The presentation slides from a talk I gave at XP2010 in Trondheim, Norway. Here are some metaphors that I find useful when describing software product development. In particular, they are useful for describing the basic principles of agile development and the lifecycle of a typical agile project.

1. Metaphors
for
So-ware
Development
Ken
Power
ken.power@gmail.com
kenpower.ie/
XP2010

2. WHAT
IS
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
LIKE?

3. WHAT
IS
AGILE
SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT
LIKE?

4. Wikipedia:
“A
METAPHOR
IS
AN
ANALOGY
BETWEEN
TWO
OBJECTS
OR
IDEAS,
CONVEYED
BY
THE
USE
OF
[ONE
SET
OF]
WORDS
INSTEAD
OF
ANOTHER.”

5. dicDonary.reference.com/
“A
FIGURE
OF
SPEECH
IN
WHICH
A
WORD
OR
PHRASE
THAT
ORDINARILY
DESIGNATES
ONE
THING
IS
USED
TO
DESIGNATE
ANOTHER,
THUS
MAKING
AN
IMPLICIT
COMPARISON”

9. “THE
POWER
OF
METAPHORS
IS
IN
THE
WAY
THAT
THEY
CHANGE
THE
SUBJECT
BY
BRINGING
NEW
THINKING
AND
IDEAS,
EXTENDING
AND
CHANGING
THE
WAY
THAT
A
PERSON
THINKS
ABOUT
SOMETHING.”

12. MulCple
Metaphors
for
Learning
by
Gary
Woodill
In
“Learning
and
organiza3ons:
towards
cross-­‐metaphor
conversa3ons”
“EACH
METAPHOR
GIVES
US
SOME
INSIGHT,
AND
TAKEN
TOGETHER
THEY
SHOW
WHAT
A
COMPLEX
CONCEPT
LEARNING
REALLY
IS.
NO
ONE
METAPHOR
IS
“CORRECT”,
BUT
EACH
REPRESENTS
A
DIFFERENT
UNDERSTANDING.”

13. BUT
WE
HAVE
ALL
THESE
ISSUES
IN
THE
SOFTWARE
BUSINESS
….

14. DEADLINES
STAFFING
CHALLENGES
COLLABORATING
EVOLVING
IN
GROUPS
REQUIREMENTS
DELIVERING
A
BUDGETS
DESIGN
COMPELLING
PRODUCT
CONSTRAINTS
INDIVIDUAL
CAPABILITY
FIXED
DATES
UNCLEAR
SPECIFICATIONS
NEW
FEATURE
REQUESTS
VALIDATING
THAT
IT
ALL
WORKS

15. WHAT
MAKES
A
PRODUCT
COMPELLING?

16. 05:00 GMT
Monday
May 24 th 2010

23. features
of
jazz
improvisaDon
• ProvocaDve
competence:
Deliberate
efforts
to
interrupt
habit
paRerns
• Embracing
errors
as
a
source
of
learning
• Shared
orientaDon
toward
minimal
structures
that
allow
maximum
flexibility
• Distributed
task:
conDnual
negoDaDon
and
dialogue
toward
dynamic
synchronizaDon
• Reliance
on
retrospecCve
sense-­‐making
• "Hanging
out":
Membership
in
a
community
of
pracCce
• Taking
turns
soloing
and
supporDng
“Crea3vity
and
Improvisa3on
in
Jazz
and
Organiza3ons:
Implica3ons
for
Organiza3onal
Learning”
-­‐
Frank
J.
Barrec
"OrganizaCon
Science"
/
Vol
9,
No.5.
September-­‐October
1998

25. Arhul
Making
–
Ch.
1:
What’s
really
different
about
knowledge
work
ARTFUL
MAKING
PROPOSES
A
FRAMEWORK,
AN
“ENABLING
METAPHOR”,
FOR
DOING
AND
MANAGING
KNOWLEDGE
WORK.

28. Arhul
Making
–
Ch.
1:
What’s
really
different
about
knowledge
work
AS
BUSINESS
BECOMES
MORE
DEPENDENT
ON
KNOWLEDGE
TO
CREATE
VALUE,
WORK
BECOMES
MORE
LIKE
ART.

29. An
industrial
making
process
Concept
generaDon
Product
planning
Product
engineering
Process
engineering
ProducDon
process
Product

30. Generate
Product
Talk
with
Repeat
customer
about
product
Expose
customer
to
product
Arhul
Making
ARTFUL
MAKING
IS
ITERATIVE
NOT
SEQUENTIAL

31. 4
QUALITIES
OF
ARTFUL
MAKING

32. A
method
of
control
that
accepts
wide
variaDon
within
known
parameters.
Release
contrasts
with
Restraint,
the
usual
method
of
industrial
control.
RELEASE

33. The
quality
exhibited
by
conversaDon,
in
language
and
behaviour,
during
which
each
party,
released
from
vanity,
inhibiDon,
and
preconcepDons,
treats
the
contribuDons
of
other
parDes
as
material
to
make
with,
not
as
posiDons
to
argue
with,
so
that
new
and
unpredictable
ideas
emerge.
COLLABORATION

34. The
quality
exhibited
by
the
work
of
a
group
dedicated
to
a
collaboraDon
in
which
individual
members
relinquish
sovereignty
over
their
work
and
thus
create
something
none
could
have
made
alone:
a
whole
greater
than
the
sum
of
its
parts.
ENSEMBLE

35. The
quality
exhibited
by
a
producDon
while
it
is
playing
for
an
audience;
or
the
quality
exhibited
by
interacDon
among
members
of
a
business
group,
and
ulDmately
between
the
group
and
the
customer.
PLAY

36. So[ware
Development
Play
Making
IteraDve
Cycle
Product
build
and
test
Rehearsal
Distributed,
independent,
Individual
developers
at
work
Individual
actors
preparing
simultaneous
invenDon
on
design
or
source
code
between
runs
Unifying
acDon
A
product
build
A
rehearsal
run
A
director
who
facilitates
The
Scrum
Master
or
project
The
director
coherent
chaos
manager
Forum
for
conversaDon
MeeDngs,
technology-­‐based
The
rehearsal
room
collaboraDve
forums,
Daily
Standup,
IteraDon
Review,
Pair
Programming,
RetrospecDves,
…
Way
of
senng
structure
Code
holds
structure
Actors
enact
structure
External
characterisDcs
of
Arhul
Making
in
Agile
So-ware
Development
and
Play
Making
(slightly
modified)

38. The
Power
of
Your
Metaphors
–
Enrique
MonDel
TAKE
CONTROL
OF
YOUR
METAPHORS
NOW
AND
CREATE
A
NEW
WORLD
OF
POSSIBILITY,
RICHNESS,
WONDER,
JOY
AND
FULFILLMENT.
"LIFE
IS
PAINTING
A
PICTURE,
NOT
DOING
A
SUM."
-­‐
OLIVER
WENDELL
HOLMES,
JR.