AgileAttitudes Article
 
 
 

Vol 02 Issue 05- Managing in Real Time

  
 
Back to the list of articles Agile Attitudes Volume 2, Issue 05 Mar. 8, 2005 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@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@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, 2005 Agile Rules info@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. </plaintext> </td id="bodytable_r1_c3_body"> </tr id="bodytable_r1"> </table id="bodytable">