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Magic Pixie Dust: Increasing the pace of software delivery … through people

Magic Pixie Dust: Increasing the pace of software delivery … through people. Matthew Heusser matt@xndev.com Presented at the Indiana Quality Assurance Conference 7 October 2005. Agenda. The Nature of Innovation Ineffective Habits Effective Habits Common Objections

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Magic Pixie Dust: Increasing the pace of software delivery … through people

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  1. Magic Pixie Dust:Increasing the pace of software delivery … through people Matthew Heusser matt@xndev.com Presented at the Indiana Quality Assurance Conference 7 October 2005

  2. Agenda • The Nature of Innovation • Ineffective Habits • Effective Habits • Common Objections • What to do tomorrow Agenda

  3. Managing Euler The Nature of Innovation

  4. Managing Thomas Edison The Nature of Innovation

  5. Innovation - Defined • ‘Work for hire’ • Innovation is concerned with redefining a task or the way a task is done • Gerald M. Weinberg, Becoming a technical leader The nature of innovation

  6. Bad Pixie Dust • Examples: • Extended mandatory overtime • Pressure • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt • Implicitly cutting quality standards • Short-term cost reductions Ineffective Behaviors / Bad Pixie Dust

  7. The Status Meeting • Who’s status are we talking about? Ineffective Behaviors / Bad Pixie Dust

  8. Getting it wrong • “Gathering Requirements” • Telephone Game • The Ambiguous Spec Ineffective Behaviors

  9. Encouraging collaboration … • Craftsmanship • Prototypes • And Risk Effective Behaviors

  10. Efficiency or Effectiveness? Effective Behaviors

  11. The trouble with learning Effective Behaviors

  12. Effective Behaviors

  13. Single-Tasking Effective Behaviors

  14. Co-located Project Teams Effective Behaviors

  15. Choice • Choice & Productivity • Methodology Mania • Life at the office • Alternatives • Agile methods Effective Behaviors

  16. Deliver Early, deliver often Image from Software Engineering, a practitioner’s approach, 5th ed Effective Behaviors

  17. But, Fred Taylor said … Common Objections

  18. My boss needs to hear this … Common Objections

  19. You do have power • Five magic words • Breaking priority lock: • Force tradeoffs early • Breaking ship-time lock: • Force tradeoffs later • Force tradeoffs into project choices • I can do it, if … Common Objections

  20. What to do Monday morning • Pick one way to improve productivity • Rinse, Repeat • Identify practices that solve problems your organization no longer has • (Then stop doing them) • Reward experimentation • Keep it fun • For Quality, consider ‘Arete’

  21. Q&A • What are your questions?

  22. References • Weinberg, Gerald. Becoming a technical leader. • DeMarco, Tom and Lister, Timothy. Peopleware. • DeMarco, Tom. Slack. • Pirsig, Robert, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. • Go google some famous inventors.

  23. Bonus Section

  24. What this talk is not

  25. Managing Issac Asimov The Nature of Innovation

  26. Managing Da Vinci • Error • Copy • Combine The Nature of Innovation

  27. Life in the widget factory The Nature of Innovation

  28. Maslow - Applied Ineffective Behaviors

  29. The Big Game • The role of the leader Ineffective Behaviors / Bad Pixie Dust

  30. Mappers or packers? • The Context-Driven School • A Microsoft QA Manager • A Stryker Instruments QA Manager Effective Behaviors

  31. The Agile Manifesto We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. Effective Behaviors

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