Category: roles

Coping with change on Scrum projects (Part III)

May 1, 2009 by Jack Milunsky

Introduction

This could be the last in this series unless of course I get new inspiration or I get specific requests to cover additional roles. This week I'll take a look at how the lives of QA testers and Developers are expected to change on Agile (scrum) projects. Frankly, I think that for these two disciplines, life gets much better i.e. developers and testers benefit most transitioning to Agile from Waterfall.

Developers

Developers love to do things right. Nine times out of ten, they'll argue against taking short cuts. They hate the fact that they are forced to deploy code that they know deep down is less than stellar. As with anything in life, making the shift to agile swings the pendulum over to the complete opposite side. So for the one out of ten code hackers out there - beware. The biggest change a developer can expect from a shift to agile is that engineering discipline or rigor is set to the max.

Coping with change on Scrum projects (part II)

April 24, 2009 by Jack Milunsky

Introduction

Interestingly, this week saw a spate of posts dealing with this very topic - although much more specific. In particular, one of the questions raised was "How does a manager add value on a Scrum team?" This segues nicely into this weeks post in which I intended to cover how the management roles (general managers and project managers) are expected to change in an Agile environment.

Coping with change on Scrum projects (part I)

April 17, 2009 by Jack Milunsky

Introduction

Most folks don't like change. I know I don't. But one things certain, adopting an Agile approach to software development requires much change in an organization. Whether it's corporate culture, roles or process, as an organization switching to Agile you're going to have to learn cope with change. This series deals with how various functions in the Agile organization are expected to change in order that teams new to Agile can learn what to expect and better adapt to this new and invigorating environment. This week covers the changes one can expect for the Customer and Product Management function in the Agile organization.

Specialization is Good

April 7, 2008 by JurgenAppelo

I think specialization is good, and cross-functional teams are not. Here's why...

Suppose you are the publisher of a magazine about cooking. It's a glossy magazine, with recipes, restaurant reviews, and lots of pictures of expensive cutlery and celebrities tasting trendy oysters. The magazine is released every month and you have a huge list of recipes, restaurants and celebrities waiting to make their appearance in one of the upcoming editions. Getting a new edition out the door is always a stressful experience. The celebrities never commit to any culinairy photo shoot. The chefs always complain about the way their food is described. And some of the recipes are so bad, you wouldn't even want to cook them for your neighbor's dog. But still, despite the bruised egos, and the meat clevers flying around your head, a new edition is published on the same day of each month.