Embedded Files
Snippets from previous blogs or articles
Over the years, this site has been a blog and even published the occasional article. This area is as much for my own reference, like my own way-back-when machine. On previous incarnations of this website I used to keep bookmarks to various books, blogs, videos I stumble across. I no longer maintain a blog, and if did there are far better platforms nowadays. Rest assured these are long before AI generated content was a thing, even if it might read like that...
Funny movie about The Power of Scrum
This video at least raised a smile from me, but I would not advise anyone use this as a good way to convince people to use scrum / go agile. The older chap who provides nuggets of information between interludes appears to be saying all the right things, but the chap playing the part of ‘Scrum Master’ is demonstrating all the classic behaviors of the type of arrogant agile practitioner i hate, and successfully stomped out of my department. I think the guys who put the video together know that, so they are playing the concept of it being ironic, however, as per my opening statement, I do hope people do not use this video as an exemplar or argument toward senior management to convince them.
This is a great example of a team who think they are agile because they are following the rules…isn’t that an anti-pattern? The ‘Scrum Master’ in the video is clearly in a state of mind that he knows better than both his team and clients. He is implementing all the right rules for the wrong reasons, and ultimately becoming more inflexible and acting very much like the traditional ‘Manager’ rather than a ‘Leader’.
Worth a watch
Visualization of SOLID Principles
I’ve pushed the usefulness of the SOLID principles across my team for a couple of years now. However much I agree with them, used them, studied them and even taught them (Dojo’s) I always struggled to recall what the Acronyms stood for:- especially that roll off the tongue principle “Liskov Substitution”. As you have no doubt realized, I’m a very much a visual person (right brained), so remembering the SOLID principals via these handy posters is soooo much easier for me.
http://agilecomplexificationinverter.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/solid-software-class-design-principles.html
Feedback….the breakfast of champions.
We all have to receive it and hopefully we should all give it as well. Many of us find it difficult to give and to receive, particularly when it’s not good. Unfortunately the human mind is programmed to notice things that are wrong (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negativity_bias) and this is a deeply rooted response. So sadly, people are going to notice the bad more readily. But it’s always important to pick out the good and let people know…who made your day today?
How can we give feedback in a way that makes a lsating contribution and which avoids personal attack. Equally, how can we avoid a shouting match, nervous breakdown or punch in the chops?
One model you might like to consider is the SBI feedback model developed by the Centre for Creative leadership http://www.ccl.org/Leadership/
This models focusses on 3 things…
Situation – In what situation did the behaviour occur
Behaviour – What was the specific behaviour you as the “provider” observe
Impact – What was the impact of that behaviour on you
It’s also based on a kind of unwritten contract…
As the provider of feedback...
I will do this to help you perform better
I will only comment on behaviour that I observed
I will only comment on its impact on me
I will not comment on not what I heard through the grapevine
I will not make assumptions or subjective decisions about why you did what you did
I will answer your questions honestly
As the recipient..
I will thank-you for the feedback and accept it.
I will remain calm and ot challenge the feedback, reject it out-of-hand
I may ask you some questions to gain clarity where I am unsure
I will reflect on it privately at a later point and choose whether to incorporate it going forward
…in some ways the contract is heavier on the provider than the receiver. You as receiver are at liberty to ignore the feedback if you want, though rarely without some long-term consequence.
“At yesterday’s stand-up you spoke over me and that made me feel un-valued”
“In the last project meeting and some others we attended, you looked at your phone throughout the meeting. This makes me think you are disinterested and bored and that you don’t think the meeting is important”
“When we were in the meeting with the client, you gave a concise explanation of the solution design. This gave me a great deal of confidence in your knowledge of the problem”.
“You responded to my recent code review today. The comments were more specific this time and I found that very helpful. I think giving more specific comments is something you should continue to do”
If you think this technique could be useful, you can learn some more about this at the links below…
http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/situation-behavior-impact-feedback.htm
http://www.ccl.org/leadership/pdf/publications/readers/reader405ccl.pdf
Nostradamus
What’s the next [Technological] Big Thing? (written 2013)
I believe we are on the cusp of a new era of how we ‘Develop’ and ‘Exploit’ new technology. Whilst technology has never been more accessible, and people might argue the last couple of years have all been about mobile computing, I would suggest that today is the decade of Data. I know the ‘Information age’ has already been coined, so this is no revelation, but what does it mean. Well it is my opinion that technology interest is taking a rapid turn towards Big Data, Cloud, Data Visualization and then eventually AI [Artificial Intelligence].
Again anyone who reads the technical press will spot that these are the buzz words of the moment, however it is much more than that. In order to better exploit technology we cannot be bogged down with Infrastructure concerns, storage and hardware related issues. We cannot afford to just buy super computer, run without any form of DR [Disaster Recovery], nor spend all our development efforts solving integration issues. So it should come as little surprise that Cloud Computing and Big Data are becoming popular, because these are exactly the problems they seek to solve.
Whilst these technologies have been accused of being a "new shiny technology looking for a problem to solve", to me, the opportunity manifests itself through ‘Insights’. The best way to provide ‘Insights’ is through Data Visualizations. So, in summary:- lots of data, held in the cloud, using AI to perform data visualizations, or in reverse, using data to inform the AI. This to me has become the holy trinity of what I think development will look like from now on.
There will always be projects trying to produce the next best CMS, or all encompassing ERP system, or competitor to Facebook, but these markets are so contested/saturated that future development in these areas will focus more towards Integration, worflows and Work-around’s than ‘Creative Development’
“Every day, we create 2.5 quintillion bytes of data — so much that 90% of the data in the world today has been created in the last two years alone. ” -IBM
Tried and tested techniques
As you have no doubt realized by now, this website is primary dedicated to my career highlights and professional insights. so let me take a little time to describe more about me, my experiences and professional opinions. I have worked over 15 years commercially (now 25 since this was written in 2013) with Technology and more than 10 (now 20 since this was written in 2013) years with agile techniques. I have been employed as a Head of Department/Quality/Delivery/Architecture/Software in different companies across the financial, utilities and regulated markets.
So what else would you like to talk about?
Process & Practice
One of my main passions has been to use agile methodologies and agile engineering practices to create high productive delivery teams. I was a very early adopter of DSDM becoming certified in 2001, progressing into other methodologies Scrum (master/coach), Kanban, PrinceLite but my recent focus has switched to a more Lean approach. I am keen to ensure Methodologies/Frameworks are supported by equally important engineering practices, such as XP, TDD, BDD, Continuous Integration/Delivery and re-factoring. I am currently responsible for several development teams (100+ FTE’s) across the UK and Europe, always challenging the Status-Quo and promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
Technology
I’ve worked with lots of different technologies stacks as my years as a developer/architect/technical project manager/jack of all trades, and concluded that a good [software] engineer will be effective no-matter what technology he uses to get the job done, and a bad [software] engineer will create more work for the rest of us. I would happily list the many many languages and tools I have used here, but I see little value in it. I a much more interested in a good discussion about SOLID, DRY, YAGNI, Rule of 3 and GRASP….. than any discussions of C# is better than VB.NET / Java vs Scala / BizTalk vs NService Bus / ORM vs T-SQL / WCF vs REST … yawn!
Leadership
I’ve worked in lots of different teams, cross function and distributed. As a member of various teams I was always enjoyed the dynamics of team work and the challenges people cause. Upon becoming a leader I spent a lot of my time searching out and trying new ways of thinking, learning and communicating with people, to make the process of achieving something more effective and fun. Whilst I enjoy the many aspects of being responsible for process & practice, I prefer to concentrate my efforts on setting the right culture and behaviors in Teams. I have had the fantastic opportunity to build sizeable teams from scratch, and by sticking to the “People –> Processes –> Tooling” approach has proven to be a willing formula. However I still find on a daily basis that the more I learn the less I know I don’t know!
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.” -Abraham Lincoln
Hierarchy of Digital Distractions
While surfing through the World Wide Web, my attention was drawn to this innovative diagram by David McCandless.
Most should already be aware of the "Maslow hierarchy of needs" or even the no debunked "food pyramid" made famous in the 70-80s.
I started looking at the diagram more closely and it hit me! What I was looking was my entire life (digital life) in one snapshot. The designer has compared the actual work against the level of distractions available. The clarity with which David has managed to capture the various levels of our digital life was amazing. The funniest part was that, while I was looking at the image, I was actually doing a few things mentioned there simultaneously. It was as if the graphic artist was reading my thoughts!! Bravo Mr. David!
http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/visualizations/the-hierarchy-of-digital-distractions/
Overview on Systems Thinking by Daniel Aronson
I was introduced to Daniel Aronson by my friend who had read all his articles on www.thinking.net. At the time of reading the article, I had trouble grasping the concept of big thinking or systems thinking. I was trained at home and in my work life that the traditional way of problem solving was the best way. Unfortunately, I soon realized that this was the wrong approach. While reading this article and the insects, pesticide and crops analogy, I was able to understand why the combined approach to problem solving was much better than the singular approach. Thanks Daniel for helping me see the big picture and helping me change my approach
http://www.thinking.net/Systems_Thinking/OverviewSTarticle.pdf
Great World Time Utility
I have just found this nifty little tool and I was so impressed I thought i needed to post about it!!!.
Like everyone, I use a thousand and one utilities on a daily basis, whether they are part of your toolkit on your desktop, ‘app for that’ on your phone/tablet/watch, or a dedicated pieces of kit which makes your life easier. Some are really clever, others are used because we always have, but every once in a while someone tackles a real problem in a really simple yet effective way.
The problem is confirming time in different locations/time-zones. I know this is not quite solving world hunger, but it does get complex when you are trying to account for countries changing time out of sync. for example if the UK could be considered GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), but in summer they adopt BST (British Summer Time), which is GMT+1. Adelaide in Australia standard time is GMT+10.5... yes you read that right:- some of the states in Australia adjust by 30mins, because why not. To further complicate matters some states in Australia observe a daylight saving policy, some do not.... and this all happens on different date to the UK.
To double confuse matters these time adjustment naturally is going to occur in the opposite direction (Australia Summer months are Dec,Jan,Feb)…..ok, so not an insurmountable problem I grant you, and type into Google ‘Time in Australia’ and Google itself will present you with the information. The reason I like this “world time buddy” utility, is because it allows you to project forwards and backwards between any two time zones in a really intuitive fashion….why is that useful you ask? Try booking a meeting between time-zones, plus it has a phone app
The lost articles
Whilst I continue to look at old back-ups and this website I am unable to restore everything. I am sad that I did not take a screen-shot or showcase of each incarnation of weirsweb as it has changed over the years, as a visual record. A good number of versions were made using flash or JavaScript heavy, so tools like way-back-when machines don't actually work. Some interesting snippets have also been lost (in-part) for which I only have the headline, and summary text. Below is just a handful as I continue to look to restore the full versions...
Lithuania Agile Tour
Last year i was invited to speak at a European conference about Agile, at both Kaunas and Vilnius; I was a pleasure to meet (and share a stage) with alistair Cockburn and meet a lot of very smart people. Enjoy the…
Harvey Nash Technology Event
Here is a link of the technology event in Leeds, arranged by Harvey Nash, that I spoke at a couple of months ago. Technology Survey PDF
Todays consume behaviour demands a new data model by Paul Kennedy
Since I am from the consumer services sector, my job requires me to analyze and change my organization’s response as per consumer behavior. However, I often find that the current data model used falls short of my expectations. My search…
Lean Startup: Why it rocks far more than agile development – Joshua
Lean StartUp, its the new Garlic Bread… well the new Agile at least. I know we Techie/Project Manager types seem to latch onto a new silver bullet every couple of years. The last decade it was Agile, and now its…
THE G.R.O.W Model Framework for Coaching (A Coaching Toolkit) by Yandaro Al Amien
The grow model was recommended to me by my Director. He said that he had followed this and it has helped increase the efficiency of his coaching methods with his team. Intrigued, I looked at the video and the article…
The Lean Start-up: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses
This book changes the way one thinks about innovation and entrepreneurship, Eric Ries’s wrote this book to change the way businessmen and common man thinks. The book has amazing examples showcasing live stories about entrepreneurs and how to become one.…
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Technology Products to Mainstream Customers Self-Leadership
This book has become one of the best-selling books in the market because of its introduction on innovative marketing tips for high tech industries. It improves ones skills and abilities on growing internet. This book gave stability to many businessmen…
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
The seven habits of highly effective people is less a book, but better described as ‘The way I now approach life’. I was introduced to this book way back when I work for Spice Plc, but I thought it was…
Surfing the Edge of Chaos: The Laws of Nature and the New Laws of Business
The book Surfing the Edge of chaos is a powerful and practical book about the equivalent between business and nature. The two fields that feature non-stop battles between the forces of tradition and the forces of transformation offers new way…
Meetings, bloody meetings
I am yet to see a video better than this. Truly, the idea of organizing a well-coordinated meeting has been presented in such a beautiful manner. I have personally implied many of the rules and suggestions that are needed for…
Self-Leadership and the One Minute Manager
I managed to read the One Minute Manager book on a 2.5 hour flight from Leeds/Bradford to Vilnius Lithuania, and I am glad that I did. This book helps to establish successful leadership in today’s competitive world and they are soooooo simple. It…
Story prioritization at the “Blink” of an eye
One word to describe this article is Awesome! I like your approach towards the making things better at work. It is all about giving importance to things and details that matter the most. The way you choose to explain prioritization…
Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends for 2013
I recently read and watched the top ten technology trends posted on www.gartner.com. This article and the video accompanying it discusses the impact of different technologies. The video and the points raised in the article were extremely relevant. The article…
Value Stream Mapping by Michel Baudin
I had heard about Michel Baudin when I first made the association between Software Development and Manufacturing. Since I was entrusted with delivery of Enterprise grade software, there is a lot we can learn from manufacturing many year head start…
Overview on Systems Thinking by Daniel Aronson
I was introduced to Daniel Aronson by my friend who had read all his articles on www.thinking.net. At the time of reading the article, I had trouble grasping the concept of big thinking or systems thinking. I was trained at…
Technology Radar by ThoughtWorks
I am a regular follower of the Thoughtworks releases. Hence, when the released their technology radar for May 2013, I rushed to my PC to check out their article. Like always, Thoughtworks has not disappointed!! The clarity of thought when…
Free team building games
I was searching the World Wide Web for team building exercises, when I chanced upon the above link. Since I needed these for a corporate event, I wanted a site that offered me a variety of games and provided a…
Sqwiggle Makes Working Remotely Less Lonely, More Awesome by GREG KUMPARAK
Wow! This is just too good. The whole concept is highly recommendable and looks brilliant at work. This is a very smart application. You have fixed all the errors and shortcomings that were part of other applications and have produced…
Why Yammer believes the traditional engineering organizational structure is dead by Kris Gale
When I first heard of the new approach by Yammer, I could not believe it. My friend then directed me to the above link. The article really opened my eyes to the Yammer philosophy. It showed me that even a…
Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups by Carmen Nobel
A highly informative article! This is something that lives up to the expectations of a knowledge seeker. There are certain things highlighted by the author that makes understanding a lot easier. By distinctly explaining what needs to be done on…
The LMAX Architecture by Martin Fowler
This is just what I was looking for! I have come across many articles on LMAX Architecture, but none of those has been as informative and well-explained as this one. Anything to do with multi-threading and parallel computing is always…
Learn Object-Oriented (OO) Analysis with Generative Analysis (GA) by Jim Arlow
Very well written article! The article itself is a good example of structured writing. I had trouble in understanding certain features of writing that are now cleared. I sincerely thank the author for coming up with such an article. It…
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