interviewing, from both sides of the desk. As a consultant…
-
Get the Big Picture: Effective High-Level Diagrams
I believe that early, effective big picture diagrams are key to application development project success. According to the old saw, no project succeeds without a catchy acronym. Maybe so, but I’d say no project succeeds without a good big picture diagram. The question: what constitutes a good one? To me good high-level diagrams have four key characteristics:…
-
Jürgen Klinsmann’s Waterfall to Agile Transition
How does this sound as advice for an app dev manager leading his or her team from waterfall to Agile? Clearly articulate a compelling end-state vision Work from a position of authority Weather the storms Reward creativity while fostering improvement A post at scrumsource.com lists leadership, organizational culture, and people as three of the five…