Governance – Friend or Foe?

by Simon Baker, 23 March 2012 | The Agile Blogosphere

We’re designing a session about governance in an agile world that will explore a contrarian view of what agile governance can be. It’s called: Governance – Friend or Foe? Basically… Is governance focused on the right things? Set up to manage risks, resources, and productivity, governance operates to assure programs get delivered to realize promised benefits. What if customers don’t...
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Lost without a goal

by Simon Baker, 19 February 2012
The Agile Blogosphere

I can’t operate effectively without some kind of goal. Let me clarify that. Without some kind of goal I am directionless. I’m easily distracted from any focus I might have started...
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Emotion creates the common language

by Simon Baker, 18 February 2012
The Agile Blogosphere

The challenge when dealing with people from different backgrounds, with different experiences, qualifications, roles and domain knowledge is speaking the same language. When we face...
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Organization complexity is a waste farm

by Simon Baker, 10 February 2012
The Agile Blogosphere

When people are pooled in specialized silos more process is required to get things done. Responsibility gets diffused and transaction and coordination costs go up because there are...
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Pursuing features increases total cost of ownership

by Simon Baker, 9 February 2012
The Agile Blogosphere

I suspect lots of decisions are made because they bring short-term benefits despite there being long-term risks. I’ve seen agile teams pushed for feature after feature with the business...
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Managing costs provides a false sense of security

by Simon Baker, 5 February 2012
The Agile Blogosphere

In the software world, budgets are mostly about headcount and capital expenditure. Headcount is managed by cost per unit, where a unit is a person considered to be more or less a uniform...
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State of Agile survey for 2011 tells a familiar story

One particular chart in the State of Agile survey for 2011 tells a familiar story. Have a look. First up, C - Unit Testing at 70%. That’s reassuring. And unit testing is and...
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Positive emotions and purpose

This post is really a sidebar to my musings about purpose and vision. It’s reference information rather than any real thoughts of my own, which I’ve pulled together because...
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Too busy chopping wood to sharpen the axe

by Simon Baker, 12 December 2011
The Agile Blogosphere

The prevailing management (and financial) mindset in companies today is focused on efficiency, productivity, and costs. The primary concern is to maximize all assets and capabilities...
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Systems are seductive

by Simon Baker, 23 November 2011
The Agile Blogosphere

We leap into solving problems with a system of our own design because we convince ourselves they do the job faster, better, and more easily than we can do it.From the moment we set...
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Beware the Coefficient of Fiction

by Simon Baker, 18 November 2011
The Agile Blogosphere

There’s a saying: “If it isn’t official, it hasn’t happened”.RAG reports spring to mind. I’ve seen too many RAG reports that have not reflected reality to respect them as...
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The (un)ethics of Big Vendor contracts with cost-driven companies

by Simon Baker, 18 November 2011
The Agile Blogosphere

Consider a company looking to procure external software services. This is a company that manages by objectives and spends time and effort micromanaging costs. In a typical procurement...
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Showcase rehearsal

Showcases are great PR opportunities with the customer and friends (other stakeholders). We want the showcase to be meaningful for the customer and we want the customer to be engaged....
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Lisa Crispin interviews Simon Baker, cofounder of Energized Work

In this interview, author, speaker, and agile tester Lisa Crispin speaks with Simon Baker, cofounder of Energized Work and recipient of the Gordon Pask award, about the approaches and...
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Create positive pressure around releases

If you’re working towards a key release, the pressure mounts for everyone involved as it approaches. For the technical team responsible for delivery the rising pressure in this situation...
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