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The Kanban board

Posted by: amehrabian@portofinosolutions.com

Tagged in: Untagged 

amehrabian@portofinosolutions.com

This is the third part of the Lean-Kanban post based on a training class I recently attended by David Anderson (aka @agilemanager) and some additional reading on the same subject. I will admit that I now favor this method of collaboration far more than Scrum and one of those reasons is Kanban’s explicit limitation of work made visible and enforceable through the Kanban board.

In Part 1 I covered some of my takeaways from the training and basic tenets of Kanban. In Part 2 I focused entirely on the notion of process policies. In this post I want to discuss the Kanban board, one of the key artifacts of the Kanban software development process.

At first glance, a Kanban board looks just like a Task board used in most Scrum environments.


New Group for Agile Coaching

Posted by: Patrick Egan

Tagged in: group , coaching

Patrick Egan

 

Agile Coaching is all about working with people to create great agile teams.  In order to facilitate this idea we have created a new social media group  group in the Agile Community at Agile Journal. It is a great place to discuss ideas about how to transition from agile practitioner to agile coach. We need a moderator for this group. Interested? Let me know.

Check out the new Agile Coaching Group at http://www.agilejournal.com/community/groups/viewgroup/43-Agile+Coaching

2010 Calendar - Call for Topics!

Posted by: Bob Aiello

Tagged in: Untagged 

Bob Aiello

Hey everyone, Russell Panonne and I are working on putting together the calendar for 2010. We would really like to get your input on which topics you would like to see us cover in the coming year. Even better what topics would you like to help write about?

The Agile Journal has some of the leading experts in Agile writing and sharing best practices. We also welcome input from Agile enthusiasts who may not have published their first book just yet. So if you are in the trenches implementing Agile then by all means drop me a note and let me know what you would like to write about. Sharing best practices is what our Journal is all about!

Bob Aiello
Editor


Webcast Next Week - http://www.agilejournal.com/webcasts/2520

Broadcast Date: Thursday, December 17, 2009
Time:
10:00 AM PT / 12:00 PM CT / 1:00 PM ET
Duration:
One hour

Speakers:
Scott Castl
e, Senior Product Management, Electric Cloud
Bob Aiello, Editor-in-Chief, CM Journal




Follow Agile Journal on Twitter

Posted by: Patrick Egan

Tagged in: twitter

Patrick Egan

Follow us on twitter and you can get up to the minute updates on new articles, blogs, events and comments from other agile business professionals.  twitter@agilejournal


The Global Rational User Group Proudly Presents:

 

The Future of the Unified Process


Articles for Agile Journal

Posted by: Bob Aiello

Tagged in: Untagged 

Bob Aiello

I am working on editing the articles submitted for the next issue of the Agile Journal.
The topic is "Fun Driven Development: Agile In Games"

 

What fun!


Bob


Back in the 90’s self-managed teams were gaining popularity, but they had a high rate of failure mainly because team members lacked people skills.  These ideas of self-managed teams were borrowed by the Agile movement when in 2001 they formulated a ‘new’ way of working, based on Agile principles. These principles value individuals and interactions over processes and tools; working software over comprehensive documentation; customer collaboration over contract negotiation; and responding to change over following a plan.

For these ideas to work in practice Agile team members  must know something about teamwork and this means understanding a lot about human behavior and why people do the things they do!

Agile team members are usually composed of highly skilled knowledge workers with strong values of Independence. Some are worth more to an organization than the people who manage them!  Many software developers are quite introverted, preferring to interact with their computers rather than people.  In my experience, companies hardly spend any time on people skills and nothing on the even more difficult concept of what people need to do to ‘self-manage’ into a high-performing team.  I’ve had to learn this in the world of experience. I wonder how many readers find themselves in a similar position?


The Hang of It

Posted by: jonie

Tagged in: Untagged 

jonie

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Farm Frenzy, Burger Rush, Wedding Dash, Little Shop of Treasures - these are the games I usually play off line. Well, I like these games more than the on-line games like DOTA, Flyff and alike. You could say that I'm old school but I like them. I just do gaming if I have a little spare time on my tight schedule.

But hey, don't get me wrong, I also play DOTA and Flyff but not often. I usually get tired of the game and it's quite violent and it's not my thing. I'm corny, I know but it's just the way it is. I usually get bored when I play those games but it's quite interesting and upbeat though. Like DOTA, when you killed someone, i mean "digital" someone, you get satisfaction (in my case, a little bit) because I feel like a winner already. But on the other hand, I felt a guilty feeling. LOL. I know it's weird but killing a virtual someone is like killing a real person. This is also the reason why I don't spending too much time playing those stuff. I hope you get what I mean. So, if what I do after doing my custom papers or run out of topic, I play offline games to refresh my memory. It helps a lot. Keeps me going after playing.


Working, Working...and Working! Stop and Think to You Health!

Posted by: Jhoan Meriza

Tagged in: Untagged 

Jhoan Meriza

Casey
Creative Commons License photo credit: myaktinephotography.com

When you sit in an office and business seat for a a lot of period of time, you run the risk of causing low spinal pain or even causing more damage to an already existing spinal or neck problem. The reason for this is because sitting in a static position will increase pain in the neck, spinal, shoulders, arms, and even more so, add pressure to the spinal and spinal discs.

When you sit in an office and business seat for a a lot of period of time, most people tend to slouch over or down in the seat, stretching the spinal ligaments and straining the discs in the spinal column.  Sitting in these positions over time can further damage the spinal  structures and cause you major problems in your own lower spinal. 
If you sit at your own office and business bureau for a lot of periods of time, an ergonomic seat is something you must have.  These seats can help you maximize support for your own spinal and help you maintain the proper posture while you  sit in the seat.  Simply owning the seat is not enough, as its crucial to adjust the seat to the proportions of your own individual body structure.

No matter how comfortable you may be in your own office and business seat, proa lot ofed static posture isn't good for your own spinal and also happens to be a contributo to muscle strain and spinal problems.  Every half hour, you  should get out of your own seat to walk, stand, or even stretch for a few minutes.  Even walking to  the bathroom or to get something to drink is great for your own body.

Deluxe Ball Chair
Creative Commons License photo credit: contemporaryofficefurniture.net

Walking for several minutes will help you even more, as it gets your own blood circulating.  Although many office and business seats are designed to lower spinal pain, moving around throughout the day when you can is always the best thing you can do for your own spinal.

Even though many people have standard office and business seats, there are many different other styles available for you to purchase.  Traditional or standard office and business  seats may be great for the money, although they won't help you that much when it comes to preventing spinal pain. 
The more expensive seats or those with ergonomic benefits are your own best purchase.  They will help your own body while you sit at your own office and business bureau, even help those with current spinal problems.  If you have to sit at your own office and business bureau for a lot of periods of time, make sure you choose your own office and business seat wisely.  You'll be sitting in your own seat while you work, therefore you want it to be both comfortable and safe.


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