Xanpan: Team Centric Agile Software Development


Book Description

Xanpan is... a cross between XP and Kanban... is an example of a roll-your-own method... is distilled from Allan Kelly's own experiences running development teams and then helping multiple teams adopt Agile working methods and practices. Xanpan draws ideas from Kanban and Lean, XP and Scrum, product management and business analysis, and many other places. Allan tells the Xanpan story through a series of boards which tell the story of different teams. In between he fills in the principles, practices and thinking which together constitutes Xanpan. Each printed copy contains a code entitling the buyer to a free copy of the electronic version and subsequent updates.




Xanpan


Book Description

Xanpan is... a cross between XP and Kanban... is an example of a roll-your-own method... is distilled from Allan Kelly's own experiences running development teams and then helping multiple teams adopt Agile working methods and practices. Xanpan draws ideas from Kanban and Lean, XP and Scrum, product management and business analysis, and many other places.Allan tells the Xanpan story through a series of boards which tell the story of different teams. In between he fills in the principles, practices and thinking which together constitutes Xanpan. Allan's key points include: handling planned and unplanned work in fixed length iterations, the importance of keeping quality high with technical practices, planning beyond the iteration and why deadlines are more important than estimates.




Being Agile in Business


Book Description




#noprojects: A Culture of Continuous Value


Book Description

Today success comes from building products people love, creating loyal customers and serving the broader stakeholder community. In this thoughtful exploration on the future of work, the authors explore the past, present and future of the "project". And why, in today's fast changing & hyper-competitive world, running a temporary endeavour is the wrong approach to building sustainable products and how #noprojects is fundamentally changing the way companies work. The metrics by which we have historically defined success are no longer applicable and we need to re-examine the way value is delivered in the new economy. This book starts from the premise that our goal is to create value, for the customer, for the organisation and for society as a whole and shows how to empower and optimise our teams to achieve this. The authors draw on modern management approaches to provide proven techniques and tools for producing, and sustaining, creative products that go beyond "meeting requirements".




Enterprise Agility


Book Description

Enterprise Agility is practical framework for enhancing Agility and equipping your company with the tools to survive. Key Features Prepare your company to navigate the rapidly-moving business world Enhance Agility in every component of your organization Build a framework that meets the unique requirements of your enterprise Book Description The biggest challenge enterprises face today is dealing with fast-paced change in all spheres of business. Enterprise Agility shows how an enterprise can address this challenge head on and thrive in the dynamic environment. Avoiding the mechanistic construction of existing enterprises that focus on predictability and certainty, Enterprise Agility delivers practical advice for responding and adapting to the scale and accelerating pace of disruptive change in the business environment. Agility is a fundamental shift in thinking about how enterprises work to effectively deal with disruptive changes in the business environment. The core belief underlying agility is that enterprises are open and living systems. These living systems, also known as complex adaptive systems (CAS), are ideally suited to deal with change very effectively. Agility is to enterprises what health is to humans. There are some foundational principles that can be broadly applied, but the definition of healthy is very specific to each individual. Enterprise Agility takes a similar approach with regard to agility: it suggests foundational practices to improve the overall health of the body—culture, mindset, and leadership—and the health of its various organs: people, process, governance, structure, technology, and customers. The book also suggests a practical framework to create a plan to enhance agility. What you will learn Drive agility-oriented change across the enterprise Understand why agility matters (more than ever) to modern enterprises Adopt and influence an Agile mindset in your teams and in your organization Understand the concept of a CAS and how to model enterprise and leadership behaviors on CAS characteristics to enhance enterprise agility Understand and convey the differences between Agile and true enterprise agility Create an enterprise-specific action plan to enhance agility Become a champion for enterprise agility Recognize the advantages and challenges of distributed teams, and how Agile ways of working can remedy the rough spots Enable and motivate your IT partners to adopt Agile ways of working Who this book is for Enterprise Agility is a tool for anyone with the motivation to influence outcomes in an enterprise, who aspires to improve Agility. Readers from the following backgrounds will benefit: chief executive officer, chief information officer, people/human resource director, information technology director, head of change program, head of transformation, and Agile coach/consultant.




Software Project Estimation


Book Description

In Software Project Estimation, author Dimitre Dimitrov extrapolates upon the most crucial steps in accurately and meaningfully forecasting the timeline and specs of promised deliverables to clients. A client’s positive experience with project delivery and implementation is a software organization’s calling card in the industry. The lifespan of a software project—from ideation to final installation—introduces dozens of potential pitfalls for a company’s track record, earnings, and overall team morale. However, these “pitfalls” are also opportunities to showcase strengths and to improve an organization’s product quality, and it all starts with project estimation. Reliable forecasting continues to present a challenge to even the most veteran teams and software development organizations. Dimitrov sets out to ease these common difficulties with invaluable methodology improvements and helpful visuals from his years of industry experience. Project managers—through harnessing the power of hard data and statistics—have a new world of impactful forecasting at their fingertips. This approach brings security, predictability, and motivation within the team, while simultaneously greatly benefiting client trust and relationships. Software Project Estimation clarifies the common misunderstandings that materialize between making a promise, making a plan, and building a forecast backed by data. Learn how to create an intelligent software project forecast and use it to make timely decisions, apply measured project control, and confidently steer your ship toward your goals with Software Project Estimation. What You Will Learn Concepts related to software estimation, forecasting, and project controlWays in which you can positively affect the relationships among team members working on a software delivery projectHow to apply this forecasting model, within both agile and waterfall teams who have adopted sound engineering practices Who This Book is For This book is directly relevant to the roles of scrum masters and project managers, and provides practical tools for intelligent project control. The book is also valuable for business people who want insight into the type of problems that delivery teams face, and for programmers and other delivery team members who want to gain an understanding of the project manager’s day-to-day challenges.




Changing Software Development


Book Description

Changing Software Development explains why software development is an exercise in change management and organizational intelligence. An underlying belief is that change is learning and learning creates knowledge. By blending the theory of knowledge management, developers and managers will gain the tools to enhance learning and change to accommodate new innovative approaches such as agile and lean computing. Changing Software Development is peppered with practical advice and case studies to explain how and why knowledge, learning and change are important in the development process. Today, managers are pre-occupied with knowledge management, organization learning and change management; while software developers are often ignorant of the bigger issues embedded in their work. This innovative book bridges this divide by linking the software world of technology and processes to the business world of knowledge, learning and change.




Continuous Digital


Book Description

In the digital world, the business is technology, and technology is the business. Agile software development was the first wave of process change for digital business. Now it is time to update management models and thinking. Continuous Digital sets out a new management model for digital business. A management model that takes Agile to the next level. Allan Kelly describes how software is omnipresent in digital business, how software is an asset and needs treating as such. He describes new management paradigms for the digital and agile age: - How dis-economies of scale not economies of scale rule software development - When planning delays action - How value changes over time - The lifecycle of stable value-seeking teams - Budget alternatives for funding software development Digitisation forces companies to rethink the way they organize themselves. This book offers a template for new businesses and new thinking on managing that work.




The Art of Agile Product Ownership


Book Description

Every product owner faces a complex and unique set of challenges within their team. This provides each individual the opportunity to fill the role with different ambitions, skills, and insights. Your product ownership journey can take a variety of paths, and The Art of Agile Product Ownership is here to be your guide. Author Allan Kelly, who delivers Agile training courses to major companies, pulls from his experience to help you discover what it takes to be a successful product owner. You will learn how you need to define your role within a team and how you can best incorporate ownership with strategy. With the Agile method, time is the key factor, and after using the lessons from this book you will confidently be able to synthesize features, functionality, and scope against delivery. You will find out how other team members such as the UX designer and business analyst can support and enhance your role as product owner, and how every type of company structure can adapt for optimal agility. The Art of Agile Product Ownership is a beacon for current product owners, programmers who are ready to take the next step towards ownership, and analysts transitioning into the product space. This book helps you determine for yourself the best way to fill the product owner role so that you utilize your unique combination of skills. Product ownership is central to a successful Agile team, and after reading this book, you will be more than ready for the challenge. What You Will LearnExplores activities the product owner needs to do in order to write good and valuable user storiesIdentifies skills product owners can learn from product managers and business analystsDemonstrates how to make decisions based on business and customer demand rather than technical needs and feasibility Who This Book Is ForThis is a book for anyone becoming a product owner: developers and programmers, who, after some years at the code-face, are ready to step up to the next stage to own the product that they have been coding. Business Analysts and Product Managers who see themselves transitioning into the a product owner role will find value in this book in understanding their new role and how the work is the same and how it is different




Refactoring at Scale


Book Description

Making significant changes to large, complex codebases is a daunting task--one that's nearly impossible to do successfully unless you have the right team, tools, and mindset. If your application is in need of a substantial overhaul and you're unsure how to go about implementing those changes in a sustainable way, then this book is for you. Software engineer Maude Lemaire walks you through the entire refactoring process from start to finish. You'll learn from her experience driving performance and refactoring efforts at Slack during a period of critical growth, including two case studies illustrating the impact these techniques can have in the real world. This book will help you achieve a newfound ability to productively introduce important changes in your codebase. Understand how code degrades and why some degradation is inevitable Quantify and qualify the state of your codebase before refactoring Draft a well-scoped execution plan with strategic milestones Win support from engineering leadership Build and coordinate a team best suited for the project Communicate effectively inside and outside your team Adopt best practices for successfully executing the refactor