Source: Lisa Crispin and Janet Gregory on (More) Agile Testing, Learning and New Approaches

Source: Em Campbell-Pretty on the Journey of SAFe and Thawing Middle Management

Depending on the workshop often depends whether I use the classic mind map style or just use a left to right grid using post-it notes.

• Art school dropout to software developer to early Extreme Programming
• “Extreme Programming Explained” by Kent Beck (and we agree the first edition was the better version!)
• One of the secrets to success is having a great relationship with customers
• Early Agile colleagues included Eric Evans (“Domain-Driven Design“), Joshua Kerievsky (“Refactoring to Patterns” and Industrial Logic), Rob Mee (Pivotal Labs)
• The product decisions on what to build matter most
• YOW! Talk “User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story“
• Story Mapping addressed the problem of losing sight of the big picture when building very small things
• Larry Constantine and Lucy Lockwood “Software For Use” – task modelling was the inspiration for Story Mapping
• Impact Mapping was inspired by Effect Mapping
• There is no way to build a story map and not stand in the shoes of someone using your product
• They were initially called “stories” not “user stories”, because of the way we use them – it’s not a change in the way we write documents, its a change in the way we work
• As a… I want… So that… is just a conversation starter, and they need titles!
• Dependencies in story mapping – the map helps you see in slices, using stories helps you build the thing you need now
• Passionate Product Owner course
• The hope of the User Story Mapping book is that people think differently about stories
• Your job in software development is not to build more crap faster, your job is to change the world
• Jez Humble “Lean Enterprise” – output and impact
• What we do now builds on an Agile foundation – but it is more than Agile – we are missing an umbrella term for product centricity
• Raccoon! – Jeff likes it, but it doesn’t work in mountain states as they knock over garbage cans!

  TheAgileRevolution-95 (43 minutes)

Ideas can come from many different places, but how do we best turn these ideas into initiatives and ensure we are working on the right things at the right time? We tend to throw the idea around, discuss it with our team and management, and undertake a lot of analysis to decide if it’s worth spending time and money on. Unfortunately this approach means we have already spent a bunch of time and money, often without realising it! A number of the early Agile approaches described a lifecycle for kicking off projects, but many of the newer and more popular approaches start with a backlog or an assumption that you are already building something. Go back to basics and look at different approaches for kicking off initiatives and the tools and techniques that make up what is often called the discovery, ideation or concept phase. If your team or organisation has too much work in progress or your pipeline is unclear, then learn (or re-learn) approaches to kicking off the right initiatives so you can ensure you are building the right thing! Learning Outcomes

• Understanding techniques to kick off a project or initiative
• Techniques such as impact mapping, idea canvas, problem pitch, finding features, etc
• Knowing when you should proceed with an idea or park it
• Prioritising ideas

It was awesome to have such a large audience, particularly as I was up against Dean Leffingwell in the same session. The session was recorded by InfoQ so I will add the video here when it becomes available. Thanks to all those who live tweeted throughout the session, here is a sample:

• PMI and Agile are completely different mindsets, PMI Project Managers are “the CIOs of their projects”
• AgileWelly – strength through the struggle of doing Agile in government
• Wellington Agile community led by TradeMe, Snapper, BNZ
• Gojko Adzic – Specification by Example and Impact Mapping
• Agile NZ conference
• Retrospective design – creativity in facilitation is a gap
• Esther Derby’s model for restrospectives
• Paper Airplane game – using an abstract process to apply learnings to the real process

TheAgileRevolution-84 (25 minutes)