Consulting, training, and coaching for effective prdouct development at scale
A frequent inhibitor to effective development process is misunderstanding of the intended structure and outcome of the recurring events in a batch development cycle/sprint/iteration. I am frequently asked to provide a clear, comprehensive example of how an effective development cycle should be structured. In service of that need, I have published my preferred approach to structuring the events of…
This week, I continue to build out the Development Process section of the Compendium with the addition of Development Process Metrics . When readers find that I only recommend two metrics to be common across all teams, they will either be excited or disappointed, both for reasons covered in the material. Healthy uses of team-level process metrics are called out in the Goals section of the entry:…
One more entry to close out February! This week's addition to The Hawkins Compendium is the Development Log artifact. Second only to the Batch Cycle Planning and Tracking Guide , this is another highly-requested item. From the Overview : Overview I hope you find it useful, and more installments will be coming soon!
For well over a decade, clients and colleagues have asked that I publish some of my guidance and training on all things Product Development so they could make use of it. I am happy to announce the launch of The Hawkins Compendium , a curation of material I have developed over the years while leading development teams and organizations to greater levels of productivity and collaboration. Read more……
Contents A New Idea Desire to Share Affirming Response The Naming The Movement Pressure for Simplification Fear of Stagnation Commoditizing the Excellence Crescendo of Disillusionment Conclusion A New Idea When we learn new things from grappling with problems, it is natural for us to want to share those learnings with others, in hopes that they will face similar challenges with less of a struggle.…
Contents Roles Common to All Teams Cross-Functional Team Members Team Steward Product Steward Conclusion Roles Common to All Teams Team composition and roles can vary widely across development teams. The type of product being developed, team charter, organizational culture, and industry norms all impact whom we place into teams. When taking an agile approach to product development, what…
What does it mean for a team to develop software in an iterative fashion? In the wash of various processes within the agile ecosystem, iteration has come to be an overloaded term used with little thought to its purpose or the context for those systems. The focus for this article is not iteration upon the products in the team’s portfolio, but rather the team iteratively delivering the work in their…
Contents A Common Contract for Teams Team.getBacklog() Team.getThroughput() Team.getRoadmap() Team.getStakeholderMap() Conclusion A Common Contract for Teams In evolving toward greater agility, we must strike a balance between uniformity across teams and allowing flexibility for process tailored to unique team contexts. As your organization grows from 2 to 10 to 50 teams, you have to be able to…
Contents Why Are We Doing This? Cultivate Understanding of Capacity Build Cohesion Preserve Agency Nurture Critical Thought about Effectiveness Conclusion Why Are We Doing This? Have you ever wondered why your team is using its current development process? If you’re the person facilitating the process, have you ever been asked “Why are we doing things this way?” and found yourself unable to…
Earlier this year, my friend Andrew Glover interviewed me for season 4 of his IBM developerWorks Java Technical Podcast series (iTunes) on the topic of Agile software development. The episode is titled "Barry Hawkins on agile software development" and runs 41:03 in length. This was an enjoyable interview; I've known Andy for years, and his style as an interviewer is quite comfortable and flows…