I came across this fascinating question today about how to determine what documentation is needed for a project. Here’s my answer:
Category: Best practice
Choosing software for your organisation
Someone on Quora asked about whether it’s better to choose the process or the tool first when managing metadata. Here’s my answer:
Back to the source
I was listening to Vasco Duarte’s interview with Nirmaljeet Malhotra yesterday and he mentioned a thing that I often do: When people ask about this or that aspect of Scrum, I refer them back to the Scrum Guide. It’s a very short read, but it contains everything you need to know about the practice of Scrum.
It reminds me of when I practiced Aikido back in the 80’s. The head of the school that I practiced with, Saito Sensei used to say, “I teach basic, because there is only basic”.
One thing I wish my team did more of when I was a manager
As a manager I always valued the skills and knowledge the everyone brought to the team. Hence my answer on Quora:
Best Practice for Benefits
Today I saw a question about benefits on Quora that piqued my interest. You can read the question, and my answer here:
Who can undermine the agile development process
A question was asked on Quora about whether Business Analysts can undermine Agile development methodologies. While the easy answer is ‘yes’ (as can anyone else) the more complex answer is that agile has the checks and balances built in:
Do Business Analysts tend to undermine Agile software development methodologies?
on Quora
Helping the team to ensure they capture all the tasks when they estimate
In my experience, the problem with estimates is not that the estimates are inaccurate, it’s more that people forget to estimate some of the tasks when they are estimating.
In this question from Quora, the questioner has observed that the length of time required to complete code reviews is throwing their schedules out. I suggest using their definition of done to help them to make sure that all tasks are estimated:
Do Scrum Teams Deliver User documentation
I answered a question on quota about this topic today:
Do Product Owners need technical skills?
I’ve just answered this question over on Quora:
Is it important for a product owner in a Scrum team that makes software to have technical knowledge?
on Quora
Key facts about agile testing that every project manager should know
In this video I describe agile testing and give advice to project managers on how to make sure that they are getting the best from agile testing
I explain what is agile testing and how it differs from traditional manual testing.
Although agile project management is usually applied to software development projects, it can be used for many different types of projects. In this video I stay away from the technicalities to describe agile projects in a way that can be understood by the lay person