The document outlines the Agile Inception Deck, which is a presentation used to get alignment on a project before starting. It discusses 10 questions to ask, including the purpose of the project, elevator pitch, scope, risks, timeline and budget. The goal is to eliminate confusion, set expectations and get buy-in from stakeholders on how the project will be approached before beginning the work.
Training materials for Agile Scrum. Starts with an overview of Agile and Lean. Followed with the Agile Scrum key concepts like Product Owner, Scrum Master, Scrum Team and Product Backlog. Theory is complemented with learnings and best practices from real life software development.
Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability - Daniel VacantiAgile Montréal
Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability
“When will it be done?” That's the first question customers ask once work is started. Your predictability is judged by the accuracy of your answer. Think about how many times you’ve been asked that question and how many times you’ve been wrong. That you’ve been wrong more times than right is not necessarily your fault. You have been taught to collect and analyze the wrong metrics. Until now.
About Daniel Vacanti
Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of his career focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work and managed the world’s first project implementation of Kanban that year. He has been conducting Lean-Agile training, coaching, and consulting ever since. In 2011 he founded ActionableAgile (previously Corporate Kanban) which provides industry-leading predictive analytics tools and services organizations that utilize Lean-Agile practices. In 2015 he published his book, “Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability”, which is the definitive guide to flow-based metrics and analytics. Daniel holds an M.B.A. and regularly teaches a class on lean principles for software management at the University of California Berkeley.
Training materials for Agile Scrum. Starts with an overview of Agile and Lean. Followed with the Agile Scrum key concepts like Product Owner, Scrum Master, Scrum Team and Product Backlog. Theory is complemented with learnings and best practices from real life software development.
Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability - Daniel VacantiAgile Montréal
Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability
“When will it be done?” That's the first question customers ask once work is started. Your predictability is judged by the accuracy of your answer. Think about how many times you’ve been asked that question and how many times you’ve been wrong. That you’ve been wrong more times than right is not necessarily your fault. You have been taught to collect and analyze the wrong metrics. Until now.
About Daniel Vacanti
Daniel Vacanti is a 20+ year software industry veteran who has spent most of his career focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work and managed the world’s first project implementation of Kanban that year. He has been conducting Lean-Agile training, coaching, and consulting ever since. In 2011 he founded ActionableAgile (previously Corporate Kanban) which provides industry-leading predictive analytics tools and services organizations that utilize Lean-Agile practices. In 2015 he published his book, “Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability”, which is the definitive guide to flow-based metrics and analytics. Daniel holds an M.B.A. and regularly teaches a class on lean principles for software management at the University of California Berkeley.
Agile Everywhere!
Henrik Kniberg talks about how his journey implementing agile & lean methods at Spotify and Lego helped him apply agility in new & unexpected fields. Henrik will share his vision on how agility may evolve in the future and affect various areas of our lives.
About Henrik Kniberg
Henrik Kniberg is an Agile/Lean coach at Crisp in Stockholm, working primarily with Lego and Spotify. He enjoys helping companies succeed with both the technical and human sides of software development. During the past 15 years he has been CTO of 3 Swedish IT companies and helped many more get started with Agile and Lean software development.
Henrik is former board member of the Agile Alliance and works regularly with Mary Poppendieck, Jeff Sutherland, and other thought leaders. He is the author of “Scrum and XP from the Trenches” and “Kanban and Scrum, making the most of both” and “Lean from the Trenches“. These books are available in over 12 languages, have over 500,000 readers, and are used as primary guide to Agile and Lean software development by hundreds of companies worldwide. Henrik also created the viral animated videos “Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell” and “Spotify Engineering Culture“.
20190923 AgileDC 2019 Conf Kanban AntiPatterns: What you don't know *can* hur...Craeg Strong
In this interactive workshop we will examine multiple examples of Antipatterns observed in real-world Kanban boards. In each case we will identify the issues and discuss ways to improve the situation. We will review a number of better alternatives and see how the improvements map to the core principles of Kanban such as visualization, managing flow, and making policies explicit. Brand new to Kanban? Learning by example is a great way to get started! A long-time Kanban veteran? Come to see how many antipatterns you recognize and help firm up our Kanban Antipattern taxonomy and nomenclature!
Kanban is an extremely versatile and effective Agile method that has seen significant growth in popularity over recent years. Kanban’s flexibility has led to widespread adoption to manage business processes in disparate contexts such as HR, loan processing, drug discovery, and insurance underwriting, in addition to Information Technology. Like snowflakes, no two Kanban boards are alike. The downside to this flexibility is there is no well-known and easily accessible library of patterns for designing effective Kanban boards. Like Apollo engineers, teams are expected to design their board starting from first principles. Unfortunately, sometimes teams get stuck with board designs that may not provide the visibility and insight into their workflow they hope to see. Worse, some designs actually may serve only to obscure the situation. Working within the limitations of an electronic board can exacerbate the problem even further. Is all hope lost? Certainly not!
Let’s learn more about effective Kanban system design by examining what to avoid and why. Learning by example is effective and fun!
STATIK (Systems Thinking Approach to Introduce Kanban) es un enfoque exploratorio y colaborativo para implementar Kanban. Ayuda a entender la demanda y las dinámicas actuales, para diseñar y poner en marcha un modelo Kanban de trabajo que permita elevar la eficiencia y calidad en el servicio a través de la cultura y las técnicas de la mejora continua.
También es una buena herramienta para descubrir todos los servicios que proporciona un equipo, sus flujos de trabajo y su alineación con el propósito y las expectativas del cliente.
Modern Professional Scrum using Flow and Kanban - Agile and Beyond Detroit 2019Yuval Yeret
Should you use Scrum or Kanban? You don’t have to choose: Scrum teams improve when they look at flows inside and outside their sprints from a Lean/Kanban perspective. In this session we will talk about Kanban-related myths prevalent in the Scrum world and identify common ground between them. We will look at ways to bring Kanban flow into your Scrum: the Kanban-based Sprint/product backlog, flow-based daily Scrum, visualizing aging work, and flow-based Sprint planning .We will describe ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban flow system, and how DevOps fits into this picture.
You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps Sitting in a Tree… - Big Apple Scrum Day 2018Yuval Yeret
Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps Sitting on a Tree... (Learn how to leverage Kanban & Scrum together and how to fit DevOps into the picture)Should we use Scrum? Should we use Kanban? Where does DevOps fit into the picture? The best agile teams already know they don’t need to choose. Scrum teams improve when they start to look at flow inside and outside their sprints. Kanban teams improve when they have a disciplined cadence, and effective Product Ownership and Scrum Mastership. DevOps really is mainly about doing Agile the right way. In this session, we will look at a core definition of Scrum, Kanban & DevOps, do some myth-busting as well as identify the quite significant common ground between Scrum, Kanban and DevOps. We will then look at practical ways like the Kanban-based Sprint Backlog, Flow-based Daily Scrum, Visualizing aging work, Flow-based Sprint Planning - which bring some Kanban flow into your Scrum. We will look at how to bring Scrum roles/events/artifacts into your Kanban. We will look at ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban Flow system that looks upstream/downstream and at the higher level picture of a DevOps Culture/Process. You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with some ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
This simple and crisp quick reference card is for Agile and Scrum basics. It is a simple way to glance through all the concepts and use it as a tool for revision, even before an interview.
STATIK is a repeatable (and humane) way to get started with Kanban and a way to reinvigorate existing implementations. This deck was extracted from a workshop given at Lean/Agile Scotland 2014.
There are a lot of choices and alternatives for getting started with Agile. It can be confusing. This talk will give you a brief guided tour of Agile methodologies so that you have some understanding of how they are similar and how they differ. We'll cover some of the history of iterative development and waterfall as well as the Agile Manifesto to provide context. At the end of this, you will have an understanding of key principles and the Agile landscape.
Please email me if you would like a download.
The Atlassian suite of developer tools has grown in the last year, and we have some juicy new products to demo. Hear and see the latest on Stash, Bitbucket, FishEye, Crucible, Bamboo, and SourceTree.
The word exponential is one of the most used and least understood words in the lexicon of political and managerial speak, and yet it is fundamental to the way our world is being driven by technology in an unprecedented way. It also heralds a move away from our slow, stable and predictable industrial past, to a new era of speed, non-linearity, and greater uncertainty.
It is not by accident that our working and leisure activities seem to be accelerating – everything is now mobile, intelligent, connected and communicating whilst changing at an accelerating rate. If we are to cope, if we are to win in this new environment, we have to think and act differently. The old tools and methods will not only fail, they will pose a significant and growing threat.
Here we identify and consider the big game changers, look at failure mechanisms, and identify changes to come including some aspects of growing complexity. We also point out some of the basic management errors and the need to innovate in new ways that allow organisations to quickly learn and adapt on the hoof. This includes business modelling, war gaming, and celebrating failure!
Agile Everywhere!
Henrik Kniberg talks about how his journey implementing agile & lean methods at Spotify and Lego helped him apply agility in new & unexpected fields. Henrik will share his vision on how agility may evolve in the future and affect various areas of our lives.
About Henrik Kniberg
Henrik Kniberg is an Agile/Lean coach at Crisp in Stockholm, working primarily with Lego and Spotify. He enjoys helping companies succeed with both the technical and human sides of software development. During the past 15 years he has been CTO of 3 Swedish IT companies and helped many more get started with Agile and Lean software development.
Henrik is former board member of the Agile Alliance and works regularly with Mary Poppendieck, Jeff Sutherland, and other thought leaders. He is the author of “Scrum and XP from the Trenches” and “Kanban and Scrum, making the most of both” and “Lean from the Trenches“. These books are available in over 12 languages, have over 500,000 readers, and are used as primary guide to Agile and Lean software development by hundreds of companies worldwide. Henrik also created the viral animated videos “Agile Product Ownership in a Nutshell” and “Spotify Engineering Culture“.
20190923 AgileDC 2019 Conf Kanban AntiPatterns: What you don't know *can* hur...Craeg Strong
In this interactive workshop we will examine multiple examples of Antipatterns observed in real-world Kanban boards. In each case we will identify the issues and discuss ways to improve the situation. We will review a number of better alternatives and see how the improvements map to the core principles of Kanban such as visualization, managing flow, and making policies explicit. Brand new to Kanban? Learning by example is a great way to get started! A long-time Kanban veteran? Come to see how many antipatterns you recognize and help firm up our Kanban Antipattern taxonomy and nomenclature!
Kanban is an extremely versatile and effective Agile method that has seen significant growth in popularity over recent years. Kanban’s flexibility has led to widespread adoption to manage business processes in disparate contexts such as HR, loan processing, drug discovery, and insurance underwriting, in addition to Information Technology. Like snowflakes, no two Kanban boards are alike. The downside to this flexibility is there is no well-known and easily accessible library of patterns for designing effective Kanban boards. Like Apollo engineers, teams are expected to design their board starting from first principles. Unfortunately, sometimes teams get stuck with board designs that may not provide the visibility and insight into their workflow they hope to see. Worse, some designs actually may serve only to obscure the situation. Working within the limitations of an electronic board can exacerbate the problem even further. Is all hope lost? Certainly not!
Let’s learn more about effective Kanban system design by examining what to avoid and why. Learning by example is effective and fun!
STATIK (Systems Thinking Approach to Introduce Kanban) es un enfoque exploratorio y colaborativo para implementar Kanban. Ayuda a entender la demanda y las dinámicas actuales, para diseñar y poner en marcha un modelo Kanban de trabajo que permita elevar la eficiencia y calidad en el servicio a través de la cultura y las técnicas de la mejora continua.
También es una buena herramienta para descubrir todos los servicios que proporciona un equipo, sus flujos de trabajo y su alineación con el propósito y las expectativas del cliente.
Modern Professional Scrum using Flow and Kanban - Agile and Beyond Detroit 2019Yuval Yeret
Should you use Scrum or Kanban? You don’t have to choose: Scrum teams improve when they look at flows inside and outside their sprints from a Lean/Kanban perspective. In this session we will talk about Kanban-related myths prevalent in the Scrum world and identify common ground between them. We will look at ways to bring Kanban flow into your Scrum: the Kanban-based Sprint/product backlog, flow-based daily Scrum, visualizing aging work, and flow-based Sprint planning .We will describe ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban flow system, and how DevOps fits into this picture.
You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps Sitting in a Tree… - Big Apple Scrum Day 2018Yuval Yeret
Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps Sitting on a Tree... (Learn how to leverage Kanban & Scrum together and how to fit DevOps into the picture)Should we use Scrum? Should we use Kanban? Where does DevOps fit into the picture? The best agile teams already know they don’t need to choose. Scrum teams improve when they start to look at flow inside and outside their sprints. Kanban teams improve when they have a disciplined cadence, and effective Product Ownership and Scrum Mastership. DevOps really is mainly about doing Agile the right way. In this session, we will look at a core definition of Scrum, Kanban & DevOps, do some myth-busting as well as identify the quite significant common ground between Scrum, Kanban and DevOps. We will then look at practical ways like the Kanban-based Sprint Backlog, Flow-based Daily Scrum, Visualizing aging work, Flow-based Sprint Planning - which bring some Kanban flow into your Scrum. We will look at how to bring Scrum roles/events/artifacts into your Kanban. We will look at ways to wrap Scrum with a Kanban Flow system that looks upstream/downstream and at the higher level picture of a DevOps Culture/Process. You’ll leave with a better understanding of how Scrum, Kanban, and DevOps relate to each other and with some ideas for experiments to try when back at work.
This simple and crisp quick reference card is for Agile and Scrum basics. It is a simple way to glance through all the concepts and use it as a tool for revision, even before an interview.
STATIK is a repeatable (and humane) way to get started with Kanban and a way to reinvigorate existing implementations. This deck was extracted from a workshop given at Lean/Agile Scotland 2014.
There are a lot of choices and alternatives for getting started with Agile. It can be confusing. This talk will give you a brief guided tour of Agile methodologies so that you have some understanding of how they are similar and how they differ. We'll cover some of the history of iterative development and waterfall as well as the Agile Manifesto to provide context. At the end of this, you will have an understanding of key principles and the Agile landscape.
Please email me if you would like a download.
The Atlassian suite of developer tools has grown in the last year, and we have some juicy new products to demo. Hear and see the latest on Stash, Bitbucket, FishEye, Crucible, Bamboo, and SourceTree.
The word exponential is one of the most used and least understood words in the lexicon of political and managerial speak, and yet it is fundamental to the way our world is being driven by technology in an unprecedented way. It also heralds a move away from our slow, stable and predictable industrial past, to a new era of speed, non-linearity, and greater uncertainty.
It is not by accident that our working and leisure activities seem to be accelerating – everything is now mobile, intelligent, connected and communicating whilst changing at an accelerating rate. If we are to cope, if we are to win in this new environment, we have to think and act differently. The old tools and methods will not only fail, they will pose a significant and growing threat.
Here we identify and consider the big game changers, look at failure mechanisms, and identify changes to come including some aspects of growing complexity. We also point out some of the basic management errors and the need to innovate in new ways that allow organisations to quickly learn and adapt on the hoof. This includes business modelling, war gaming, and celebrating failure!
A talk I gave at UXCampLondon 2013.
Simple criteria to decide, as a User Experience designer, if the Agile methodology is adapted to your next project.
Software Delivery At the Speed of AI: Inflectra Invests In AI-Powered QualityInflectra
In this insightful webinar, Inflectra explores how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming software development and testing. Discover how AI-powered tools are revolutionizing every stage of the software development lifecycle (SDLC), from design and prototyping to testing, deployment, and monitoring.
Learn about:
• The Future of Testing: How AI is shifting testing towards verification, analysis, and higher-level skills, while reducing repetitive tasks.
• Test Automation: How AI-powered test case generation, optimization, and self-healing tests are making testing more efficient and effective.
• Visual Testing: Explore the emerging capabilities of AI in visual testing and how it's set to revolutionize UI verification.
• Inflectra's AI Solutions: See demonstrations of Inflectra's cutting-edge AI tools like the ChatGPT plugin and Azure Open AI platform, designed to streamline your testing process.
Whether you're a developer, tester, or QA professional, this webinar will give you valuable insights into how AI is shaping the future of software delivery.
"Impact of front-end architecture on development cost", Viktor TurskyiFwdays
I have heard many times that architecture is not important for the front-end. Also, many times I have seen how developers implement features on the front-end just following the standard rules for a framework and think that this is enough to successfully launch the project, and then the project fails. How to prevent this and what approach to choose? I have launched dozens of complex projects and during the talk we will analyze which approaches have worked for me and which have not.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Dev Dives: Train smarter, not harder – active learning and UiPath LLMs for do...UiPathCommunity
💥 Speed, accuracy, and scaling – discover the superpowers of GenAI in action with UiPath Document Understanding and Communications Mining™:
See how to accelerate model training and optimize model performance with active learning
Learn about the latest enhancements to out-of-the-box document processing – with little to no training required
Get an exclusive demo of the new family of UiPath LLMs – GenAI models specialized for processing different types of documents and messages
This is a hands-on session specifically designed for automation developers and AI enthusiasts seeking to enhance their knowledge in leveraging the latest intelligent document processing capabilities offered by UiPath.
Speakers:
👨🏫 Andras Palfi, Senior Product Manager, UiPath
👩🏫 Lenka Dulovicova, Product Program Manager, UiPath
GraphRAG is All You need? LLM & Knowledge GraphGuy Korland
Guy Korland, CEO and Co-founder of FalkorDB, will review two articles on the integration of language models with knowledge graphs.
1. Unifying Large Language Models and Knowledge Graphs: A Roadmap.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.08302
2. Microsoft Research's GraphRAG paper and a review paper on various uses of knowledge graphs:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/blog/graphrag-unlocking-llm-discovery-on-narrative-private-data/
Epistemic Interaction - tuning interfaces to provide information for AI supportAlan Dix
Paper presented at SYNERGY workshop at AVI 2024, Genoa, Italy. 3rd June 2024
https://alandix.com/academic/papers/synergy2024-epistemic/
As machine learning integrates deeper into human-computer interactions, the concept of epistemic interaction emerges, aiming to refine these interactions to enhance system adaptability. This approach encourages minor, intentional adjustments in user behaviour to enrich the data available for system learning. This paper introduces epistemic interaction within the context of human-system communication, illustrating how deliberate interaction design can improve system understanding and adaptation. Through concrete examples, we demonstrate the potential of epistemic interaction to significantly advance human-computer interaction by leveraging intuitive human communication strategies to inform system design and functionality, offering a novel pathway for enriching user-system engagements.
Essentials of Automations: Optimizing FME Workflows with ParametersSafe Software
Are you looking to streamline your workflows and boost your projects’ efficiency? Do you find yourself searching for ways to add flexibility and control over your FME workflows? If so, you’re in the right place.
Join us for an insightful dive into the world of FME parameters, a critical element in optimizing workflow efficiency. This webinar marks the beginning of our three-part “Essentials of Automation” series. This first webinar is designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills to utilize parameters effectively: enhancing the flexibility, maintainability, and user control of your FME projects.
Here’s what you’ll gain:
- Essentials of FME Parameters: Understand the pivotal role of parameters, including Reader/Writer, Transformer, User, and FME Flow categories. Discover how they are the key to unlocking automation and optimization within your workflows.
- Practical Applications in FME Form: Delve into key user parameter types including choice, connections, and file URLs. Allow users to control how a workflow runs, making your workflows more reusable. Learn to import values and deliver the best user experience for your workflows while enhancing accuracy.
- Optimization Strategies in FME Flow: Explore the creation and strategic deployment of parameters in FME Flow, including the use of deployment and geometry parameters, to maximize workflow efficiency.
- Pro Tips for Success: Gain insights on parameterizing connections and leveraging new features like Conditional Visibility for clarity and simplicity.
We’ll wrap up with a glimpse into future webinars, followed by a Q&A session to address your specific questions surrounding this topic.
Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your FME expertise and drive your projects to new heights of efficiency.
2. Agenda
• Part I - What is the Agile Inception Deck?
• Part II - Creating our own
Monday, 13 August, 12
3. Beautiful code Beautiful user experience
How can we be doing
everything right ...
and still get it wrong.
Good design On time. On budget.
Great team
Monday, 13 August, 12
4. We are all in agreement then.
Monday, 13 August, 12
9. Enter the inception deck
10 questions you’d be
crazy not to ask before
you start your next project.
~ couple days, a week
1-6 months of planning
Monday, 13 August, 12
10. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
11. Start
Your project
End
Too late!
Ask the tough questions here
Monday, 13 August, 12
12. Purpose
• Eliminate confusion and misunderstanding.
• Set expectations.
• Highlight challenges.
• Get alignment.
• BEFORE project begins.
Monday, 13 August, 12
13. Part I: Seeing the big picture
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
Monday, 13 August, 12
14. 1. Ask why we are here
• Teams make 1000s of decisions and trade-
offs when building software.
• Want them to make the right ones.
• To do that they need to be informed.
• They need to know ‘why’.
#1 reason for doing this project?
Monday, 13 August, 12
15. Why are we here?
Better road Logistics
access? tracking?
Regulatory
Efficiency?
compliance?
Safety #1
Monday, 13 August, 12
16. How to get the why?
= Go and see =
(Genchi Genbutsu, 現地現物)
Monday, 13 August, 12
17. 2. Create an elevator pitch.
(a volunteer please)
Monday, 13 August, 12
21. Why elevator pitch?
• Brings clarity and focus to project.
• Forces team to think about the customer.
• Forces hard decisions to be made:
• who is it for? how is it different?
Monday, 13 August, 12
22. The Wii elevator pitch
• For [parents with young families]
• who [are scared by traditional game consoles]
• the [Nintendo Wii]
• is a [family entertainment system]
• that [let’s families play together].
• Unlike [the XBox and PS3 which have complicated
joysticks and controllers]
• our product [uses a natural, gesture based approach
to gaming that lets the whole family play (even
grandma)].
Monday, 13 August, 12
23. The elevator pitch
• For [target customer]
• who [statement of the need or opportunity]
• the [product name]
• is a [product category]
• that [key benefit, compelling reason to buy].
• Unlike [primary competitive alternative]
• our product [statement of primary differentiation].
Monday, 13 August, 12
24. The elevator pitch
• For [construction managers]
• who [need to safely track people’s locations at the
construction site]
• the [Construction Safety WorkPermit (CSWP)]
• is a [safety communication tool]
• that [allows people to be evacuated safely from sites
in the event of an emergency].
• Unlike [our current paper based system]
• our product [is web based and can be accessed by all
contractors from anywhere].
Monday, 13 August, 12
25. The Construction
Safety Permit System
Ideal for mine sites
Process permits faster!
Process permits safer!
Track people’s time better!
Where you need it. When you need it.
Monday, 13 August, 12
26. What if your product
was a box?
What would it look like?
Would you buy?
Monday, 13 August, 12
28. Features vs Benefits
• 555 horsepower engine • Pass easy on highway
• 0-100 km/h in 4.7 secs • Impress your friends
• Brake energy • Save money
regeneration
• Break safely with loved
• All wheel drive ones
Monday, 13 August, 12
30. Step 1: List the benefits
Why buy?
Come up with three
reasons why someone (5min)
would buy the Wii.
Monday, 13 August, 12
31. Step 2: Create a slogan
Something
catchy
Wii can all play
All together now
Wi’ll move you (5min)
(no slogan is too cheesy!)
Monday, 13 August, 12
32. Step 3: Draw your creation
<Product name>
Slo
Draw
ga
n
<benefit #1>
Your own image here <benefit #2>
<benefit #3>
(5min)
Monday, 13 August, 12
33. Why would we buy?
The Wii
W
ii m
Clarity
ov
Focus
e
yo
u
Alignment
Intent
Let grandma play
Fun for whole family
Family that plays together...
Monday, 13 August, 12
34. Let’s talk about scope
How do you tell someone what’s
IN scope
for their project?
Monday, 13 August, 12
35. 4. Create a NOT list
IN OUT
Stuff we
UNRESOLVED
Monday, 13 August, 12
36. Sample NOT list
IN OUT
Create new permit IntegraBon with legacy system
Update permit Offline capability
Basic search
Basic reporBng (x1)
Print
Delete permit
UNRESOLVED
IntegraBon with logisBcs tracking system (LTS)
Security swipe card
Monday, 13 August, 12
38. 5. Meet your neighbours
Technical writers
Safety officers Help desk
Production Infrastructure
support
Core team
Database Security
administrators Everyone else!
Monday, 13 August, 12
39. Greater community
People to start building Governance (SOX)
Put your core team
relationships with Security audit
members here ... Production readiness
Business transformation
Core team Change management
Database administrators
Corporate architecture
Training group
Technical writers
Legal
Help desk
Networking/infrastructure
Practice leadership team
and everyone else Risk and compliance
out here. Branch supervisors
Monday, 13 August, 12
40. Part II: Making it real
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
41. You pick your
architecture ...
when you pick your
team.
Monday, 13 August, 12
42. 6. Show the solution
Browser Services Domain logic DB2 Beware!
Security Mainframe
Validation Webservices
To be decided
No test
Technologies: Unresolved Third-party card environment
swipe system ETL
-‐ <language> Tibco Batch
-‐ <libraries>
-‐ <tools> ?
-‐ <technology> SQL Server
SQL Server
Out of scope
Clustered
SAP HR
Monday, 13 August, 12
43. How should we deal
with all the craziness?
Monday, 13 August, 12
44. 7. What keeps us up at night?
• Your risk slide.
• If you hear something crazy, get it out
there!
• This is your opportunity to raise any issues
or concerns you’ve got.
• As well as hear from the other side and
other team members.
• Better now than leaving it till later.
Monday, 13 August, 12
45. Project risks
• Director of construction availability
• Team not co-located
• Unproven technology
• New security architecture
• Timing of new logistics tracking system
Monday, 13 August, 12
46. Risks worth tackling
Slow computers
Customer availability
Team not sitting together
Economy cratering
Company getting acquired
Customer getting a promotion
Those that aren’t
Monday, 13 August, 12
47. The Lords Prayer...
Grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Monday, 13 August, 12
48. 8. Size it up
1 ? 3 ? 6 months?
Monday, 13 August, 12
49. How big?
• We don’t know exactly (but our sponsors
need a number).
• So we guess - 1, 3, or 6 months
• About as precise as we can get.
• So we gather all our highlevel stories, and
guess how long we think it will take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
50. Guestimation
Master story list
Add user
Print itinerary
Cancel trip
Book permit
Update permit
Search
Create device
Add swap trade
Add option
Cancel plan
Make sure your sponsors see this!
Monday, 13 August, 12
51. For example
Ship it!
ConstrucBon UAT Training
~3months 1 wk 1 wk
This is a guess. Not a commitment.
Monday, 13 August, 12
56. Trade-off sliders
The classic four
ON OFF Feature completeness (scope)
ON OFF Stay within budget (budget)
ON OFF Deliver project on Bme (Bme)
ON OFF High quality, low defects (quality)
* They can’t all be ‘ON’
* No two can occupy the same level
Is this enough?
Monday, 13 August, 12
57. Other important stuff
Other important stuff
ON OFF Insanely fun computer game
ON OFF Reduce call center traffic by 20%
ON OFF Increase conversions by 30%
ON OFF <insert your favorite here>
Monday, 13 August, 12
63. Be clear on your team
# Role Skill set
2 Developers C#, Ajax, HTML/CSS, TDD, Analysis skills
1 Tester Automated test experience (Selenium)
1 Project manager Part Bme -‐ not billable to project
1 Customer Source of truth. Can answer quesBons. Available to team.
1 Stakeholder Oversees project. UlBmately accountable.
Put anyone you feel is necessary for the
success of the project on this list.
Monday, 13 August, 12
64. Clarify who’s calling the shots
Our customer
The decider Where the team gets
Sets direction their marching orders
Calls the shots
Stakeholders
Get to give input
The core team
Monday, 13 August, 12
65. Rough budget
3 people x 3 1/2 months @$150/hr
$250K
* 160 hrs/ month
Monday, 13 August, 12
66. What this project is going to take
Construction UAT Training Ship it!
~3 months 1 wk 1 wk
3 people, 3 ½ months, $250K
Monday, 13 August, 12
67. Summary
• The inception deck is seeking alignment,
awareness, and consensus before starting
our project.
• Skip this step at your own peril.
• It’s much harder to deal with this stuff once
the bomb has gone off.
• Best to raise set expectations now about
how we are going to work, and make sure
everyone is cool with how we want to roll.
Monday, 13 August, 12
69. Scenario #1
• While conducting your first project meeting, your
customer (a former developer) requests that the
application be built in an old legacy computer language
that is no longer supported within the company.
• He explains that if the program is written in a language
he understands, he will be easier for him to maintain
and modify.
• The employee designated to do the work doesn’t
know the legacy language, and does not recommend
building the application in an unsupported technology.
Which inception deck card should we play?
Monday, 13 August, 12
70. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
71. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
72. Scenario #2
• Half way through the project, certain stakeholders begin
changing the requirements and priorities.
• These changes were not agreed to by all stakeholders, and
conflict with the spirit and direction agreed on at the
beginning of the project.
• Not sure whether to incorporate these changes or not, the
team is confused about direction, and is unsure whether they
should include these new requirements.
• What can the team do to remedy the situation?
Which card should we play?
Monday, 13 August, 12
73. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
74. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7.What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
75. Clarify who’s calling the shots
Our customer
The decider Where the team gets
Sets direction their marching orders
Calls the shots
Stakeholders
Get to give input
The core team
Monday, 13 August, 12
76. Scenario #3
• The company’s mainframe is due for retirement and a mission
critical application needs to be written.
• Wanting to do the development in house, the project team
decides to write it using a new technology they have no
experience in, while introducing a new ‘agile’ software
development methodology.
• The application development team is keen, but also very junior.
• What card should we play here before starting the project?
Which card should we play?
Monday, 13 August, 12
77. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
78. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at
night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
79. Scenario #4
• The team is doing fantastic! Customer is thrilled
• Only when going live do they realize how much work is
involved and how many parties need to be engaged.
• Fortunately, the team is able to scramble, and in record
time they push through the sign-off process (though they
don’t make many friends along the way)
• Unfortunately, a few noses got bent along the way, and
internal groups are not fans of this new ‘agile’ process
• What happened?
• What could we have done to prevent this?
Which card should we have played?
Monday, 13 August, 12
80. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
81. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your
neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
82. Scenario #5
• You’ve assembled the A-Team.
• The team is pumped.
• Excited to come into work.
• But then something strange starts to happen.
• The customer starts telling the team to stop innovating.
• Stop making the product better.
• Proves incredibly frustrating to the team.
• Don’t understand - why not make the product better?
• After several months best and brightest start to leave.
• How could this project have prevented this scenario?
Which card should we have played?
Monday, 13 August, 12
83. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
84. Enter the inception deck
1. Ask why we are
here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9.What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
88. Build inception deck for
• Online dating website
• Your favourite mobile game
• Design the new Apple TV
• <your own>
Monday, 13 August, 12
89. Design an inception deck
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(5-10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
90. This is going to go fast
• Appoint a customer (a decider).
• If you don’t know the answer - make it up!.
• Will present examples as we go.
Monday, 13 August, 12
91. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
92. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are
here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
93. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator
pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
94. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product
box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
95. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
96. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your
neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
97. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
98. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at
night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
99. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
(10 minutes each) 9. What’s going to give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
100. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to
(10 minutes each) give.
10. What’s it going to take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
101. Let’s go!
1. Ask why we are here.
2. Create an elevator pitch.
3. Design a product box.
4. Create a NOT list.
5. Meet your neighbours.
6. Show the solution.
7. What keeps us up at night.
8. Size it up.
9. What’s going to give.
(10 minutes each) 10. What’s it going to
take.
Monday, 13 August, 12
102. Resources
• The Agile Samurai
• Agile inception deck template
25% off this week only
Code: PragmaticAgile2012
http://pragprog.com/book/jtrap/the-agile-samurai
Monday, 13 August, 12
104. Some parting advice
• Be flexible. You don’t always need every slide.
• Make it visible.
• It’s OK to start the deck yourself.
• Keep it up to date.
• There is no one way! Make it your own.
• Questions!
Monday, 13 August, 12