Scrum Rules Distilled

As stated in The Scrum Guide, the Scrum framework consists of Scrum Teams and their associated roles, events, artifacts, and rules. However, the Scrum rules are […]

Two Keys To More Effective Story Point Estimation

Some teams find story point estimation frustrating or feel it is an arbitrary exercise. In years of working with Scrum teams, I’ve found two […]

Innovate or Execute

“We want our team to be more innovative.” Where have you heard that one before? Why do employers want their staff to become innovative? Have our brains been stuck in […]

Kanban Misconceptions

In my work with organizations around the world, I see a great diversity of Agile adoptions. You might call it the good, the bad, and occasionally the downright ugly. In […]

Kanban Misconception: Kanban is Too Complex

Unlike Scrum, which provides a basic framework to start, teams adopting Kanban need to make some decisions. These include:

• What work do we deliver […]
  

Kanban Misconception: You Either Use Scrum or You Use Kanban

Scrum is the most widely used Agile approach in the industry and for good reason. The Scrum Guide provides a core set […]

Kanban Misconception: There is No Estimation in Kanban

The great thing about Kanban is it’s very flexible. Kanban doesn’t require estimation, but stage exit or entry criteria can be set to include […]

Kanban Misconception: Kanban is Just Scrum Without Iterations

There is some truth here, in that Kanban doesn’t have iterations. Kanban is a flow-based system. Work starts when there is availability to begin […]

Kanban Misconception: Kanban is Only a Board

Many people think Kanban means using a simple board with To Do, Doing, and Done columns. For a single person managing his or her work […]

Creating a Sprint Plan – The Four Types of Work

When we work with Scrum teams in creating a sprint plan, we usually see four types of work in it. Three of the types of […]

Start With Why

It’s very typical for Construx to get an inquiry from a prospective customer on whether we can help them with their Agile adoptions, whether in the planning stage or in-progress. […]

Origins of 10X – How Valid is the Underlying Research?

Steve McConnell
Construx CEO / Author Code Complete

I had the chance to contribute a chapter to Making Software (Oram and Wilson, eds., O’Reilly). The purpose of this edited collection of essays […]

Software Project Archaeology

A colleague asked me the following question:

User Stories Ain’t Requirements

Ain’t isn’t really a word but people use it, so does that make it de facto a word? The gurus tell us user stories are not requirements but people keep using them that way so do we need to treat them as requirements?

Actually, why don’t we have requirements on agile projects? I […]

The Best of All Possible Worlds

I just finished reading the Scrum Alliance’s ‘State of Scrum’ report , and was reminded of the joke about how the pessimist and the optimist both believe we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist in me is dismayed at how, more than a decade after […]

Estimation Types

When I get asked for an estimate, my first response is not a cost, a date, or a functionality number. It is not even #NoEstimates. My first response is a question: “What type of ‘estimate’ do you want?”

What I need to know is what will the questioner do with my estimate. I usually see […]

Scrum Chickens and Pigs

An interesting discussion came up on the Disciplined Agile Delivery discussion group on LinkedIn. Scott Ambler asked the question, “Is the chicken and pig analogy disrespectful?” The chicken and pig analogy is common in scrum. In case you haven’t heard it, it’s based on an old joke:

A chicken and pig are […]

Chickens and Pigs Revisited

There’s been a lot of discussion on the subject of ‘chickens and pigs’ and commitment in Scrum, whether the Scrum community has a generally-agreed definition of commitment, and whether commitment is useful.

First, let’s talk about the definition of commitment, certainly a loaded word and one that is used improperly in most organizations. […]

Understanding Software Projects Lecture Series

Check out my new lecture series, “Understanding Software Projects.” In this lecture series, I explain The Four Factors Lifecycle Model and how understanding that model means understanding virtually every significant aspect of software project dynamics. Current lectures are always free. Check it out at Construx OnDemand.

Here’s a longer […]

Performance Appraisals in an Agile Organization

Performance appraisals are a part of life in nearly every organization, and yet no one likes them¹. Bad performance appraisal processes can seriously harm your organization’s ability to recruit and maintain talent. Individuals being reviewed worry about whether their contributions will be recognized, and the impact a questionable […]

#NoEstimates

I’ve posted a YouTube video that gives my perspective on #NoEstimates.

This is in the new Construx Brain Casts video series.

#NoEstimates – Response to Ron Jeffries

Ron Jeffries posted a thoughtful response to my #NoEstimates video. While I like some elements of his response, it still ultimately glosses over problems with #NoEstimates.

I’ll walk through Ron’s critique and show where I think it makes good points vs. where it misses the point.

17 Theses on Software Estimation

(With apologies to Martin Luther for the title)

Arriving late to the #NoEstimates discussion, I’m amazed at some of the assumptions that have gone unchallenged, and I’m also amazed at the absence of some fundamental points that no one seems to have made so far. The point of this article is to […]

17 Theses on Software Estimation (Expanded)

This post is part of an ongoing discussion with Ron Jeffries, which originated from some comments I made about #NoEstimates. You can read my original “17 Theses on Software Estimation” post here. That post has been completely subsumed by this post if you want to just read this […]

Agile Transformation – Keys to Success

I wanted to let you know that I’ve posted a two-part series on Construx’s experience with Agile Transformations, pitfalls, keys to success, and so on.

The videos focus on two models that describe the transformation issues we have seen on the ground. You might have seen one or both of the […]

Individual Productivity Variation in Software Development

Some people have asked for more background on where the “10x” name of this blog came from. The gist of the name is that researchers have found 10-fold differences in productivity and quality between different programmers with the same levels of experience and also between different teams […]