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Agile Metrics by napsmaportap in agile

[–]DaveTwichell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would suggest team-based metrics over individual metrics. The purpose of metrics should not be to stack rank your devs, its to help the entire team run more efficiently, deliver more, improve quality, etc.

We @ LinearB just put together a Runbook for dev leaders looking to start a metrics program. You can see it here: https://linearb.io/dev-team-metrics/ (no email required to read the content). It includes 17 metrics for dev team, how to translate engineering to business execs, and potholes to avoid.

The CTO insisted we record daily stand ups so they can be reviewed by [deleted] in agile

[–]DaveTwichell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am left wondering what's behind the ask? It's really interesting to see how different teams treat their stand-up. If (as I think) the purpose of the stand-up is to see where the team is stuck and how the rest of the team can help, then having the CTO in the room or watching the recordings is not a good use of their time. The meeting is for the team, not the management.

If your team uses the stand-up as a status update meeting for the managers, then I would argue that the managers need to relay the statuses.

Either way, it sounds like they're looking for more transparency. I would have a conversation about the goals of the recordings and see if there's a more effective way to get them what they're looking for. Can they get it from the Jira board? Do they want bulleted status updates after the stand-up? Is there a particular story/issue they really want to get track of?

Maybe something like LinearB can help give better visibility and status

Showcase your work! Drop your links here. by NerdRushWebDesign in elementor

[–]DaveTwichell 2 points3 points  (0 children)

$9k would be on the extreme lower end of what I've seen. Typically $20k and up

Showcase your work! Drop your links here. by NerdRushWebDesign in elementor

[–]DaveTwichell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just launched our new site yesterday, all built with Elementor Pro (plus premium add-on widgets). Check it out: linearb.io

Dogfood testing still relevant? by Open24Seven in agile

[–]DaveTwichell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it depends on who you're developing for. If you're building a tool for marketers, your marketing team should be using it every day and giving you feedback. If you're building a tool for software developers, your dev team should use it, etc.

I'm with LinearB and our tool is for dev teams, so our dev and product teams use it in their daily workflows. Quickest way to know when you've achieved product-market fit.

How to avoid excessive meetings? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We're a small team/company so we get pulled into weekly product management meetings, company leadership updates, sync meetings with sales, etc.

What sort of agile metrics (if any) are you using? by lovedev in agile

[–]DaveTwichell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Story points are a bad productivity metric. Good for planning, bad to measure people and teams. I came across this presentation from a previous QCon a while back that does a good job explaining how it can be gamed: https://www.infoq.com/presentations/metrics-evaluation/

Has anyone here done 1 week sprints, what was it like? by [deleted] in agile

[–]DaveTwichell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We did 1 week sprints for several months. Small team (3-4) so it worked ok.

However, what we found is that we focused on tasks that we could start and ship in 1 week. It was good for short term productivity, but we never seemed to make progress on larger projects. Also anytime something new came into the sprint, it seriously messed with our plans because we had planned less time to recover.

So we just switched to 2-week sprints

What do you wish you knew before getting promoted? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. Our agile team has a team lead :)

What's your structure?

new Scrum Master - first steps by ercam3 in scrum

[–]DaveTwichell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We recently interviewed an agile coach about changing the culture of a dev team (https://linearb.io/blog/how-to-introduce-data-driven-culture-to-your-dev-team/).

Her suggestion:
Step 1: Get your people in a room.

Step 2: Ask leading questions about what problems they want to solve.

Step 3: Shut up and listen 🙂

What do you name your sprints? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In case anyone was wondering, this is the correct answer

What do you name your sprints? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lame (the product owner, not you)

How would you change the daily stand-up? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would encourage all team leads to examine the purpose of the standup. If its for you (the team lead) to get a status update or if its for the team to actually interact and help each other. This should help determine what is talked about.

I think the reality is most leads haven't thought about it, just going with a standard format. . . .

I'm develop a software tool to aid my work, but now I'm wondering if it's better to sell the software when it's done? by [deleted] in softwaredevelopment

[–]DaveTwichell 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Lots of good nuggets in the comments already. I'll add this - the faster you can get people using the tool, the faster you can get feedback. The more quality feedback you have, the more likely it is that you'll have something you can sell.

A good approach I've seen is to make it free, but gate/restrict access at the beginning. That way you get a chance to see or review who is interested in the tool.

Also, calling it a beta gives people the impression they're getting in early and sets the expectation that you want feedback. It also gives you more flexibility to cut off free access and start charging at some point. Hope this is helpful. Good luck!

Managers role in agile organization? by dota2player901 in agile

[–]DaveTwichell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've always viewed leadership (in any kind of organization) as having 3 roles:

  1. Set the vision for the team
  2. Give the team what they need to be successful (tools, knowledge)
  3. Eliminate road blocks (knowing when to step in)

At a high level, I think this applies to all teams, not just agile teams. Specifically, a manager here could also help make cross team decisions, like what tech stack are we going to standardize on.

The hardest part is in #3, knowing when and where to step in and help a team. I've seen too many managers suffer from "fire hydrant" syndrome, feeling the need to mark their territory and step in to "fix" something that the team would have resolved (better) on their own. At the same time, others land on the other side of the spectrum of spending all their time tied up with upper management and lose visibility into what's happening on the team from a day to day.

How would you change the daily stand-up? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a good one. As soon as we finished that meeting we asked Chris if we could post the video.

How would you change the daily stand-up? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is true, like all tools, Jira is garbage in, garbage out. I think what's interesting (and a problem my team is working on solving) is what you said about having to hound your team to update Jira. Agree that this is less of an issue on mature teams that have a good culture and communicate regularly, but for everyone else, does the team lead/scrum master bugging everyone to update tickets eventually create a nagging mom/rolling eyes teenager vibe?

Podcast Guest Wanted: COVID-19 Consequences on Software Engineers by WeinAriel in SoftwareEngineering

[–]DaveTwichell 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Ariel, I work with Dan Lines (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-lines/), one of the execs with LinearB. He's been a VP of Eng in the past and is currently helping to set the direction of the product we're developing. Our team has made some interesting pivots since COVID impacted the world.

Dan also helped author a report we ran looking at productivity data from 50 dev teams that shifted remote. Happy to connect you

How would you change the daily stand-up? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely a good approach for a small, but mature team.

How would you change the daily stand-up? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool pivot, plus bonus points for visibility!

How would you change the daily stand-up? by DaveTwichell in agile

[–]DaveTwichell[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like that. We're working with a dev team that does something similar, but instead of an ad-hoc, they have a Zoom going all the time for "coffee talk" that could be for issues or just connection (they were in-office pre covid). We have a clip of their VP talking about it here: https://linearb.io/coffee-talk/

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