Comments for Milane IT Consultants, LLC; Your Technology Partner http://www.mittechnical.com SDLC, Project Management, Software Expertise Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:50:47 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Comment on Feature Analysis Spin by Josh Milane http://www.mittechnical.com/feature-analysis-spin/2010#comment-817 Josh Milane Sat, 14 Jan 2012 21:50:47 +0000 http://mittechnical.com/?p=510#comment-817 Mary, Thanks for the comment. Glad it helped, but this is only one piece of the puzzle. This will get you a list of tasks with priority assigned. Planning Poker and similar tools can help if there is disagreement. No two tasks can be priority one. Someone has the responsibility of choosing which is number one, number two, etc... What will really help the GANTT chart from hell, I think, is in looking at the work involved in each item, realizing that "we started with 100 features and wound up with 120 after seeing that some were compound, and have estimated against each - we have 100000 hours of work to do and 100 hours to do it in." Something has to go, time needs to be added, or items need to be swapped. You will never fall short of delivering if this is done and Agile estimation is possible and more. It is really called for in this day of rapid change requests, etc. "Okay, you want feature G to be introduced. We only have enough budget/time/people to perform 12 of the 15 tasks. Where does feature G live? Phase Two? Does it become the next item we work on?" The idea of iterative developement is far from new but embracing it as a model was once a challenge and is now becoming accepted. Just went through an exercise like this with a company where they had identified - Develop DB - Code UI - Code Services - QA And were constantly falling short. Their projections were meaningless. Of course. Breaking it down into backlog items that can be spoken to in the format of a user story and NOT a use case (would break your back to do that constantly) is great. Also, QA becomes built in because as a part of the user story you have the "...I will know this is complete and working properly when X, Y, and Z are true" It also helps obviate exceptions. Maybe an admin logs in and sees something different than a generic user. Maybe the bit of work that nobody has done before and is waiting until the end to do will cause a failure and carry risk when it could be identified early. It also allows you to push out working software on a regular basis, always delivering and shipping. If the Client does not like it, they can opt to change it, but if proper analysis has been done then it is something that would have to sacrifice other functionality, if time or money or resources are short. Priority alongside value alongside risk alongside knowledge that we dont know what we dont know may help where the classic "waterfall" model (which never really existed) fails. Your buckets of capacity will be full, but if something slips, it falls into the next bucket. Or, you can employ Kanban that keeps everything moving without formal iterations. It is a neat idea but requires a mature team, IMO, with common skill sets. TDD is a bit much to bite off and chew but is really a great way to ensure what you get in the end is good and you dont lose time in fixing things. Happy to help if I can. Best, Josh Mary,

Thanks for the comment. Glad it helped, but this is only one piece of the puzzle. This will get you a list of tasks with priority assigned. Planning Poker and similar tools can help if there is disagreement. No two tasks can be priority one. Someone has the responsibility of choosing which is number one, number two, etc…

What will really help the GANTT chart from hell, I think, is in looking at the work involved in each item, realizing that “we started with 100 features and wound up with 120 after seeing that some were compound, and have estimated against each – we have 100000 hours of work to do and 100 hours to do it in.” Something has to go, time needs to be added, or items need to be swapped. You will never fall short of delivering if this is done and Agile estimation is possible and more. It is really called for in this day of rapid change requests, etc.

“Okay, you want feature G to be introduced. We only have enough budget/time/people to perform 12 of the 15 tasks. Where does feature G live? Phase Two? Does it become the next item we work on?” The idea of iterative developement is far from new but embracing it as a model was once a challenge and is now becoming accepted.

Just went through an exercise like this with a company where they had identified

- Develop DB
- Code UI
- Code Services
- QA

And were constantly falling short. Their projections were meaningless. Of course. Breaking it down into backlog items that can be spoken to in the format of a user story and NOT a use case (would break your back to do that constantly) is great. Also, QA becomes built in because as a part of the user story you have the “…I will know this is complete and working properly when X, Y, and Z are true”

It also helps obviate exceptions. Maybe an admin logs in and sees something different than a generic user. Maybe the bit of work that nobody has done before and is waiting until the end to do will cause a failure and carry risk when it could be identified early. It also allows you to push out working software on a regular basis, always delivering and shipping. If the Client does not like it, they can opt to change it, but if proper analysis has been done then it is something that would have to sacrifice other functionality, if time or money or resources are short.

Priority alongside value alongside risk alongside knowledge that we dont know what we dont know may help where the classic “waterfall” model (which never really existed) fails.

Your buckets of capacity will be full, but if something slips, it falls into the next bucket. Or, you can employ Kanban that keeps everything moving without formal iterations. It is a neat idea but requires a mature team, IMO, with common skill sets. TDD is a bit much to bite off and chew but is really a great way to ensure what you get in the end is good and you dont lose time in fixing things.

Happy to help if I can.

Best,

Josh

]]> Comment on ISO 27k Endured: ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 by Mary McAtee http://www.mittechnical.com/iso-27k-endured-iso-27001-and-iso-27002/2011#comment-816 Mary McAtee Mon, 09 Jan 2012 19:17:55 +0000 http://www.mittechnical.com/?p=917#comment-816 Josh, Loved it! The only thing I would add is relative ot the guidance element; I choose to think of akin to the development of case law. A law is written, that upon first read, is the first cousin to jabberwocky. Once it has been through a few rounds of adjudication there emerges a methodology and conventional means testing for evidence of compliance and interpretation of compliance. Lawyers then lapse into "in the case of Wilberforce vs Smidlap" type examples to determine compliance or the specific type of noncompliance. The same thing happens with standards and auditors. A conventional means and methodology of compliance that third party auditors looks to emerges. The good news is that it makes choosing a conventional method of compliance easier for a company to identify and implement. The bad news is that third party auditors tend to get lazy and when a creative organization presents a method of unconventional compliance that supports their specific company needs and goals the auditors' heads tend to explode. It can be tough to budge them off of what they expected to see. Just keep pulling them back to the standard and keep asking for specificis realted to why what you want to do does not comply. I am an aging child of the 60s and although compliance is my bread and butter, question authority is still my mantra. Regards, Mary McAtee VP of Implementation Josh,
Loved it! The only thing I would add is relative ot the guidance element; I choose to think of akin to the development of case law. A law is written, that upon first read, is the first cousin to jabberwocky. Once it has been through a few rounds of adjudication there emerges a methodology and conventional means testing for evidence of compliance and interpretation of compliance. Lawyers then lapse into “in the case of Wilberforce vs Smidlap” type examples to determine compliance or the specific type of noncompliance.
The same thing happens with standards and auditors. A conventional means and methodology of compliance that third party auditors looks to emerges. The good news is that it makes choosing a conventional method of compliance easier for a company to identify and implement. The bad news is that third party auditors tend to get lazy and when a creative organization presents a method of unconventional compliance that supports their specific company needs and goals the auditors’ heads tend to explode. It can be tough to budge them off of what they expected to see. Just keep pulling them back to the standard and keep asking for specificis realted to why what you want to do does not comply.
I am an aging child of the 60s and although compliance is my bread and butter, question authority is still my mantra.
Regards,
Mary McAtee
VP of Implementation

]]> Comment on Feature Analysis Spin by Mary McAtee http://www.mittechnical.com/feature-analysis-spin/2010#comment-815 Mary McAtee Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:52:45 +0000 http://mittechnical.com/?p=510#comment-815 Josh, Your short little item here has me smacking my forehead. I think this might be a big help to my group as a new paradigm for our software feature triage settings. I really struggle with keeping everything out of over-capacity buckets and the Gantt chart from hell. I am going to put this into play for our next event and see what happens. Thanks for challenging my old ideas! Regards, Mary McAtee VP of Implementation IBS America Josh,
Your short little item here has me smacking my forehead. I think this might be a big help to my group as a new paradigm for our software feature triage settings.
I really struggle with keeping everything out of over-capacity buckets and the Gantt chart from hell.
I am going to put this into play for our next event and see what happens.
Thanks for challenging my old ideas!
Regards,
Mary McAtee
VP of Implementation
IBS America

]]> Comment on Wegner's Lemma and System Proposals (Agility vs. Ridgity) by Saundra Guckin http://www.mittechnical.com/wegners-lemma-and-system-proposals-agility-vs-ridgity/2008#comment-808 Saundra Guckin Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:27:25 +0000 http://mittechnical.com/BOSTON-SEO-WORDPRESS/?p=134#comment-808 I am typically to running a blog and i actually appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I'm going to bookmark your site and keep checking for brand spanking new information. I am typically to running a blog and i actually appreciate your content. The article has really peaks my interest. I’m going to bookmark your site and keep checking for brand spanking new information.

]]> Comment on Metadata and Social Networking and Google – a quickie. by Rob Rasner Twitter http://www.mittechnical.com/metadata-and-social-networking-and-google-a-quickie/2009#comment-803 Rob Rasner Twitter Sat, 07 May 2011 19:51:36 +0000 http://mittechnical.com/?p=417#comment-803 Great stuff, so much we bookmarked your write-up Metadata and Social Networking and Google – a quickie. | Milane IT Consultants, LLC; Your Technology Partner well done Great stuff, so much we bookmarked your write-up Metadata and Social Networking and Google – a quickie. | Milane IT Consultants, LLC; Your Technology Partner well done

]]> Comment on ISO 27k Endured: ISO 27001 and ISO 27002 by Hank Friedman http://www.mittechnical.com/iso-27k-endured-iso-27001-and-iso-27002/2011#comment-802 Hank Friedman Sun, 01 May 2011 15:49:44 +0000 http://www.mittechnical.com/?p=917#comment-802 This post made me feel insecure. -HF This post made me feel insecure.

-HF

]]> Comment on The Value of Simplicity by LEW http://www.mittechnical.com/the-value-of-simplicity/2011#comment-801 LEW Thu, 21 Apr 2011 18:34:07 +0000 http://www.mittechnical.com/?p=914#comment-801 @josh every now and again we agree :-) @josh every now and again we agree :-)

]]> Comment on Iteration Zero – The Bastard Prodigy Child by The Value of Simplicity | Milane IT Consultants, LLC; Your Technology Partner http://www.mittechnical.com/iteration-zero-the-bastard-prodigy-child/2010#comment-800 The Value of Simplicity | Milane IT Consultants, LLC; Your Technology Partner Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:38:49 +0000 http://www.mittechnical.com/?p=897#comment-800 [...] of course, there is Iteration Zero, the “we have to do this but it is standard and not really something we are going to make [...] [...] of course, there is Iteration Zero, the “we have to do this but it is standard and not really something we are going to make [...]

]]> Comment on Why Agile will Die by Hank Friedman http://www.mittechnical.com/why-agile-will-die/2011#comment-799 Hank Friedman Sat, 09 Apr 2011 20:14:20 +0000 http://www.mittechnical.com/?p=911#comment-799 Very true, for the most part. Keep it up, Joshua. I am one of the many silent supporters. Very true, for the most part. Keep it up, Joshua. I am one of the many silent supporters.

]]> Comment on Why Agile will Die by Elizabeth Chandler http://www.mittechnical.com/why-agile-will-die/2011#comment-797 Elizabeth Chandler Thu, 24 Mar 2011 21:51:18 +0000 http://www.mittechnical.com/?p=911#comment-797 I agree with you but if I said that with my real name I would be fired :-) I agree with you but if I said that with my real name I would be fired :-)

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