Tag Archives: agile management

Involve IT Staff in Business Process Improvement

Posted on July 6, 2010 by John Hunter

I started out basically working on management improvement from the start of my career. My makeup (I am never satisfied and figure things should always be better) along with a few traits, experiences and probably even genes made this a natural fit for me. I tend to take the long view and find fire fighting a waste of time. Why fix some symptom, I want to fix the system so that problem doesn’t happen again. My father worked in statistics, … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, IT, Management, Popular, Process improvement, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Toyota’s Journey to Lean Software Development

Posted on March 18, 2010 by John Hunter

Toyota’s journey from Waterfall to Lean software development by Henrik Kniberg Toyota builds cars (duh). In the past that didn’t involve much software, and the little software that was needed was mostly developed by suppliers and embedded in isolated components. Toyota assembled them and didn’t much care about the software inside. But “The importance of automatic electronic control system has been increasing dramatically year by year” said Ishii-san. A modern car is pretty much a computer on wheels! In a … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Quality tools, Software Development, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , ,

Improving Software Development with Automated Tests

Posted on March 8, 2010 by John Hunter

Automated software testing is a mistake proofing (poka-yoke) solution for software development. The way automated testing works is that software code is written that tests the software code of the application. This automated testing code test that business rules are correctly being followed by the code in the application. So for example, a user should not be able to create a new account without entering password. Then you create code that does not allow an account to be created without … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Baking in Quality to Software Development

Posted on August 15, 2009 by John Hunter

One of the reasons my organizations switched to Ruby on Rails for software development was the great integration with automated testing. We always wanted to have good test coverage on our software applications (which are web applications – some used only inside our organization) but didn’t actually find the time to do so. Since we adopted Ruby we have been doing much better in this regard. It isn’t just the switch to Ruby, of course, but the switch to Ruby … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Importance of Making Problems Visible

Posted on April 2, 2009 by John Hunter

Great, short, presentation webcast by Jason Yip showing the importance of making problems visible. Anyone interested in software development should watch this, and it is valuable for everyone else, also. Great visuals. Related: Future Directions for Agile Management – Agile Software Development Slideshow – Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity – Information Technology and Management – Curious Cat Micro-financiers – posts on project management – Toyota Institute for Managers

Posted in IT, Lean thinking, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

CMMI and Agile Development

Posted on November 19, 2008 by John Hunter

CMMI or Agile: Why Not Embrace Both! is a new report that is worth reading. All too often, CMMI has been applied rather than implemented. The standards-centric application of CMMI has contributed to some spectacular failures and losses of time and money. The key difference between applying and implementing CMMI is that applying usually appears as a superimposition (or overlay) of model practices onto existing activities with an expectation of producing the example work products found in the model, rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Process improvement, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Management Improvement Carnival #47

Posted on November 17, 2008 by John Hunter
Posted in Carnival, Management | Tagged , , , ,

Agile PDSA

Posted on September 16, 2008 by John Hunter

Dr. Deming encouraged the use of the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle to improve. Agile Management encourages a similar mindset – to test out ideas in practice and adapt quickly. A key to both strategies is to quickly iterate over possible solutions. Tesco provides an example of this strategy: This was our first opening since we took our 12 week pause, after we had opened 61 stores at breakneck speed. We used that time to reflect on what customers had told us they … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Process improvement, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Future Directions for Agile Management

Posted on August 25, 2008 by John Hunter

Agile management (agile software development specifically) is something that makes a big difference in my work life. David Anderson consistently provides great ideas on agile management and he does so again in this 90 minute presentation on the future directions for agile. As I learned about agile software development, what I saw was a great implementation of management improvement practices focused on software development that was very compatible with Deming’s management philosophy and lean thinking practices. The Agile manifesto: Individuals … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Innovation, IT, Lean thinking, Management, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

A Programmers Take on Agile Software Development

Posted on April 6, 2008 by John Hunter

A Case for Agile: Benefits for a Programmer’s Career by Theodore Nguyen-Cao Through agile development, I’ve been able to deliver working software time and time again. I’ve been exposed to all different aspects of the business. I’ve learn what I like and don’t like to do. I’ve learn what pieces of business I’m interested in and the pieces I don’t care much for. I’ve developed some really good working relationships. I’ve tackled some hard problems. I’ve learned to respond and … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Lean thinking, Management, Process improvement, Software Development | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Deming’s 14 Points (for software development)

Posted on March 28, 2008 by John Hunter

Deming’s 14 points (for software development) by Jamie Dinkelacker (Geo/Maps Engineering Program Manager at Google Inc. Focus on lean principles and agile practices for software development): W. Edwards Deming’s work on quality, while widely misinterpreted and misapplied in the USA, was nonetheless a watershed that Japanese companies, especially Toyota, took to heart… Below are Deming’s 14 points accompanied by commentary related to software development. … Design quality in, don’t use inspection to find errors. Mistake proof the system. … In … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Google, Management, Software Development | Tagged , , , ,

Lean Software Development

Posted on May 30, 2006 by John Hunter

I have posted on the topic of Lean Software Development previously. Lean Software Development: A Field Guide – the first 3 chapters of this new book are available online [the broken link was removed]. Excellent book that I recommended for anyone interested in lean thinking ideas. Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit for Software Development Managers by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck, 2003. Articles on lean programming by the Mary Poppendieck David Carlton has an interesting post on this topic: … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Software Development | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Agility vs. Six Sigma

Posted on January 8, 2006 by John Hunter

My response to the agilemanagement list: I agree with David Anderson [the broken link was removed], in this thread [this broken link was also removed], as well as pretty much everything else actually. If I understand his writing correctly I am probably a bit more critical of how Six Sigma is actual practiced, but that is fairly minor difference of opinion. I have posted a couple item on managing innovation You manage processes, such as thinking up a new way … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Six sigma | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

David Anderson CMMI Webcast Aug 18

Posted on August 17, 2005 by John Hunter

CMMI Webcast Scheduled for August 18th [broken link removed] David Anderson will present the Microsoft Solutions Framework for CMMI Process Improvement material live at 11am Pacific Daylight Time on August 18th. After the presentation he will answer questions in a chatroom session. Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) for CMMI Process Improvement is a highly iterative, adaptive planning, agile software development process which meets the requirements for the Software Engineering Institute’s (SEI) Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) level 3 and provides a … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged ,

Stretching Agile to fit CMMI Level 3

Posted on July 27, 2005 by John Hunter

Topic: Management Improvement Stretching Agile to fit CMMI Level 3 by David J. Anderson. I highly recommend reading this article. My work happens to straddle both the management improvement and software development areas that this article covers. But, if you are interested in either area, this article offers some great material. And if you are interested in both, you are in for a treat. At Microsoft, we’ve adopted the teachings of W. Edwards Deming and stretched our MSF for Agile … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Quality tools, Software Development | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Agile Management

Posted on July 19, 2005 by John Hunter

David Anderson publishes the Agile Management Blog, wrote the Agile Management for Software Engineering: Applying the Theory of Constraints for Business Results, and works for Microsoft. Robert Scoble, technical evangelist [the broken link was removed], also with Microsoft, has posted an online video interview with David Anderson [the broken link was removed] on Microsoft’s Chanel 9 online. Quote by David Anderson, from the video: “My work focuses on applying the teachings of two management science gurus, one is Eli Goldratt … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, IT, Management, Software Development, webcast | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments