March 31, 2005

Release 5: Downward Nobility and XP

I like this article from Watts Wackers...
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/11/futurist.html

In the Futurology Decoder Key section, he goes:
" A good futurist is a good historian. So, to envision the downwardly noble future, I frame the five eras of humanity -- hunter-gatherer, agricultural, industrial, information, and coming soon, the dream society -- with societal templates. How are interactions organized in each of those eras? Tribes, families, hierarchies, networks -- and now neo-tribes. What's the dominant physical structure? Tent, farm, factory, office -- and theme park. Dominant person? Chief, head of household, capitalist, knowledge worker -- and storyteller. Now, take status. What are the status symbols? Being old, owning land, material possession, access to information -- and now spiritual experiences. Try it with any category -- weapons, modes of travel, mission of life -- and you'll begin to build a detailed picture of the future. "

What are the dominant Organisation forms in each of those eras?
Dictatorial, Collegiate, Bureaucratic, Innovative --- and now?

What would be the downward nobility attribute for today's organisations?

And how would XP fit in this new organisation?

Whatever it is, I believe that practicing XP in an organisation that allows and encourages it is on the way to be able to enter a room and state "I am a happy person!"

Release 5: We need Jamie Oliver!

Project methodology and School Dinners have one thing in common: "they have been done a certain way for so many years that it has become a routine for the doers and a cost saving exercise for the deciders...".

For those who do not know who Jamie Oliver is, he is a Chef, and has become famous in the UK through various TV programmes (see http://www.jamieoliver.net/).


His most recent broadcasting venture was to try and change the eating behaviour of young kids at school >> they are served crap, they eat crap, and they only want crap, mainly because that's all they know.

The whole experience lasted a few months but was concentrated for TV into a series of 4 episodes of 1 hour each.

I won't go into more details here. You can read and learn more about it at:
http://www.channel4.com/life/microsites/J/jamies_school_dinners/

Now, there are 2 things I find really interesting in all this:
  1. The effect the "new" food will have on kids in the long run is predicted by nutritionists to be great >> far less health problems when they are adults and a longer life expectancy in general
  2. The whole experiment fell right in the middle of the general election campaign, and political parties are now making healthier school dinners for all a KEY SELLING point and differentiating factor of their respective programmes!!!
Jamie Oliver has triggered a change in school dinners in the UK: Kids are happy, dinner ladies are happy, parents are happy, politics are happy (well, the one party that will win the general election based on this will be!!).

What is this post doing in here?


Well, maybe we should consider ourselves as the Jamie Oliver's of XP/Agile. Wherever we go, there are kids to feed, dinner ladies to educate, parents to convince, and politics to please... and looking back at point 1 and 2 above, don't we do what we do in the same context and for the same reasons as Jamie did his stuff?

I believe we are! Now, show me the way to 10 Downing Street ;-)

Iteration 5: Planning Game

This iteration will be geared towards commenting on other people's stuff!

New stories:

Story ID: 5.1
Estimate: 10
Type: BAU
Status: Started
Value: 10

Description:
As an XP practitioner, I want to spend a bit of time reflecting on other people's thoughts on areas that are related or not to XP/Agile/software delivery or project management. This is so that I can step back from what I am immerged on a day to day basis and learn or propose new tricks to make the XP world better known and accepted.

Acceptance criteria:
External sources must be named and located wherever possible

Interesting idea or concept must be provided in blog entry
Additional XP driven insight must be supplied

Tasks:
  1. Find interesting material (minimum 1 per day for next 2 weeks)
  • Dissect material
  • Draw original comments or findings
  • Post Blog entries (minimum 5 for next 2 weeks)
  • March 30, 2005

    Iteration 4: Retrospective

    Outcome:

    Only 1 blog entry created over the last iteration.

    I have submitted 3 session proposals for XP 2005: 1 XP Game, 1 XP Challenge session, 1 panel. The XP Game proposal has been accepted. Still unsure about the 2 others.

    Measured Velocity: 8 points
    Measured Value: 10 ++

    What worked well:

    I have actually delivered the primary story for iteration 4 (Story id 4.1) within acceptance criteria. However, it took me a fair bit of time, probably outside the boudaries of the normal duration of my iteration length.

    What did not work so well:

    I exceeded the duration of my iterations to deliver this... I have been unable to devote enough time to get this out the door more rapidly.


    Puzzles:

    Same as last time: Need to be more effective on all communication medias without impacting my day job...

    Actions:

    Revisit Outcomes priorities,
    Plan/book time to work on blog more effectively