How can one improve competency in a software development team? This is a critical question for a software development manager and this video of a presentation given by Jurgen Appelo at the 2010 Norvegian Development Conference provide an insight that attempt to answer this question.
You may also want to view the slides for this presentation.
I believe that Agile is a great tool to help development teams achieve more, improve, and reach their next level in effectiveness, productivity, or creativity. However, like any tool, it can be misused or misapplied. You can shoot yourself in the foot if you are not applying a certain level of discipline or hygiene.
Mike Griffiths posted a short and sweet article on this subject that he entitled Agile anti-patterns. He classifies those anti-patterns as follow:
With the Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico, there never was that much interest from the public on how a well is being drilled in over 5,000 feet of water. The video below is a presentation given by some colleagues from Shell at the Aspen Ideas Festival.
The presentation describes the different processes that take place during drilling and the barriers that are inherent part of any well.
Make sure to listen to the Q&A session after the end of the presentation. It provides additional insight on this terrible incident.
Yesterday morning the engine light on my car flashed yellow, and I had trouble reaching high RPM on the highway. I immediately stopped and called the road assistance. They suggested that I drive the car to the dealership as soon as possible, which I did.
Quickly, the service representative diagnosed that the car had a firmware issue and ordered a reprogramming.
The problem is that the PC that was reprogramming the firmware crashed in the middle of the operation and now the car is FUBAR. I was even unable to open the truck by pushing the corresponding button. We are now waiting for a technician to show up with a laptop and fix the car.
This shows how dependent we are on computers and software in so many unconscious ways. Here, we have a computer crashing in the shop, that in turn renders another computer, the on-board CPU, inoperable.
This is nothing original. I am sure that it is a common occurrence and the news stories on different Toyota models illustrates how software bugs can be life threatening in some instances.
Where will we be in ten years from now? What can we expect from our cars, or other common devices that have existed for decades before the birth of computers?
I am certainly a Luddite but I sometimes wonder about this love-hate relationship I have with computers. I cannot live without them and they like to remind me.
This also reminds me that I need to pay more attention to QA on my day job. :-)
Original photo by oskay.
You may have seen the video below as it was quite popular in the last few weeks. If not, I really encourage you to watch it as it is food for thought if you hold a job where you have to manage other individuals.
