09.15.09

Hanging out my kanban

Posted in Agile, Journal, News at 9:04 pm by Pablosan

Well, there you have it. I made my choice! I’m hanging out my shingle, striking out on my own, etc. People keep asking me if I’m excited. Terrified is, I think, more appropriate.

But I am not completely alone. I’ll be working very closely with these guys. Just to give you an idea of how hip this group is, take a look at their office! Yep, it’s a boat and, yes, they have a nice view of Lake Erie and the Cleveland skyline.

This new opportunity will give me the privilege of continuing to pursue my passion: helping software development teams have a lot of fun making real progress on real projects.

It seems that the current Agile Hype is around Kanban, so I thought I’d tie that in as well. I am both impressed with and concerned about kanban for software development, a new-ish methodology taking ideas from Lean and from the Toyota Production System (TPS). There are many great ideas in this newest evolutionary step in Agile: a focus on quality, limiting work-in-process, balancing demand against throughput, effective prioritization, pull don’t push, continual improvement, eliminating waste, and many more. All of these are powerful concepts (David Anderson gave an excellent talk on kanban, which you can find here).

Why the concern? Well, it seems that certain other Agile methodologies have ended up being more about creating marketable intellectual property than solving real-world problems. And I think that’s an easy trap to fall into. Marketing an idea is important to it’s survival, and that is going to create tension. As long as those behind the Kanban approach stay focused on solving real-world problems, we’ll be fine, but they will have to fight against the urge to over-market their ideas.

I hope they succeed, because I think this latest incarnation of Agile is a very good thing! And I’m looking forward to proving that out over the next several months while watching kanban for software development continually improve!

09.13.09

The Principle of Least Regret

Posted in Agile, Journal at 2:32 pm by Pablosan

I have been faced with a minor dilemma. Having been presented with an opportunity to venture off on my own as an independent consultant, I now have to decide between staying in my current position or accepting this new challenge.

It has proven to be a particularly thorny problem. My current contract position has given me an opportunity to make a positive impact that has been noticed all the way up to the CIO. In a company of roughly 10,000 employees, this fact in itself plays a significant role in my selection process. Add to this that I am working under the best manager I’ve ever had doing things that I really enjoy… well, why leave?!

The consulting opportunity, on the other hand, will give me fresh opportunities to dig into new challenges with a group of consultants that I am confident would push the envelope further than I would do on my own. In fact, this opportunity reminds me of the part of Chad Fowler’s book where he quotes Pat Metheny’s advice for young musicians: “always be the worst guy in every band you’re in.” This gig definitely qualifies.

After several days of wracking my brain trying to make a decision, I was reminded of another piece of advice I recently read in Gerald Weinberg’s book, The Secrets of Consulting. In the book he uses The Principle of Least Regret, specifically in regards to setting your consulting rate, but I think it applies in my current situation as well.

The idea is simple: given a set of options that are roughly equivalent, choose the option that you believe will leave you with the least regret. Another way to consider it is, choose the option which you would most regret not taking.

Having used this principle recently, I am convinced it could be useful in many contexts. For instance, it could help in backlog prioritization on an Agile project. However, I also think that this particular principle will not work all of the time. In other words, it is a great tool to have in your toolbox, but don’t expect to use it in every situation.

So which did I choose? All in good time. There are still i’s to be dotted and t’s to be crossed, so stay tuned!