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Dive into strategies to enhance software delivery by leveraging innovative practices, effective habits, and overcoming common objections. Learn actionable insights to boost productivity and foster a collaborative environment for successful project outcomes.
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Magic Pixie Dust:Increasing the pace of software delivery … through people Matthew Heusser matt@xndev.com Presented at the Indiana Quality Assurance Conference 7 October 2005
Agenda • The Nature of Innovation • Ineffective Habits • Effective Habits • Common Objections • What to do tomorrow Agenda
Managing Euler The Nature of Innovation
Managing Thomas Edison The Nature of Innovation
Innovation - Defined • ‘Work for hire’ • Innovation is concerned with redefining a task or the way a task is done • Gerald M. Weinberg, Becoming a technical leader The nature of innovation
Bad Pixie Dust • Examples: • Extended mandatory overtime • Pressure • Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt • Implicitly cutting quality standards • Short-term cost reductions Ineffective Behaviors / Bad Pixie Dust
The Status Meeting • Who’s status are we talking about? Ineffective Behaviors / Bad Pixie Dust
Getting it wrong • “Gathering Requirements” • Telephone Game • The Ambiguous Spec Ineffective Behaviors
Encouraging collaboration … • Craftsmanship • Prototypes • And Risk Effective Behaviors
Efficiency or Effectiveness? Effective Behaviors
The trouble with learning Effective Behaviors
Single-Tasking Effective Behaviors
Co-located Project Teams Effective Behaviors
Choice • Choice & Productivity • Methodology Mania • Life at the office • Alternatives • Agile methods Effective Behaviors
Deliver Early, deliver often Image from Software Engineering, a practitioner’s approach, 5th ed Effective Behaviors
But, Fred Taylor said … Common Objections
My boss needs to hear this … Common Objections
You do have power • Five magic words • Breaking priority lock: • Force tradeoffs early • Breaking ship-time lock: • Force tradeoffs later • Force tradeoffs into project choices • I can do it, if … Common Objections
What to do Monday morning • Pick one way to improve productivity • Rinse, Repeat • Identify practices that solve problems your organization no longer has • (Then stop doing them) • Reward experimentation • Keep it fun • For Quality, consider ‘Arete’
Q&A • What are your questions?
References • Weinberg, Gerald. Becoming a technical leader. • DeMarco, Tom and Lister, Timothy. Peopleware. • DeMarco, Tom. Slack. • Pirsig, Robert, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. • Go google some famous inventors.
Managing Issac Asimov The Nature of Innovation
Managing Da Vinci • Error • Copy • Combine The Nature of Innovation
Life in the widget factory The Nature of Innovation
Maslow - Applied Ineffective Behaviors
The Big Game • The role of the leader Ineffective Behaviors / Bad Pixie Dust
Mappers or packers? • The Context-Driven School • A Microsoft QA Manager • A Stryker Instruments QA Manager Effective Behaviors
The Agile Manifesto We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. Effective Behaviors