Agile Attitudes- Managing in Real-time

[agileattitudes at agilerules.com]

Agile Attitudes
Volume 2, Issue 05                                     Mar. 8, 2004
         A free bi-weekly email newsletter
                Brought to you by
             Agile Rules consulting
               www.agilerules.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Welcome to Agile Attitudes, a newsletter of ideas, insights and
technical tips that help people find better ways to develop
software. Feel free to share this with anyone - just be sure you
send or print the whole thing, including the copyright notice.

Directions for managing your subscription are below.

                 O><O><O><O><O><O

Peter R. Hennessey of Brook Software's Product Operations, Quality
and Process Engineering groups will speak at the next Boston SPIN
meeting. (Tuesday, March 15 at 6:00 pm) The topic, in short, is
how CMMI and agile can coexist together. For more information, go
to http://www.boston-spin.org/ and keep your eye out for an inter-
esting roundtable.

                 O><O><O><O><O><O

              Managing in Real-time
                 by Ron Morsicato

I recently read that the most successful executives recognize that
they can get a jump on their competition by using real-time data
to make decisions while the competition uses historical data.
Real-time data is pertinent to the situation at hand where histor-
ical data is composed of contributions from several similar pro-
jects that have been arbitrarily categorized without regard for the
current situation.

It's good to hear such opinions. It's one that is very consistent
with the agile mindset. Historical information is a good starting
point - really the only starting point, but it's too coarse to
indicate what to do in the short term. For this, real-time data can
be used to keep a project from getting away from a manager's control,
from becoming a monster with a will of its own.

But what is the real-time data, and what does one do with it? These
questions are answered by the agile methodology known as Scrum. In
Scrum, each developer takes one or more tasks to do during the
period of an iteration - typically one month. At the end of each day,
an estimate for the amount of time needed to complete the task is
given. This estimate can increase, decrease, or remain the same. It
can change in any direction because 24 hours later the estimator will
have learned more about what has to be done to complete the task. The
project manager, called a ScrumMaster in Scrum parlance, then
completes a burndown chart, the daily run of the estimates. (See 
http://www.controlchaos.com/about/burndown.php.) The amount of devi-
ation from a linear descent to the completion date instantly tells the
ScrumMaster that there is something to investigate, and the problem
can be addressed as soon as possible.

The ScrumMaster also keeps a burndown chart for the project. These
charts work in unison to avoid the age old problem of learning too
late that the project was short of resources to both cover errors in
initial estimation, and the emergence of the unknown. (What *is* known
is that every project will have these problems!)

Some Scrum organizations internally publish this data. This gives
real-time visibility into the project's track to all levels of the
organization, allowing every decision maker to function without the
need for those endless meetings. Some say using this information
radiator takes courage, but to truly agile organizations it's just
common sense.


                 O><O><O><O><O><O
More articles on Agile software topics at http://www.agilerules.com
Within our company we have a sub-specialty in embedded systems.
Our site has articles on embedded XP and we support a discussion
list focused on the use of agile methods for building embedded
software. The list signup info is at
http://www.agilerules.com/mailinglists.phtml

                 O><O><O><O><O><O
To help you get started with in-depth research into Agile Attitudes
topics, we have added a Library section to our web site at
http://www.agilerules.com/library.phtml
Order using our links and receive discounts up to 30%!

                 O><O><O><O><O><O
If you enjoyed this issue or found it useful, forward it to a
friend! Help spread the word about better ways to build software.
Invite your friends and colleagues to join our growing reader
community at http://www.agilerules.com/mailinglists.phtml

                 O><O><O><O><O><O
Looking for a speaker for your next corporate or society meeting?
We present dynamic, informative programs on topics of interest
to managers and technical staff in their transition to more
flexible, robust ways to create software.

                 O><O><O><O><O><O
Want to reprint this issue in your company or society newsletter?
For permission to reprint any of the articles, contact us at
info at agilerules.com.

                 O><O><O><O><O><O

If you would like to receive an email as soon as we know of
an event in the Boston area of interest to the agile software
community, you can sign up for the announcements list at
http://www.agilerules.com/mailman/listinfo/agileannounce

                 O><O><O><O><O><O

Your feedback is welcome! Send feedback to info at agilerules.com

To manage your subscription:
http://www.agilerules.com/mailman/listinfo/agileattitudes

                 O><O><O><O><O><O
    Brought to you by Agile Rules consulting
      162 Marrett Road, Lexington MA 02421

         Copyright (c) 2004 Agile Rules
               info at agilerules.com

                 O><O><O><O><O><O
Privacy notice: We will not release a subscriber's address to any
third party for any reason. This is a strictly opt-in newsletter.
No one is ever subscribed without their explicit request.