The Agile Reading Glasses are assembled by 4 main parts:

• Empirical Process Control (Part1)
• Pull Principle (Part 2)
• Lean Thinking (Part 3)
• Interative & Incremental (Part 4) 

This video is the last part of the Agile Reading Glasses.

Agile Reading Glasses - Iterative & Incremental

For more information please contact us.

The Agile Reading Glasses are assembled by 4 main parts:

• Empirical Process Control (Part1)
• Pull Principle (Part 2)
• Lean Thinking (Part 3)
• Interative & Incremental (Part 4) 

This video is the third part of the Agile Reading Glasses.

Agile Reading Glasses - Lean Thinking 

For more information please contact us.

The Agile Reading Glasses are assembled by 4 main parts:

• Empirical Process Control (Part1)
• Pull Principle (Part 2)
• Lean Thinking (Part 3)
• Interative & Incremental (Part 4) 

This video is the second part of the Agile Reading Glasses.

Agile Reading Glasses - Pull Principle 

For more information please contact us.

The Agile Reading Glasses are assembled by 4 main parts:

• Empirical Process Control (Part1)
• Pull Principle (Part 2)
• Lean Thinking (Part 3)
• Interative & Incremental (Part 4) 

This video is the first part of the Agile Reading Glasses.

Agile Reading Glasses - Empirical Process Control 

For more information please contact us.

A large number of economists, sociologists and even historians are dealing with this
question. And certainly they have the proper qualification to analyze the various farreaching dimensions of the changes. Our point of view is far more pragmatic. We describe the changes from the perspectives of Managers and Entrepreneurs, trying to give a holistic picture of the “What” and “Why”.
Let’s dig deeper into the topic and find answers to the following questions: 

• Why are established companies currently struggling so much to keep up their position in the market?
• Which change of old ways and rules makes it difficult for companies to persist?
• Is there a recipe for staying competitive?

At the beginning of the 20th century new products and services were introduced at a very low rate with rather controlled and simple marketing methods and messages via print, radio and later on television. Only a few decades later there were hundreds of private channels advertising new and changing products at any time. This resulted in a larger distribution of products and raised the demand for new products, causing many companies to enter new markets, both for production and the fast generation of new ideas and products. The main objective at that time was “merely” raising the cashflow and profit in a fast growing business environment. The only thing necessary for selling more was producing more.

Quality was a minor issue, or putting it more precisely, unsatisfied customers didn’t have a platform for their complaints and could not ask for improvements in quality. In order to stay competitive it was more important to provide product novelties instead of establishing longterm customer relationships based on a certain product or production line.

• Products were controlling the market.

Today we are facing a completely new situation. The speed with which society and economy develops has constantly grown within the last few decades and brought us to the point, where previous markets and organizational structures, which worked well in the past, are put under new pressures. What is the reason for this?
It’s simple. Thanks to the internet, Google and social networks, communication has become more independent. Customers can get free and vendor-independent information. Reviews from other customers, competitive comparisons, quick and easy feedback to vendors and the power to publish negative product reviews, have changed the role of the customer. A facebook analysis showed that 73% of facebook users trust their friends’ recommendations without trying the product themselves (http://www.getelastic.com/facebook-like/). All the changes show:

• Today customers are controlling the market.

If you have questions, please contact us.

I am happy to tell you, that Dave Snowden (Cynefin Framework) followed my invitation to speak at the Scrumtisch in June. We expect quite a lot of people, and therefor I am also happy, that Hypoport is hosting this Scrumtisch.

• Date: 27th June
• Time: 18:30
• Place: Klosterstraße 71, 10179 Berlin

You can register at the Xing Group

If you have questions please write us!

Cheers and see you soon

Marion

I have asked this question to thousands of developers in my classes and I always hear very similar answers:

“I love creating something new that has never been done before.”
“I love giving people tools to help them do their work more efficiently.”
“I love solving problems.”
“I love learning about new domains.”
“I love learning new skills for building better software.”
“I love challenges.”

These are just a few of the answers I hear developers tell me when I ask them what they love about software development.

We software developers are an unusual group of people. Most other professionals do not love working long hours and constantly keeping up to date with the newest methodologies and skills. But we developers thrive on change and want to constantly learn and grow.

I read somewhere that the number one corralation for living a long, healthy life was not diet or exercise–much to my surprise–the number one correlation for a long life is job satisfaction!

I know a lot of people in other fields who get very little job satisfaction. I know executives who are highly successful but inwardly they feel like they have sold out. I know doctors and laywers who are burned out. I know office workers who are bored and feel like they are in dead end jobs.

And I know many, many software developers who are so into their work that others call them geeks. Personally, I would rather be a happy geek than a burned out professional. I love working on new projects, learning about new things, and getting paid to do it. I love the creative aspects to designing and building software. I love the deeper understanding I get in life when I deepen my understanding of software design.

The people I meet who are outside of the software development industry seem to have no idea what we really do. They think writing software is like doing data entry. One friend who is an artist said it would be too sterile and mechanical for her. I tried to tell her that creating software is a highly creative activity but she just glazed over.

If you build software then I don’t have to tell you how creative it can be. Software development is one of the few fields I can think of that engages the whole brain. Sure, there’s a lot of discipline involved in writing code and it requires a lot of concentration but there is also a lot of visualization and imagination needed to create new things and find new solutions to problems. I love that!

What do you love about writing software? Post a comment and let me know.

I wish everybody nice and sunny Easter :-)

The next Scrumisch will be about Kanban. We will play the Kanban Pizza Game. So if you are interested in Kanban and you like to see how it works...

• Date: 03. Mai 2012
• Time: 18:30 
• Place: Cafe Restaurant Hundertwasser, Simon Dach / Ecke Krossener Strasse

I am looking forward to see you there, and please send as usual an email to scrumtisch@agile42.com when you like to attend :-)

Marion

In honor of the New iPad, I thought I’d blog this time about something other than software development and share with you my favorite app.

I believe Apple will continue to own the tablet market not because of their stunning hardware or great ad campaigns. They know what Microsoft knew and IBM didn’t twenty years ago when it was Windows verses OS/2—that third-party products make a platform. There are tons of awesome Apps at the Apple App Store and it will take a while for Android to catch up, although the one I will describe here is available for the Android.

I had my iPod Touch (4th Gen) for over a year. I got it right after I ditched my Dell for a MacBook Pro and I use it even more than my MacBook. With a Bluetooth keyboard and the right Apps I do word processing, email, and a ton of other things on it. It’s portable, reliable, and easy to work with.

While have many Apps that I use regularly, my favorite one is 2Do (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/2do-tasks-done-in-style/id303656546?mt=8).

I’ve always been amazed when I see people writing tasks down in sticky notes. For me, to do list management is a vital part of being productive and managing my life. I’ve used many systems over the years, from the very first PIMs to Tony Robbins OPA (Outcome, Purpose, Action). I’ve gained a lot of knowledge from each system but I am most excited about for its the simplicity and power of 2Do.

2Do allows me to manage several task lists (called Calendars). I’ve gone from having many of these to just three main ones: Admin, Contact, and Develop. Admin tasks are the day-to-day tasks that can be urgent but not important—pay a bill, arrange travel, print materials, etc. Contact tasks are ones that involve someone else. Develop tasks are the important ones, like building course materials, updating my website, or anything that involves creating something that has value. It also includes learning tasks.

Virtually everything I do falls into one of these three categories. Notice that I no longer separate tasks related to work and my personal life, for me that’s a good thing.

I spend less than an hour once a week and a few minutes at the start of each day brainstorming and organizing the tasks in these categories and moving the ones I want to work on next into my Today Calendar. Then I check them off as I complete them. At the end of the day when I feel like I got nothing done I look at my Done Calendar and see all the tasks I did that day, which usually makes me feel better.

The way I really manage tasks is about a hundred times more complex than what I just described but this gives a quick sense of what I do. The main thing is to get the urgent tasks out of the way so I can focus every day on the most important things—the ones that add value to my life.

I’d love to know what are your favorite Apps or how you manage your tasks. Oh, and by the way, purchasing a New iPad is definitely on my list!