Since the presentation was in Finnish so are the slides. I might write more on the subject later on.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
OO Day 2009 presentation: Scrum Is Not Enough
Here are the slides for a presentation I gave with Marko today at OO Day 2009 in Tampere, Finland. We had around 400 people in the audience - more than there were attendees in Scan-Agile 2009!
Since the presentation was in Finnish so are the slides. I might write more on the subject later on.
Since the presentation was in Finnish so are the slides. I might write more on the subject later on.
Paper on TDD and architecture
Couple of years ago me and Marko Taipale wrote an experience report on our experiment in using TDD (in the strict, XP definition) to build a game platform. The idea was to try and see if an architecture would emerge like XP claims (it did not).
Originally the paper was intended as an experience report for the XP2008 conference but was rejected due to insufficient research data. It is fair to say that the paper is our take on the TDD controversy that raged at that time, and we did write it at Jim Coplien's suggestion.
The paper is a couple of years old but since at least two people asked for a copy I decided to put the paper online. Perhaps you will find it interesting.
xp2008_experience_report_marko_taipale_ari_tanninen.pdf
Originally the paper was intended as an experience report for the XP2008 conference but was rejected due to insufficient research data. It is fair to say that the paper is our take on the TDD controversy that raged at that time, and we did write it at Jim Coplien's suggestion.
The paper is a couple of years old but since at least two people asked for a copy I decided to put the paper online. Perhaps you will find it interesting.
xp2008_experience_report_marko_taipale_ari_tanninen.pdf
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Testing In Agile presentation
I gave a thirty-minute talk about testing in agile projects in December's Agile Dinner in Helsinki. Here are the slides.
It was nice to have so many participants from TestausOSY visiting our dinner! Too bad not many stayed for the beers (read: actual conversation) afterwards.
It was nice to have so many participants from TestausOSY visiting our dinner! Too bad not many stayed for the beers (read: actual conversation) afterwards.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Dr. Deming's Management's Five Deadly Diseases
Here is an Encyclopaedia Britannica Film from 1984 featuring Dr. Deming himself: Management's Five Deadly Diseases. Awesome.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Open Space Session: Think!
Intro & thinking principles
This blog entry is about the open space session with similar title I held at Scan-Agile 2009. It took me a while to write since I have never actually organized my thoughts on this. My intention was not to host a session but after hearing fifteen sessions announced about tools and methods I felt compelled to since a very important ingredient was missing: thinking and the principles that guide thinking.
Photo courtesy my fellow conference organizer Ari Tikka.
I will start this blog like I started my open space session: let me share with you the three principles of the most productive Scrum team I have ever been in. These principles guided our everyday life from choosing technologies to improving our ways of working. Agile architecture absolutely requires them. But even though these principles have arisen from agile software development, they are valid for most aspects of life. I exercise them daily in my personal life.
The thinking principles are:
1) Do only what is needed
2) First the problem, then the solution
3) Challenge everything
This blog entry is about the open space session with similar title I held at Scan-Agile 2009. It took me a while to write since I have never actually organized my thoughts on this. My intention was not to host a session but after hearing fifteen sessions announced about tools and methods I felt compelled to since a very important ingredient was missing: thinking and the principles that guide thinking.
Photo courtesy my fellow conference organizer Ari Tikka.
I will start this blog like I started my open space session: let me share with you the three principles of the most productive Scrum team I have ever been in. These principles guided our everyday life from choosing technologies to improving our ways of working. Agile architecture absolutely requires them. But even though these principles have arisen from agile software development, they are valid for most aspects of life. I exercise them daily in my personal life.
The thinking principles are:
1) Do only what is needed
2) First the problem, then the solution
3) Challenge everything
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Leadership and self-organization
"The only truly self-organizing team I know of was Apollo 13 after the pop."
(Thanks for that one, Mom!)
Teams do not spontaneously materialize out of thin air, and just by accident happen to pick a goal that by coincidence is in line with the surrounding organization's objectives. Teams need to be formed, and they need to be given a purpose. Sometimes that is done by a memeber of the team and sometimes by an external party.
I call the process of forming a team and giving it purpose leadership.
Leadership is not only vital to self-organization it is usually a pre-requisite for it. Without leadership there is no team, and without a team there is no self-organization. Apollo 13 teams who are driven by a single, overwhelming imperative pushing them to self-organize are rare in the modern corporate world.
Besides team-forming and goal-setting leadership can serve other purposes in teamwork. These can be guiding the team's daily work, keeping the team on the right course, removing team dysfunctions and in general all activities that help the team. Whether this kind of leadership is needed or not, and wheter it should be internal or external to theam depends entirely on circumstance. What is important that leadership can serve a purpose and is probably needed in one form or another during the life-span of a team.
The idea that leadership is not necessary because teams self-organize is wishful thinking at best.
It will be interesting to hear what Mary Poppendieck has to say about this subject in her keynote tomorrow at Scandinavian Agile Conference 2009.
(Thanks for that one, Mom!)
Teams do not spontaneously materialize out of thin air, and just by accident happen to pick a goal that by coincidence is in line with the surrounding organization's objectives. Teams need to be formed, and they need to be given a purpose. Sometimes that is done by a memeber of the team and sometimes by an external party.
I call the process of forming a team and giving it purpose leadership.
Leadership is not only vital to self-organization it is usually a pre-requisite for it. Without leadership there is no team, and without a team there is no self-organization. Apollo 13 teams who are driven by a single, overwhelming imperative pushing them to self-organize are rare in the modern corporate world.
Besides team-forming and goal-setting leadership can serve other purposes in teamwork. These can be guiding the team's daily work, keeping the team on the right course, removing team dysfunctions and in general all activities that help the team. Whether this kind of leadership is needed or not, and wheter it should be internal or external to theam depends entirely on circumstance. What is important that leadership can serve a purpose and is probably needed in one form or another during the life-span of a team.
The idea that leadership is not necessary because teams self-organize is wishful thinking at best.
It will be interesting to hear what Mary Poppendieck has to say about this subject in her keynote tomorrow at Scandinavian Agile Conference 2009.
Friday, September 11, 2009
The essence of leadership
I have been thinking about leadership - especially the effects of it's absence - for along while know. After exchanging a few messages with Ola Ellnestam on Twitter about it last week, I have finally decided to write down my thoughts.
Leadership is a difficult concept to define. The word is overloaded, subject to interpretation and Wikipedia alone lists over ten theories to explain it:
Types of leadership and other theories: Agentic Leadership, Coaching, Communal Leadership, Max Weber's Charismatic authority, Antonio Gramsci's theory of Cultural hegemony, Ethical leadership, Islamic leadership, Ideal leadership, Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX), Leadership Character Model, Leadership development, Servant leadership, Toxic Leadership, Youth leadership, Collaborative leadership, Outstanding leadership theory
Mind boggling. Surely it cannot be such a difficult concept?
What makes things more interesting is the emotional and cultural load associated with leadership. For some the word conjures up images of charismatic leaders like Patton or Winston Churchill, for others the images are of micro-managers for hell, breathing down their necks constantly.
The Finnish culture has a special antipathy towards the concept, causing people to grumble when you even mention leadership in a corporate context. For that I blame Lieutenant Lammio, the pompous, by-the-book spit and polish caricature of a career officer from the Finnish national epoch The Unknown Soldier.
I am not really interested in getting entangled in all that, rather I want to dig in to the problem that leadership solves - the reason for its existence. My interest? I believe lack of leadership is the greatest problem in the industry, and the root cause of most failures companies have. (Especially so in agile methods with their emphasis on self-organization, but I'll get to that later.)
Note that I only talk about leadership and will consciously avoid entering the "management vs. leadership" territory. Nor do I want to speculate whose primary job it is to lead in a modern organization. I merely want to point out that leadership is absolutely necessary, much neglected, and much simpler than you think. So without further ado...
The purpose of leadership is to get a bunch of people to accomplish something together.
The essence of leadership consists of three parts:
1) Organizing doers
2) Deciding objective(s), communicating to doers
3) Helping doers succeed in achieving objective
Miss one of the previous, and all the theories on motivation, fancy pep-talks by management, team building events, company parties by HR and the rest of the fluffy stuff associated with "leadership" become completely irrelevant. No amount of motivation will work on a group that has lost it's purpose of existence!
My list works at any level, by the way. Whether leading an individual, a team, department or a division. If the goal is to get something done with a bunch of individuals, all three things need to happen. The bunch must be formed, an objective chosen and - usually - the bunch need to be supported on their pursuit of the objective. Miss one of the three and likely nothing will ever get done. Simple?
Why is it, then, that so many organizations spend energy on schemes to motivate their employees while one or more of the three parts is missing? I don't know, but my bet is because they have lost the reason for their existence, and are trying to keep themselves busy earning money without no greater purpose. It is very difficult to set goals locally for a group if there is no overall strategy nor greater goals to serve.
Here is another point I want to drive home:
If a team, group or any organizational unit has lost its goal or the reason for its existence, it is not being lead. Simple as that.
Did I mention that leadership is vital for happiness and contentment? I will get to that later.
Leadership is a difficult concept to define. The word is overloaded, subject to interpretation and Wikipedia alone lists over ten theories to explain it:
Types of leadership and other theories: Agentic Leadership, Coaching, Communal Leadership, Max Weber's Charismatic authority, Antonio Gramsci's theory of Cultural hegemony, Ethical leadership, Islamic leadership, Ideal leadership, Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX), Leadership Character Model, Leadership development, Servant leadership, Toxic Leadership, Youth leadership, Collaborative leadership, Outstanding leadership theory
Mind boggling. Surely it cannot be such a difficult concept?
What makes things more interesting is the emotional and cultural load associated with leadership. For some the word conjures up images of charismatic leaders like Patton or Winston Churchill, for others the images are of micro-managers for hell, breathing down their necks constantly.
The Finnish culture has a special antipathy towards the concept, causing people to grumble when you even mention leadership in a corporate context. For that I blame Lieutenant Lammio, the pompous, by-the-book spit and polish caricature of a career officer from the Finnish national epoch The Unknown Soldier.
I am not really interested in getting entangled in all that, rather I want to dig in to the problem that leadership solves - the reason for its existence. My interest? I believe lack of leadership is the greatest problem in the industry, and the root cause of most failures companies have. (Especially so in agile methods with their emphasis on self-organization, but I'll get to that later.)
Note that I only talk about leadership and will consciously avoid entering the "management vs. leadership" territory. Nor do I want to speculate whose primary job it is to lead in a modern organization. I merely want to point out that leadership is absolutely necessary, much neglected, and much simpler than you think. So without further ado...
The purpose of leadership is to get a bunch of people to accomplish something together.
The essence of leadership consists of three parts:
1) Organizing doers
2) Deciding objective(s), communicating to doers
3) Helping doers succeed in achieving objective
Miss one of the previous, and all the theories on motivation, fancy pep-talks by management, team building events, company parties by HR and the rest of the fluffy stuff associated with "leadership" become completely irrelevant. No amount of motivation will work on a group that has lost it's purpose of existence!
My list works at any level, by the way. Whether leading an individual, a team, department or a division. If the goal is to get something done with a bunch of individuals, all three things need to happen. The bunch must be formed, an objective chosen and - usually - the bunch need to be supported on their pursuit of the objective. Miss one of the three and likely nothing will ever get done. Simple?
Why is it, then, that so many organizations spend energy on schemes to motivate their employees while one or more of the three parts is missing? I don't know, but my bet is because they have lost the reason for their existence, and are trying to keep themselves busy earning money without no greater purpose. It is very difficult to set goals locally for a group if there is no overall strategy nor greater goals to serve.
Here is another point I want to drive home:
If a team, group or any organizational unit has lost its goal or the reason for its existence, it is not being lead. Simple as that.
Did I mention that leadership is vital for happiness and contentment? I will get to that later.
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