Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Nov 11Corporate Culture Is a Mystery, Not A PuzzleEleven Things to Consider before We Start a Transformation — Between 2008 and 2015, Volkswagen’s engineering teams intentionally and repeatedly tampered with the emissions of car engines in laboratory tests. On the road, the vehicles emitted up to forty times more nitrogen oxides. A pithy observation that seems to contain a general truth comes to mind: Culture eats strategy for…Corporate Culture5 min readCorporate Culture5 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Oct 2Adapt, Exapt, or Reapt Product Features?The Quest to Achieve Market Fitness — “That gum you like is going to come back in style,” the elderly room service waiter (Hank Worden) famously said in episode 16 of the 1990s TV series Twin Peaks. This line is not only game-changing for the plot, but it also predicts the emergence of a reaptive event. We…Product Management4 min readProduct Management4 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated Sep 6Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, After All?It’s too early to say. — In 1972, when Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai was asked about the impact of the French Revolution in 1789, he replied, “Too early to say.” The fact that he misunderstood the question does not make the answer less ingenious. This is especially true when we dance with path-dependent processes. Ouch…Deduction5 min readDeduction5 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Aug 1Why Not Skip Sprint Backlogs Completely?Busyness-Driven Versus Value-Driven Teams — Scrum is a straightforward way for new teams to start working both iteratively and incrementally in short timeboxes — a.k.a. sprints. However, despite careful planning and daily sync meetings, the sprint rarely results in a viable product. Do not blame that on scrum. “Why is it every time I ask…Scrum4 min readScrum4 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated Jul 4The (False) Cheese Dichotomy of Project PlanningHow Do You Choose an Approach? — “Planning a big project is like eating a big cheese,” the project manager told me. “I can start by cutting the whole cheese into a large number of cubes, which I eat one by one. Alternatively, I can cut a thin slice and defer any further decisions until after I…Lean4 min readLean4 min read
Jun 21Regular Expressions—The Full StoryIntroduction “I define UNIX as 30 definitions of regular expressions living under one roof.” Turing Award winner Donald Knuth said that, and it doesn’t stop there. All mainstream programming languages host regular expressions as a domain-specific language (DSL). …Regex82 min readRegex82 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Jun 6The Naïve Dream of Systemic MapsUnseen Risks in Complex Environments — “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” This quote, once seen in a 1981 publication from Narcotics Anonymous, is often attributed to Albert Einstein. Not only is that attribution wrong, but in an evolving environment, the statement itself is also wrong. At one of…Systems Thinking4 min readSystems Thinking4 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated May 12How To Make Informal Networks Emerge in EnterprisesCreating a Fertile Environment to Nurture Connections — “You want all your bought goods in one home delivery even though you want some things on a private receipt, while others are paid for by your company? I’m so sorry. Our IT system does not admit registrations of mixed-order home deliveries. Many customers request that function, and I understand…Lean6 min readLean6 min read
Apr 27Agile ≠ LeanHow many times have you heard the question: “What are the pros and cons of Agile?” Unfortunately, that question is put in the wrong way. Let’s start on the highway. Hey, we have built a new superfast highway. Admittedly, it is only single-lane. But in every other aspect it is premium quality. The first car…Agile21 min readAgile21 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated Apr 8Awarded Nobel Prize, Still Failed to Meet OKRWhat Do Objectives and Key Results Measure? — “If I achieve such a victory again, I shall return to Epirus without any soldier.” The best thing about a well-crafted OKR — Objectives and Key Results — is that it gives us an easy way to grade our completed work over the past quarter. …Agile4 min readAgile4 min read
