Followers
In the December 2007 Harvard Business Review, Barbara Kellerman presented a typology to help discern between different followers in an organization. While a distinction is made that most studies are focused on leaders, I think we are really talking about the same thing here. What is important is how all of this plays in the realm of relationships within an organization. Read more
Actually, It IS All About You
If we look at how most branded approaches for software development are pitched, we see that there is little active consideration for the team that will be dealing with that new approach. One could cynically suggest that this is because these approaches are being hailed as silver bullets that are independent of the participants, but I think it goes deeper than that. Read more
Birthing the Spec
It’s a scenario that gets played over and over again in software shops: the person designated as the analyst for a project, sometimes the CTO, sometimes also the project manager, heads into the birthing hut at the start of the project, and doesn’t come out until the spec is born. This analogy hurts in so many ways. Read more
Disassembling the Nokia Test
The Nokia Test is a quick assessment of practices to determine if your Scrum implementation is up to snuff, based on how it is implemented at Nokia. There is debate about whether it should be more or less rigorous or flexible. My thinking is that it’s great if you are doing exactly what Nokia does, which is true for very few of us. Let’s take it apart to see if there are any user serviceable parts inside. Read more
Cultural Vital Signs
Once in a while, I get the opportunity to work with a great team, in a company that ‘gets it’. Read more
