Thursday, May 04, 2006

IRMA Washington D.C. May 21st

I’m participating in a panel session about agile techniques at the IRMA conference in Washington D.C. later this month. It’s my first trip to D.C. in seven years of living in America. Unfortunately I only have time to fly in, do my thing, and fly out again. If you are intending to attend then come look for me on the Sunday and say hello.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Compliment Someone

I’ve written before that trust is the essence of agile software development and about my litmus test for agility “How much trust is there in the room?”. You build trust by showing people you can do things that help and support them. Trust itself responds to basic agile principles - little and often works better than large commitments delivered very seldom. Random acts of kindness build trust in personal relationships but also in the workplace.

When was the last time you complimented a co-worker? about their work? their contribution? their leadership? or something else important to them from their personal life?

“Hey, I really liked the job you did on the style sheet for the new web site. Really impressive. Well done.”
“Hi John, you know we’ve been working together for a few months now on this project and I really value your contribution, your input, you innovative thoughts and your commitment to our team success. I’m really happy you are on the team and I’d love to work with you again on another project.”
“Teresa, I’d like to thank you for your leadership resolving the conflict between our two teams. Someone had to step up and fix this before our customers started to complain. Without your contribution we’d be no further forward. Let me know how I can help or support you to be successful.”
“Hi Julie, congratulations on completing the marathon last week. That was a great time. You must have trained hard for months. We’re all very impressed. You remind us how sedentary we can become if we don’t pay attention and build a great work, life balance.”

As geeks it can be hard for us to express our feelings. According to some psychologists I’ve been reading recently, it is even harder for men than women. Boys are brought up to hide their feelings and have trouble adapting in adult life. It’s hard enough to do it in our personal lives. The classic stereotype is that geeks work late because they can’t get dates.

If you want to practice getting better at it, start in the workplace. You’ll be amazed how much trust you’ll start to build between you and your colleagues. Doesn’t matter whether it is a boss, a subordinate, someone in a different department. If you feel they deserve some praise then pay them a compliment. Make it a habit. Technorati tag: Agile, David+Anderson, Trust

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Set Based Design

Recently the Lean community has been enamored with two hot topics now that elimination of waste and value stream mapping are passe. I made my feelings known about Genchi Gembutsu (going to the source) back in March twice. The other hot topic is set based design. The robot above belongs to Katherine Radeka who was the chair of the recent Lean Design and Development conference. Katherine uses the robot in a new set based design theory training class she teaches to (mostly) software people.

This box of parts is used to create the alternative architectures for the problem. The original robot is not designed to pick up the axel in the top photo. It has a new problem to solve - pick up the axel and place it between the goal posts. A set of alternatives will be developed and tested for performance, manufacturability, cost, and so forth.

The idea with set based design is that multiple designs are created and kept alive until gradually they are eliminated and a best choice is made. Best choice will come from a combination of economics, manufacturability, performance, function and so forth. Set based design is a logical extension from the Lean concept of “decide at the last responsible moment.” In this case, it is the architecture that is being locked down at the last responsible moment. Actually, in manufacturing they have another name for this, “postponement.” It is the idea that you postpone decisions as late in the value chain as possible. In some cases postponement goes all the way to the point of retail sale. Remember removable face plates for cell phones? Or how about paint mixed in the store at the point of sale? Remember when stores carried inventory of colors and color fashion changed with the years?

However, the new set based design hype worries me a little because for years we’ve had a body of knowledge in our business around developing alternative architectures. The Software Engineering Institute offers us ATAM. While on MSF we picked up work by Jeromy Carriere at Microsoft on Lightweight Alternative Architecture Assessment Method (LAAAM) that offered an agile alternative to ATAM. The idea that we develop alternative architectures and assess them and choose the best solution based on a range of criteria is not new. In fact making architectural alternatives is required for CMMI Level 3 as part of Decision Analysis and Resolution (DAR).

What I think set based design is bringing to the picture is the concept of real options theory and the postponed decision making. This is not really present in ATAM or LAAAM that have a single early lifecycle decision point.

Despite the hype from the Lean movement, there is a gap. No one with real software engineering systems and architecture experience has occupied the space and explained how to synthesize postponement and real options theory with alternative architecture assessment. Technorati tag: Agile, David+Anderson, ATAM, SEI, CMMI, Set+Based+Design, Lean