Shane Hastie is the Chief Knowledge Engineer for Software Education (www.softed.com) a training and consulting company based in New Zealand. Since first using XP in 2000 Shane's been passionate about helping organisations and teams adopt Agile practices. Shane is a key member of Software Education's Agile Practice, offering training, consulting, mentoring and support for organisations and teams working to improve their project outcomes. Shane blogs on the Software Education Trainers Blog (http://softwareeducation.wordpress.com/)
Dennis Stevens discusses ways to identify and focus on business value and risk mitigation in Agile projects. As a contributor to the Agile Extension to the BABOK, and in his work on the ICAgile Business Analysis & Value Management area, and how to identify, prioritize and mitigate risk in software development projects.
Continuing the series of interviews with Stoos Network Event participants, Shane Hastie spoke to Catherine Louis and Deborah Hartmann Preuss about their experiences at the event and their hopes and expectations for the future of the Stoos Network. The Stoos Network aims to encourage shift in organisational management from traditional hierarchical leadership toward more collaborative approaches.
Following on from the Stoos Network event held in early January, InfoQ has been talking to some of the organizers and participants. This items is a conversation with Jurgen Appelo author of Management 3.0 and one of the organizers of the event.
At the Stoos Network event in Switzerland last week a call was made to re-examine the way leadership works and how organisations are governed. Responding to the "bit of a mess" evidenced by the current economic crisis, increased inequity, bankruptcies and widespread disillusionment. This is the first in a series of news items and interviews with the participants exploring their work.
Gojko Adzic has written the book Specification by Example, explaining the set of techniques for describing the functional and behavioural aspects of a computer system in a way that they are useful to the development team (expressed ideally as executable tests), understandable by non-technical stakeholders and maintainable to remain relevant despite changing customer demands.
Liz Keogh, recipient of the Gordon Pask award in 2010, discusses the predictions of Agile as a fad and how the movement has stood the test of time over the last ten years. She warns against complacency and of ignoring the manifesto value of "individuals and interactions over processes and tools" in our examination of Agile principles and practices - Agile itself must evolve to remain relevant.
At a recent IIBA New Zealand members event Shane and Pete debated the role of the business analyst on Agile projects. Shane presented on why analysis is so important on Agile projects, and why the role of the analyst remains crucial to project success. Pete said that the traditional role of the Business Analyst is under threat and will need to evolve in order to be valued on an Agile project
Johanna Rothman discusses the application of portfolio management thinking in an Agile way, and having the courage to stop work and cancel projects when they have outlived their usefulness. Tackling topics such as the mission impossible project, the sacred cow project and other management impediments and how to overcome them.
How did the Toyota Production System influence the formation of Agile practices, and what advances in systems thinking can be useful to Agile thinkers today? This also interview examines the current state of software development in Japan, where waterfall processes still hold sway but Agile techniques are taking hold.
