Author Archives: Michael

Five Simple Steps to Agile Risk Management

By Michael | Published: June 4, 2010
This report, by its very length, defends itself against the risk of being read.  (Winston Churchill) Background In my post on Agile Project Charters I outlined the embarrassingly high failure rate of software projects. Success rates today are only marginally better than they were when the Standish Group released its first Chaos report in 1995. [...]
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A Simple Agile Defect Management Process

By Michael | Published: May 25, 2010
All software has defects of some sort – we know that. If left unresolved, some defects can have cataclysmic consequences while others are so minor that they go unnoticed by virtually everyone. Like most things in this universe there is a law of diminishing returns when it applies to the correction of software defects. Unless [...]
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How to Easily Prioritize Your Agile Stories

By Michael | Published: May 21, 2010
What Comes First? You’ve spoken to all of your stakeholders, maybe had a workshop or two, gathered all of the input, defined requirements and converted it all into stories, and now you have writer’s cramp from printing them all out onto index cards. You’ve now taken over the conference room and spread your cards out [...]
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How To Make Your Project Not Suck Using an Agile Project Charter

By Michael | Published: May 18, 2010
An Agile Project Charter The Problem Any project can fail, and any project can fail for a seemingly endless array of reasons. Large complex projects sometimes fail because they are well… large and complex. High complexity means more unknowns. More unknowns make estimation and management of budget, time, resource requirements, and a multitude of other [...]
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Apple Adobe Fight – Follow The Money

By Michael | Published: May 6, 2010
The Issue I have been following with great interest the recent and very public battle between Apple and its long-time ally Adobe. Concern over Apple’s behaviour has now escalated to the point where Reuters has reported that regulators are mulling an investigation to determine if Apple is in violation of antitrust laws by requiring that [...]
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Hello World

By Michael | Published: April 28, 2010
Why is the title of my first post "Hello World"? If you've ever done any sort of software development, you likely already know the answer to that question. For those have have not, the explanation is pretty simple. When initiating a software project, a developer will often create an artifact that displays text in the UI of the application - be it a web page, a desktop application, or even a mobile app. The text most often chosen is "Hello World" as it symbolizes that the software creation has inhaled its first virtual breath in its world of zeros and ones. I have to confess that I have at times felt a touch of Frankensteinian glee as I witnessed my creation come to life. This first post is the same. It is the first breath of life of my first blog.
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