Category Archives: build quality in

[Back to basics]: Scrum origin and Lean Thinking

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Posted on December 16, 2011 by Narek Alaverdyan

Scrum is a Lean approach to Software development.

The term itself (“Scrum”) was introduced by Takeuchi and Nonaka (1986). The study was published in Harvard Business Review in 1986. They explain that projects using small, cross-functional teams historically produce the best results. They relate these high performance teams to “Scrum” formations in Rugby.

Scrum for software development was introduced in 1993 by Jeff Sutherland at Easel Corporation using the study by Takeuchi and Nonaka (1986) as a basis for by adopting their analogy as the name of the process as a whole for software development. The other name linked to Scrum is of course Ken Schwaber who formalized the process for the worldwide software industry in the first published paper on Scrum at OOPSLA (Schwaber, 1997).

Scrum is a simple “inspect and adapt” framework that has three roles, three ceremonies, and three artefacts designed to deliver working software in Sprints, usually 30-day iterations (Scotland, 2005).

  • 3 Roles
    Product Owner, Scrum Master, Development Team
  • 3 Ceremonies
    Sprint Planning, Spr Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Lean, SCRUM, build quality in, create knowledge, defer commitment, deliver fast, eliminate waste, optimize the whole, respect people, value stream | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

About good Leaders, Agile managers and Value Streams

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Posted on February 4, 2011 by Narek Alaverdyan

“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: We did it ourselves.”
Lao Tzu

Throughout our careers, many of us at some point in time take on the responsibilities of leading teams; whether that’s a group of developers or a large IT organisation we need to decide for us how we lead, what values we follow and what we concentrate our efforts on.

Just because you’re being followed doesn’t make you a leader and just because people have to do what you decides doesn’t make you a leader as well.

While talking about traits that are common for good leaders Davidson-Frame mentions “Honest, Empathetic, Inspired, Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Lean, SCRUM, build quality in, value stream | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Build quality in every line of code produced

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Posted on January 17, 2011 by Narek Alaverdyan

There is one thing in common with a lot of software development companies, or companies that have a software development unit. That’s the system labeled with the monstrous name “Legacy”.

So what’s in it, really?

Is your software change tolerant? Is your software easy to adapt to changes proposed by the business, or the tech department itself? Are you software’s modules independent and enable change? Does your software enable quick releases?

If you were nodding your head negatively about all of the above mentioned questions, then… I am really sorry but you’re dealing with Legacy software.

There’s something else that makes the system Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Lean, UnitTests, build quality in, development, testing | Tagged , , , , , | 18 Comments