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| Agile India: 4 New Exciting Conferences Coming Up? (Naresh Jain)
Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:01:38 +0000 Agile Software Community of India is happy to announce 4 new exciting conferences. July 19th and 20th 2013 – Agile Coach Camp Bangalore 2013 September 21st and 22nd 2013 – Agile Goa 2013 November 29th and 30th 2013 – Agile Kerala 2013 February 26th – March 1st 2014 – Agile India 2014 ————————- * Agile [...] |
| Abacus Ignite ? Fun iPad game for kids to learn Addition and Subtraction using Abacus (Naresh Jain)
Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:31:47 +0000 Master your addition and subtraction skills using the abacus, the most ancient and the fastest calculation tool. Take our unique challenge to do as many additions and subtractions on the Abacus and dodge the asteroids that come in your way. Enter the final answer before the door shuts down. Excited? Lets see, how many levels [...] |
| Abacus Rush ? Fun iPad game to learn Counting using Abacus (Naresh Jain)
Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:27:22 +0000 Master your counting skills using an Abacus, the earliest and fastest calculator in the world using our innovative iPad Game. Take our unique challenge to represent as many numbers on the Abacus and fill your progress meter in less than 60 seconds. While the time is ticking every second, you have to move the correct [...] |
| Create Great Demo Videos of your iPhone Or iPad Apps (Naresh Jain)
Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:17:33 +0000 Recently I wanted to create a video demo of my iPad apps. So I thought, I would just walk-through the apps and capture the screen on my iPad. It turns out that its not as simple as I thought it would be. While the desktops have a ton of screen-casting software, iPad simply lacks any [...] |
| Agile India 2014 ? Call for Reviewers (Naresh Jain)
Mon, 17 Jun 2013 07:44:48 +0000 Loading… |
| Agile India 2014 ? Call for Chairs & Core Team Members (Naresh Jain)
Mon, 03 Jun 2013 12:16:34 +0000 Loading… |
| How waste impacts software delivery (Venkatesh Krishnamurthy)
Sat, 25 May 2013 19:37:00 +0000 Techwell, the popular Agile Magazine published my curated article.It is accessible from here as well.
Consider the fact that in lean terminology anything that is not adding value is considered waste, also known as Muda in Japanese. Now ask yourself the following questions: Is there a possibility that the $75 million cost to the airlines will result in higher airfare for passengers? Is it fair for passengers to pay more for a ticket when they are not getting any value? This hefty cost is not adding any value to the airlines or to the passengers. As a software delivery coach, I see a lot of examples of waste in every step of software development. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of development waste, Craig Larman and Bas Vodde have written an article, titled ?Lean Primer,? which is a good place to start. Additionally, the following YouTube video provides an overview of different kinds of wastes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAYMcSUDcX0 Many lean practitioners use a concept known as ?value stream mapping? as the first step in identifying wastes. Over at the website System Agility, the authors detail some creative games for teams to play in order to both identify and deal with the software garbage. However, there are some unavoidable wastes that we can never remove. To counter this, many companies are using the concept of ?Lean Six Sigma? to deliver a high-quality product. This video provides a nice introduction to Lean Six Sigma. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xuo5Dv7iWA Due to Lean Six Sigma?s potential to increase cost savings, there is currently a huge demand for lean consultants worldwide. Unfortunately, getting lean consultants and setting a goal for them may not be sufficient. Several companies have burnt their fingers while trying the above approach. The following article shows several examples that highlight the attention needed during a company?s lean implementation; some professionals believe that Six Sigma killed innovation at the 3M Company. To conclude, let me ask you this: What wastes have you seen in your company and what did you do to avoid wastes? |
| Why software services organization can never be Agile ? (Venkatesh Krishnamurthy)
Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:30:00 +0000 The key members from the technology group are waiting to hear about the new project that the director is going to announce. The meeting is about to begin, and the room is filled with silence. They know that the project has something to do with Java, Oracle, and the cloud. The director starts explaining the importance of this strategic project and delivering it on time to the customer. Read the complete article on Cutter |
| Helpful guide to Daily stand up (Venkatesh Krishnamurthy)
Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:17:00 +0000 This article was published on Techwell, the place to go for what is happening now in software development.
In the simplest sense, a daily standup meeting is accomplished by having team members stand around in a circle with each person answering a few questions. But wait, life is not as simple as it sounds, and there are certain rules to be followed during these meetings. The rules cover the team?s time commitments, location of the meeting, and the meeting?s overall rigor, all of which make up the secret sauce for success. Holding a standup meeting in a collocated environment is simple compared to holding a meeting with distributed teams, in which you need to be cognizant of time zone differences and language barriers. The use of tools?teleconferencing technology, webcams, and instant message software?can help you deal with remote teams. For more help on that front, you can read the Practical Guide to Distributed Scrum, which provides an overview of different tools and their associated pros and cons. Most people recommend holding the meetings in the morning, keeping in mind what time the last team member arrives for the event. For some, noon seems to work as well. As agile coach Rachel Davies explains, scrum meetings are not only about sharing yesterday?s work, but they are designed to help team members plan for the day and look to the future. If you?re working in a distributed environment, you might find help in this guide by Rally, which discusses fine tuning your meetings. Keep in mind that there are several ways that daily scrum meetings can result in trouble for your project. For example, team members might stop attending the meetings or they could even complain that the meetings do not add any value or are a waste of time. The worst is when people make this a status update meeting. There are several ways to fix these troublesome issues, including reinforcing the values and principles behind the meetings. Also, remember that command-and-control management issues might lead to many people-related problems, and you?ll need to address those issues if they apply to you. |
| Agile Coach Camp Bangalore 2013 (Naresh Jain)
Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:56:07 +0000 What: Unconference for Agile Coaches, Scrum Masters, Agile Trainers, Leaders, Change Agents and Mentors. When: 7th-8th June 2013 Where: Hotel Ramada, Bangalore Theme: True Essence of Coaching Role of a Coach? Many of us have embraced an agile coach’s role, but do we really understand what coaching is all about? How coaching is different from mentoring? To [...] |
| Building quality in ? Do we need testers ? (Venkatesh Krishnamurthy)
Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:40:00 +0000 Following article got published on Zephyr recently.
Now with the popularity of the Agile, Lean and Continuous Deployment, the developers are required to be more vigilant while coding. They are recommended to follow practices like TDD, ATDD to improve the code quality, reduce defects among other benefits. Since these practices are supposed to reduce the burden on testers, a lot of people are questioning the need for dedicated testers in the software development. In this article, I will address questions around the need for testers, the value they bring in, and their role in the context of Lean and Agile. Why do we need to build the quality in?
Irrespective of whether the mistake is by the customer or the developer, there is an effort involved in testing and rewriting the code. As per the 1:10:100 rule, the failure to identify the defect upfront could cost a fortune to the company. Solving the quality issues: If developers and customers work closely, ensure to fill the gaps and write quality code, can we still delivery a quality product without testers ? In recent days, some of the lean startup companies have tried customer testing and crowdsourcing the testing without involving the testers. However, it is still not proven if this is the right model. A lot of people also agree that even the most experienced developers make mistake. The developers come with a specialized technical background and they won?t have the same eye as a tester. They are good at unit level testing, and they cannot effectively do the integration/system level testing. This is not something which could be improved by automating the tests. Role of tester in Agile, Lean environment: There is no doubt now that dedicated testers are needed in all projects. We still need testers to provide a neutral eye and their specialized skills to improve the quality. In fact, testers have now more empowering role to play than before. To conclude:
Image courtesy of ponsulak / FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
| Does Agile help or kill innovation ? (Venkatesh Krishnamurthy)
Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:06:00 +0000 In today's rapidly changing business environment, innovation is key for survival. Companies may become obsolete in no time in the absence of new and innovative products. A classic example of this phenomenon is the demise of Kodak. At the same time, companies like Apple and Google have not only contributed toward building innovative products but at the same time made their investors many times richer. Check this complete article out on Cutter |
| Self Organizing teams and New York soda ban (Venkatesh Krishnamurthy)
Sat, 06 Apr 2013 02:00:00 +0000 Following article got published on Techwell Have you come across situations where project teams have resisted changes suggested by their leader? To add another twist, what if the teams were self-organizing, as in the agile world? Self-organizing teams are supposed to have clear goals and manage their own priorities to achieve them. This does not mean that they are leaderless. Let me clarify at the outset that self-organizing teams have leaders and someone to monitor and support them. As author and developer Jim Highsmith says, they need light-touch leadership. Leadership needs to step in if the self-organizing team are treading in the wrong direction, thus moving away from the goal. I heard a story from the trenches about a particular self-organizing team going through this journey. This new agile team felt it was a waste of time to do Scrum rituals and collectively decided to skip the daily stand ups and retrospectives. As expected, the ScrumMaster stepped in, did the root-cause analysis, and found no reason to skip the rituals. The ScrumMaster then tried coaching the team about the importance of rituals and why team members should not ignore them. However, the team members decided to escalate further to senior management to get support for their cause. Let?s say you are part of senior management. Would you be supporting the ScrumMaster or the team? I am sure most people would agree to support the ScrumMaster since the daily stands ups and retrospectives help agile projects, teams, and their own bottom-line in the long run. However, what if management supported the team's skipping the rituals? Supporting the ScrumMaster would have caused more agitation by the team, which would result in a loss of team morale. Tying this story about self organization back to the New York soda ban, I see that Mayor Michael Bloomberg (ScrumMaster) had all the good intentions to save lives by bringing this change; however, he didn?t get support from the citizens (self-organized teams). |
| Pricing and Positioning Agile related Tools and Services in Asia/India (Naresh Jain)
Thu, 04 Apr 2013 12:24:03 +0000 Over the last few months, multiple friends and connection from US have asked me to share my experience with pricing Agile related tools and services in Asia (specifically India.) Following is my perspective: Disclaimer: Asia is the most diverse and dynamic continent out there. Any reasonable generalization is bound to have loopholes. Take it with [...] |
| Setting up Virtual Hosts on Mac OS X (Naresh Jain)
Fri, 22 Mar 2013 19:22:34 +0000 If you are building a web-app, which needs to use OAuth for user authentication across Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media, testing the app locally, on your development machine, can be a real challenge. On your local machine, the app URL might look like http://localhost/my_app/login.xxx while in the production environment the URL would be [...] |
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