Agile teams often use points, but is that a good thing? Points make things easier. Points also create confusion and waste.
User Stories
For many, Agile has come to mean “user stories.” So let’s talk user stories.
Read MorePeople First
The first principle of the Agile Manifesto gets to the heart of the matter: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
While there is value in processes and tools, Agile values individuals and interactions more.
Things would be different if you could build software like you build cars, on an assembly line. But the reality is, great software development—like all creative activities involving more than one person—is first and foremost about people and interactions.
And so, as an individual and as someone who wants to work with great people, what should I pay attention to?
Read MoreAgile and Cloud for Bold Companies
Technology organizations used to have two main functions: Development on one side and Operations on the other.
Development was in charge of building, integrating, and customizing systems. People used to call it Application Development. They now often call it Engineering.
And Operations was in charge of the environment to run those systems: hardware, networking, 24×7 operations—that sort of thing.
Each area has seen major changes over the last 15 years, most notably with the birth of Agile (for Development) and Cloud Computing (for Operations), and an increasing overlap between Development and Operations (DevOps).
This post draws parallels between Agile and Cloud; after all, both are meant to help you do things better, faster, cheaper.
This post also looks at what Agile and Cloud mean for startups and big companies.
Complexity Is the Enemy
“Vision without execution is hallucination.”
—Thomas Edison
“Complexity is the enemy of execution.”
—Tony Robbins
When we merge these two principles, we realize this: Vision without simplification is hallucination.
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