PinnedAgile ≠ 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated Mar 14The Failsafe Agile TransformationWhat Is Your Context? — “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” Rather than answering Alice’s question, the Cheshire Cat reviewed it. “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where — ” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t…Agile4 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated Jan 27Is Continuous Product Improvement a Dead-End Strategy?Look for the Unexpected — 📚 Connect with us. Want to hear what’s new at The Pragmatic Bookshelf? Sign up for our newsletter. You’ll be the first to know about author speaking engagements, books in beta, new books in print, and promo codes that give you discounts of up to 40 percent. An affordance is…Innovation3 min read
Published in The Pragmatic Programmers·Updated Jul 22, 2021Member-onlyWhat Is Different About These Two Bikes?Monotasking and Additive Versus Subtractive Solutions — Can you spot the difference between the two bikes? What purpose do these bikes have in common? Multitasking accelerates our eagerness towards additive solutions while monotasking supports subtractive thinking, research shows. This finding matters since adding rigid constraints to a complex system may make the system even more complex. Subtractive…Snfocus2 min read
