The Agile Architect


A Visit to the Automated Testing Zoo

Our Agile Architect wants to talk about lessons learned from his experiences with test automation. As usual, he does it in his own unique way.

Building New Software? Beware The Tail: It Could Destroy You!

Our Agile Architect muses on the total cost of ownership of software and the ongoing cost, after initial development, of paying back technical debt due to bugs, low-quality software, and lack of automation.

Want to Make the Right Decision? Procrastinate Until 'The Last Responsible Moment'

Our Agile Architect offers some last-minute, just-made-the-deadline observations on the positive power of procrastination.

Notebook

Crafting the Perfect Agile Retrospective

Our Agile Architect leads you through all the things that go into crafting a perfect agile retrospective.

Nebula

Scientists use Big Data Techniques to Solve for Pi

Big Data analysis is being used to solve problems never before attempted. Our Agile Architect reports on a new technique that is groundbreaking in the breadth of its application.

Man and Arrows

Crafting the Perfect Agile Demo

Our Agile Architect leads you through all the things that go into making a perfect agile demo.

Why CEOs Should Care About Test Automation

As CEO of a tech company, you've been briefed by your VP of IT on the benefits of test automation. While the reasoning seems sound, it clearly is not an area you personally care much about. You should care. A lot! Our Agile Architect will tell you what your VP should have.

Evaluating SAFe

You say you want enterprise agility and you think SAFe is the way to go? Our Agile Architect explains why you just might be right. Or are you?

Will Crushing Expectations Make an Agile Team Non-Agile? DUH!

We are warning you! Our Agile Architect is in a pretty cantankerous mood. Read this at your own risk.

Do You Really Need the Complexity of an Enterprise-Scale Agile Framework?

So you're running a big complicated enterprise-scale operation. You're doing agile at the team level and now you are ready to tackle enterprise-scale agility. You take your first steps to introducing an enterprise-scalable agile framework. Oops! You may have just made a big mistake.

Can Agile Truly Scale To the Enterprise?

What makes Enterprise Agile different from plain ol' ordinary agile? Our Agile Architect returns with a series of columns exploring what we can gain from enterprise agility.

Why You Should Let Greed Accelerate Your Agile Development

If you think this is going to be an article on evil product owners and how they just want everything, you're going to be disappointed. Our Agile Architect explains how 'Greed-Accelerated Development 'is the completely achievable desire to want more from your work than just the immediate benefit while not paying any additional price for it. Bwa Ha Ha Ha!

Safety and The Agile Retrospective

Safety is an important ingredient in any agile retrospective. If team members don't feel safe, they may not be candid and honest with their input, negating the effectiveness of the retro. Our Agile Architect shares some of his techniques for measuring and maintaining safety.

Keep CALMS and DevOps Ons

There has been a lot of misinformation about the nature of DevOps and its relationship to (Big A) Agile. Our Agile Architect explains why DevOps is an important component of (little a) agile, plus offers the top five DevOps misconceptions dev teams often have.

The State of Agile QA: The Times Are a Changin'

Quality assurance has long been an important component of an agile team. But times change. The introduction of new capabilities like ubiquitous cloud computing, containerization and microservices changes the way we think about QA. Here's how.

Agile Through the Eyes of a Scientist

Agile is not a hard science like physics or chemistry. There is no fundamental theorem of agility. But practices in agile act along empirical scientific principles in that experimentation can lead to measurable results, reproducible across teams in similar conditions. So why does each agile team feel compelled to rediscover this again and again?

Top 10 Agile Changes Over the Past 10 Years

Our Agile Architect recently celebrated his 10 year work anniversary and uses this as an opportunity to look back and see how agile has changed over the last decade.

8 Not-So-Subtle Hints from an Agile Team...

Things agile developers want to tell you but won't.

The Benefits of T-Shaped People on Your Agile Team

Our Agile Architect talks about the benefits of T-shaped people in agile and the dangers of stressing broad knowledge and participation over deep expertise.

Protecting Your Software Investment from Fickle Product Owners

Our Agile Architect discusses strategies for working with a product owner that can't hold to a decision long enough to see it realized.