Think you’re a Good Collaborator? Check out our Top 10 Collaboration Killers

(This is a follow-up to my post in July 2019:  Bias is the Kryptonite to Collaboration.)

Collaboration. It’s one of the tenets of the new Heart of Agile and central to all agile practices today.  Effective collaboration increases communication, encourages creativity, lowers rework, improves morale and delivers better products. Many of us consider ourselves pretty good at communication and collaboration, yet I’ve discovered some silent habits we have that kill collaboration in its tracks.  This post is a Top 10 Checklist for professionals in all industries that tests whether you harbor some of these silent collaboration killers.

We already know how…

As humans, we instinctively know how to collaborate – we do it all day, every day in our personal lives as we interact with friends, family, acquaintances and even strangers. When we throw Super Bowl parties or have friends over for dinner, collaboration is second nature and flows easily in the kitchen.  As adults, we’re practiced communicators, we know how to act in public and nurture our private relationships. We’re typically good at cooperation, communication, emotional intelligence and critical thinking with our partners, friends, family and, even strangers.  (While this is not a given across all of society, I’m assuming that if you’re reading this post, it’s true for you.)

To me, it seems ironic that these same collaboration skills seem to atrophy once we cross the thresholds of our work.

Millions are spent on Corporate Training

Case in point — Corporate America spends millions of dollars every year training professionals on how to better collaborate and communicate, yet recent studies (2019) show workplace morale at all-time lows: One study cites a whopping 75% of US workers are unhappy, a second shows 80% of professionals reporting career blockage due to emotional issues at work.

The Connection!

I believe that there is a direct connection between the lack of collaboration skills at work and the levels of workplace dissatisfaction — and it stems from an unconscious lack of respect and love for our co-workers.  I’ve seen silent collaboration killers in every board room and war room, and I profess that if we acted at home as we do at work, we’d all be unattached with few friends.

The following checklist is a Top 10 list of (silent and not-so-silent) Collaboration Killers that sabotage our projects.  Maybe you’ll recognize one or two (or more) and see yourself in the mix.  The good news is that these are easy to overcome with recognition and practice! Which of these are most dominant in your workplace?

(Note that a description of each follows the checklist.)

Top 10 Collaboration Killers – CHECKLIST

1. The Eye Roll / Heavy Sigh.
2. The Emperor Wears No Clothes.
3. Shoot the Messenger.
4. Dunce Capping.
5. The Shut Down.
6. Sarcasm (passed off as irony or wit.)
7. Confirmation Bias.
8. Okay Boomer, Okay Millennial.
9. The Charlie Brown Teacher.
10. Selective Blindness (or selective hearing.)

 Top 10 Collaboration Killers

1. The Eye Roll / Heavy Sigh. We’ve all seen this in action – it is one of the quickest ways to show bias and disapproval to an entire room without saying a word. (So ingrained is this habit in our culture that even small children mimic and master it.) The Heavy Sigh is often used together with the Eye Roll to provide emphasis of the disdain. The impact of this killer increases when used by management.
2. The Emperor Wears No Clothes. Many of you can recall the fable of the emperor who was fooled into thinking he was wearing the finest suit in public (as convinced by his expert tailors) and paraded through the village naked, before someone finally exposed the truth. Today’s the term is used as slang on Urban Dictionary: “The Emperor Wears No Clothes… is often used in political and social contexts for any obvious truth denied by the majority <sic, management> despite the evidence of their eyes, especially when proclaimed… When people say “The emperor wears no clothes”, they mean that other people need to stop being *** kissers to a political leader and see things for what they truly are instead of denying the truth of the situation.  It takes a person with guts to speak the truth and blast through the bs and lies.”  It must be safe for staff to raise issues and challenge the “truth” for collaboration to live.
3. Shoot the Messenger.  We’ve all witnessed this when someone delivers factual (aka honest) information and is chided with “No, no, no! That’s not true… don’t you tell me that… !”  This is a verbal killer that stops collaboration (and truthful information) in its tracks.  Banish this habit.
4. Dunce Capping. We can laugh at movies where a comedic movie depicts a dunce cap, but the impact on the “dunce” is profound.  Today, the public ridicule killer is equally harmful.  The danger is that the practice is often innocuous:  someone asks a question that the recipient judges as being obvious and the response kills collaboration:  “Did you seriously just ask me that question? Wow!  Go back to your desk and figure it out, what a stupid question…” I stand firm in my belief that 99% of questions raised in groups are not obvious (no one likes to be shamed for a lack of knowledge.)
5. The Shut Down. Agile teams talk about the value of “early failures” but in reality, this is anything but the truth. Delivery time pressure still trumps late corrections when defects are discovered close to production.  The Shut Down involves chiding such as “That’s an enhancement. You know we don’t have the time for that today – we’ll work on it later (post-delivery.)  Even scrum masters are humans who want to avoid the wrath of management when delivery is late.
6. Sarcasm (passed off as irony or wit.) We’ve all seen sarcasm at work – someone spouts a sarcastic remark to what could have become a valid idea. When the target reacts in astonishment, they are chided for being too sensitive because they can’t take a joke. Leadership expert Brene Brown takes sarcasm to its roots (the Greek word means to “tear flesh,” and is a cruel form of indirect communication.  Consider curbing your sarcasm at work if you want to increase collaboration.
7. Confirmation Bias. This is a BIG one because we’re all guilty of it without even realizing it(in and out of work) but it becomes especially damaging when we aren’t aware of it at work. Without even thinking, we can dismiss valuable contributions if they come from someone we’ve already judged we don’t respect. A silent collaboration killer.
8. Okay boomer, okay millennial… Cultural bias. Similar to #7 but based on our opinion (or ignorance) of anyone different from us (from another country, culture, generation, religion, financial status, etc.) we summarily dismiss valid input because we can’t see past the face that delivers it. We hear the words or ideas, then quickly dismiss them because they are spoken/written by someone older, less intelligent, poorer, less educated or simply “different” from us.  Collaboration squashed.
9. The Charlie Brown Teacher. If you’ve ever watched a Charlie Brown cartoon, you’ll recognize this from as the teacher of character Peppermint Patty (who she refers to as “Sir”.) The words spoken are completely tuned out and whatever is said is unintelligible.  This is related to the Biases, but rather than listening and dismissing ideas based on the source, we dismiss the words entirely before even hearing them.
10. Selective Blindness (or selective hearing.) Related to #9, this practice is the subject of the running joke of longtime married couples where one partner doesn’t hear (or see) when the other speaks.  In workplaces, this practice can also develop where certain people are rendered invisible (worse than bias) and their contribution is not seen or heard.  At my own family gatherings, I witnessed this in terms of sexism on the part of my father.  We’d be having a nice dinner with a large family group of 10 or more and the conversation was flowing.  At some point, I’d say something and my father would not respond at all.  Then my now ex-husband would restate the exact same words as his own and my father would instantly “wake up” and say how great the comment was.  Regardless of my response (“I just stated that”) both my ex and my father continued the practice until I finally stopped contributing anything when family dinners arose. Selective Blindness kills collaboration.

How many of these silent killers lurk in the hallways or boardrooms in your company?  How many are part of your own repertoire of workplace habits?

Would you help me by joining in on a discussion?

Heart of Agile holds Promise as a Silver Bullet

Have you heard about Dr Alistair Cockburn’s Heart of Agile concept? In Alistair’s words, it’s a radical simplification of Agile into four fundamental words: Collaborate, Deliver, Reflect and Improve. As one of the original cast of the Agile Manifesto, Alistair has a wealth of knowledge and insight about all things agile, and I was thrilled to learn about the human-centric ideas in this new Heart of Agile concept.

While the premise of Agile condensed into four words, might, at first glance, appear too simple for some (as an engineer, I know we value complexity) or too unsophisticated (marketers seek innovative words) or even too basic for seasoned agilists (Scrum touts over 100 key learnings), when you peel the onion that is the Heart of Agile, at its core is the essence (the heart) of bringing humanity to work. It means embracing the essential soft skills (social awareness, emotional intelligence, empathy, acceptance, communication, diversity, active listening) that we already use for success in everyday life outside of work. It’s simple and yet complex at the same time.

And, it just might hold promise in the pursuit of the proverbial management “silver bullet.”

To me, the Heart of Agile is really about getting back to the basics of how we should be behaving at work, not how we were taught to behave when we’re in a corporate environment. I like that.

Lately, when Alistair talks about the personality of those who espouse the Heart of Agile, I think about a Corporate Personality – one where acceptance and community are the norm, where innovation and creativity are truly valued. Contrast that with the dominant “command and control” personality prevalent in so many companies, including agile companies, today.

The Agile Manifesto promoted “people over process” and “working <products> over documentation” yet the strict adherence to Scrum and other policies and procedures today, seems to defy those very tenets. Agile was supposed to be about a better way of people working with people to build better solutions, together. (Certainly, this has been happening, but…)

Consider recent statistics citing a whopping 70% of Americans who are unhappy at work, and (in a separate study) 80% of workers saying emotional-based issues block their career advancement. Now, combine that with the looming STEM worker crisis (a deficit of 3.7 million skilled workers by the year 2030), the exorbitant cost of replacing skilled talent, and a burgeoning millennial workforce that values quality of life over “working for the man”, and the Heart of Agile becomes a “no-brainer.”

I believe that companies that invest in (and value) soft skills today will grow a workforce tomorrow where people are treated with dignity and respect, and reap the benefits of higher profits. When millennials dominate the workplace (by 2030 there will be more millennial-aged workers than had any prior generation) – gone will be the “Stepford Wife” corporations with rote protocols and robotic adherence to procedures.

Successful companies of tomorrow will value soft skills more than technical prowess. The tide is already turning in high tech corporations where HR executives emphasize personality (people) skills over technical skills. “It’s easier to teach technical skills, to people, than soft skills to techies,” is a frequent refrain. Welcome to the Heart of Agile.

Today, I’m proud to say I’m part of an undercurrent of technical professionals worldwide who are part of the growing Heart of Agile community. The concepts we discuss (including emotional intelligence, feedback, Scrum, living agile, culture of listening, overcoming barriers to collaboration, Shu Ha Ri and Kokoro, honesty, trust, self-acceptance, measurement, diversity, appreciation, and others), are refreshingly technology-agnostic and human-centric. And, the concepts merge well with what I’ve taught in my classes for years – communication and humanity is the key to measurement, technology, project management and … work.

Want to know more? The Heart of Agile has a webpage http://www.heartofagile.com, a YouTube channel, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group, and an emerging network of MeetUp groups worldwide (Tampa and Boulder USA, Argentina, Chile and others in South America, Australia, Scotland, Belgium, France, Austria, Serbia and others.)

Join us and be a part of this positive, optimistic, human-centric Heart of Agile community!

To your success! Carol

Bias: It’s like Kryptonite to Collaboration

Collaborate: the concept is so ingrained with agile development that it’s one of the four components of Alistair Cockburn’s simplified Heart of Agile approach (along with Deliver, Reflect and Improve.)  Yet, collaboration has an “achilles heel”, a Kryptonite of sorts, that no one really talks about:  Bias.

Before we get into the roots of Bias and its effects, let’s explore what’s at the core of Collaboration.

Collaboration

To collaborate (according to Google Dictionary) is to

cooperate, join (up), join forces, team up, get together, come together, band together, work together, work jointly, participate, unite, combine, merge, link, ally, associate, amalgamate, integrate, form an alliance, pool resources, club together,  fraternize, conspire, collude, cooperate, consort, sympathize…

Collaboration relies on a combination of team skills: listening, communicating, connecting, cooperating, observing, and setting aside personal agendas and opinion.

Bias is like Kryptonite to Collaboration

Bias creeps in innocuously while we’re truly practicing our good communication skills; it can coat our words and can jade our thought process without us even being aware of it.  At best, bias skews our creativity, at worst, it kills trust and collaboration.

While we may not perceive bias in ourselves or others (“after all, we’re open and honest professionals doing our best”) – it’s there.

The good news is that Bias is like the iceberg below the surface that we didn’t know was there, and once we’re aware its there, we can dismantle its effects.

Through conscious practice and exercises, our awareness of our own biases can increase and we can override its effects.

Types of Bias

Bias comes in a variety of flavors and styles – and, we all have it in one way or another. The first step to overcoming bias is to recognize and acknowledge it in ourselves.

What kind of bias(es) do you hold?  I’ve condensed the list of bias types (from data analytics and psychology sites) and added examples for agile projects:

1. Confirmation Bias – We skew our observation of an event, concept, person in a way that confirms our already held belief.  A pattern of highlighting news that agrees with the agenda of the left or right, and ignoring the other side.
   Example:  Changes are needed to a delivered report because legislation changed (fact), and we think “Typical of the users always changing their minds” (confirms our belief.)
2. Attribution Bias – We attribute an action to someone based on their personality (flaws) rather than the situation.
   Example:  The project is delayed because testing isn’t finished.  We think:  “the tester doesn’t know what they are doing” (attributing it to a personality flaw) rather than looking at the situation of tester work overload.
3. Commitment Bias – Continuing to invest in a derailed project because of the sunk costs already committed (time/effort/money.)
   Example: We think: How can we bail on this project after we’ve already spent a year and $500K on it?
4. Labeling Bias – We (un)consciously describe or label a person/group in a way that influences how we think about them.
   Example:  We think marketing (people) have no clue about technology (so why ask them for input)?
5. Spin Bias – We accept only one interpretation (ours) of an event or policy to the exclusion of the other.
   Example:  We spin the news (especially when there is a gap):  China banned cryptocurrencies, so it must be because of… (nefarious financial dealings…)
6. Spurious Correlation Bias – We believe causality (without checking) between two potentially (un)related events or circumstances.
   Example:  Gas prices always go up before a long weekend.
7. Omission Bias – Leaving out important information/people (certain facts or details) on a project because we don’t see its relevance.
   Example:  We didn’t think of including IT folks in a renovation project meetings (we omitted the importance of moving the network…)
8. Not like Me Bias – Dismissing information or ideas because of the source or group generating it.
   Example:  We think that new hires have no idea about how our company works (when their input may be fresh and show us new ways to work.)

When we allow these unconscious biases to influence how we send or receive information, we stymie true collaboration.

What biases do you see in yourself and your workplace?  When I, personally realize I have a particular bias, I make a conscious effort to pause before responding.  When I’m prone to say something that would block collaboration (words like “we can’t do that…” or even the seemingly innocent thought in my head like “what on earth?” I try to stop and ask myself why I would think that.  Pausing to reflect and see the part that my unconscious bias plays, really helps me to collaborate better.  Might it work for you?

Would you Play Along?

Over the coming weeks, please join me in a new blog series called “The 5% Social Experiment” where I’ll post some easy social experiments to identify and overcome workplace bias.

Can I count on you to play along?

Carol

Chicken and Egg and Agile: What comes first Hard or Soft skills?

How would YOU answer this question?

Stereotypically people answer based on their experience and expertise:  

• technical pros choose hard skills first (programming, math, logistics, complex problem solving,) because they involve complexity and are quantifiable. Soft skills are seen as qualitative (less value) and simpler (aka “fluff”) and easier to learn on the job;    
• business people choose soft skills first (communication, emotional intelligence, listening, time management, collaboration) because it can be impossible to work with people who lack them. Technical skills, they reason, are easier to learn. 

Ultimately, we need a combination.  The most successful agile teams possess a combination of both skills: clear communication, understanding, empathy, time management, collaboration AND technical competency.

Oft cited research states that 85% of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills (people skills) and 15% is a result of technical skills and knowledge.  Software development used to be an anomaly to this, but no more.

A Look at SD History 

A mere 30 years ago, engineers and computer scientists owned software development: programming was a specialized skill that afforded coders both job security and relative seclusion.  In the beginning, before SDLC (software development life cycle) methodologies, users wrote out bits of requirements and passed them over (“the wall”) to programmers who turned them into computer programs using “code and fix.”  Interactions between the business and IT (information technology) were isolated, formal, and controlled. 

I remember colleagues 25 years ago lamenting that “software development would be so much easier if we didn’t have to deal with users.”

Fast forward to today’s agile environment where communication, collaboration and frequent software deployment are norms.  Co-located open space team areas replace rows of stoic IBM coders working in isolation and according to a recent Career Builder study: 77% of employers now believe that soft skills are equally as important as “hard” or “technical” skills in the work environment. 

Yet… technical professionals go into their professions for the same reasons they always did: to solve complex problems based on math and science.

The Value of Soft Skills

Reading stories of agile transformation success leads one to think that every workplace is like Google:  teams of co-workers celebrating each other’s differences, playing games at work, seeking to maximize their collaboration – the perfect combination of soft and hard skills. 

In 2013, Google decided to test its hiring hypothesis by analyzing 15 years’ worth of hiring, firing, and promotion data.

This project led to the surprising discovery that hard skills come in last among the top seven qualities of Google’s top employees.

“The top 7 characteristics of a successful Google employee are in fact:

1. Being a good coach
2. Communicating and listening well
3. Possessing insights into others (including others different values and points of view)
4. Having empathy toward and being supportive of one’s colleagues
5. Being a good critical thinker and problem solver
6. Being able to make connections across complex ideas
7. STEM expertise

If nearly all of the top characteristics of success at Google are soft skills, then there is a strong argument for investment in those skills being not just a sound investment, but a vital one.”  https://insights.learnlight.com/en/articles/measure-roi-of-soft-skills/

Can soft skills be learned?

The jury is out on this – some say yes (emotional intelligence, awareness, communications classes) while others profess that soft skills are personality based.  

What is YOUR experience – do you think soft skills can be learned? 

Have we reached the Shangri-la in software development with agile?  

How would you answer this post: What comes first in agile – soft skills or hard skills?

Thank you in advance for your comments.

Carol

GDPR, Forget Me and Human Connection

Last week, the first of many sweeping data privacy laws went into effect in Europe:  The General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR.  If you’ve ever traveled abroad or given your email address to a company that does business in Europe, you’re likely to be peripherally familiar with the legislation that has far-reaching implications globally and regulates what types of identifying data that companies can keep about you.  Without going in to detail, (a reasonable read on the subject is found at https://tinyurl.com/ycw8ec3z among others,)  people must explicitly renew and opt-in to continue to receive emails from corporations and services. Companies have spent hundreds and thousands of hours pulling together new policies about how they store and keep data about customers/subscribers.

Individuals under GDPR can also ask to “Be Forgotten” – to which corporations must remove ALL DATA EVER STORED ABOUT AN INDIVIDUAL (including previous names, email addresses, and other data.)  GDPR will change how the world at large views and saves personal data, and, that’s a good thing.

This falls on the heels of the latest issues with Facebook and Data Privacy Breaches where Mark Zuckerberg faced the US Congress, and later  revised their privacy practices (which, hopefully will cause other social media sites to also change.)

With the rise of identity theft and other wrongdoing based on negligent (and sometimes fraudulent) handling of personal data, these new requirements are good provisions. Corporations and their officers should be safeguarding the data they collect at our expense or face financial penalties for non-compliance. It’s going to be interesting to watch in the coming months as lawsuits start to amass… just speculating.

Sidenote: On a related topic, the regulations don’t help to allay the fear about what ‘Big Brother’ (government and corporations) do with the video and audio they collect on me (and everyone else) as we go about our everyday lives.

Am I the only one who finds it a little too intrusive when Google asks me “Have you recently been to Starbucks on xxx St ?” and then asks me to rate the experience to help out other visitors? (Note to self: turn off the Location setting on my cell phone.)

is keeping in touch out of vogue – can we reconnect?

Personally, I think it is disconcerting to see how disconnected we truly are today — despite the seemingly increased digital connectivity of social (and other) media.

Over the past 30 years as a consultant and speaker, I’ve met tens of thousands of people whose email addresses are scattered across various pieces of hardware (some long obsolete!)  I have so many fond memories of people I’ve met and places I’ve traveled; the stories and snippets of life we’ve shared (part of what makes conferences and consulting so worthwhile!)

I wonder about the people I’ve met and lost touch with (maybe even you!) and regardless of whether we shared a moment or a month, there was a connection.  I recall warm handshakes at the end of a presentation, smiles and shared conversations over coffee and dinners, solving problems with strangers (with corporate challenges,) and, of course, the goodbyes at the end of a class or a contract.  (Yes, I love my work!)

Every email address in my databases equals at least one human being with whom I’ve crossed paths with, and most likely lost touch. I wonder about your news and your kids and your experiences since we last met (or correspondence or chatted) – and, if you’re interested, I’d love to reconnect.

I’ll go first (to give an update):  I’m still actively presenting new ideas about measurement, agile, and leadership at conferences, still consulting and teaching workshops on function points (the square foot measure of software size) in new environments (especially agile!), as well as developing new courses to enrich corporate health through leadership, project management and metrics.  I’m passionate about cultural diversity (Hofstede and Trompenaars), the Heart of Agile (thank you Allistair Cockburn!), EI (emotional intelligence) and transforming our workplaces/workforces to be inclusive of people, technology, and fresh ideas.

I’m still the same energetic, optimistic, curious female engineer and consultant you met somewhere on some occasion, and as with every consultant, I’m always open to new / renewed client engagements where I can help you to streamline your operations (with great leadership and Project Management initiatives) and add measurement to demonstrate your department’s value! (I hope you’re okay with this shameless plug, I am taking on new clients at this time. Call or email me…)

Forget me….

On the opposite side, the Forget Me concept is interesting… considering the high percentage of flawed and incorrect data stored about all of us.  (Case in point – have you ever done a vanity search of your name in Google and found your name associated with the current address of exes and family members at locations where you’ve never lived?  Or done a public records search where identity results show records of invalid and incorrect data?  Data are gathered from disparate and diverse public and private databases – with little data validation.)  I wonder how corporations will actually be able to guarantee data removal when so much of the stored information is flawed.

Compounding the situation are purposely errant data (mis-entered by applicants who mistype their email address or falsify identifying information to avoid later spam, when registering on a site) – I’m curious how companies will be able to make sure that all data are removed on request. “Forget me” – what an interesting concept in a world that wants to be appropriately connected.

It’s probably time for a full EMAIL dataBASE refresh

I read a perspective piece in this past Sunday’s Tampa Bay Times newspaper “One man is updating his own privacy policy” by Konstantin Kakaes – it was an  interesting article that opened with

“Dear everybody who has sent me an email since  April 23, 2004, the day I got a Gmail account…”

The three column, half page piece addressed every type of email communication (from family to friends to generic spam to subscriptions to group lists,) 13 different groups in all, and outlined how he plans (tongue-in-cheek) to use the various pieces of data he’s retained on his various laptop incarnations and storage devices.  An interesting approach to cleaning out (or at least contacting) everyone in his email database.

P.s., watch this space for news about an exciting Powerful Presentations and Corporate Engagement workshop (I’m developing it now) – set to launch in the autumn of 2018.  Interested in knowing more (we’re targeting Sept in Napa Valley, CA!) – drop me a quick note!

Blogging is the ultimate “broken telephone” so, if you’ve read this far, do me a favor and shoot me a quick email (dekkers@qualityplustech.com) or drop a comment and let me know that you’re out there…  

p.s. Is anyone there?  Did this post resonate with you? Was it too long/just right/boring/fun?  LMK (Let me know…)

Function Points (Software Size) come of Age: Mature, Stable, and Relevant

It is with pride and honor to share with you news about the upcoming Sept 13-15, 2017 celebratory (and educational) conference: ISMA14 (International Software Measurement and Analysis) – and its happening in just 4 weeks in Cleveland, OH, USA!

It’s the 30th anniversary of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) – a not-for-profit user group I’ve been a part of for over 25 years.

We’re also celebrating 2017 as the International Year of Software Measurement (#IYSM).  It’s a great year for YOU to get involved (or more involved) and gain the benefits of measurement for software and systems projects!

As the Director of Communications and Marketing for IFPUG, I am excited that IFPUG is now mature (age 30!) and at the same time venturing in new directions with non-functional sizing (SNAP.)  We have much to celebrate, AND we also have more work to do (to publicize how Function Points and SNAP points provide objective measures of software size!)

The time is now!

No longer does your organization need to “fumble around in the dark” to find standard, reliable and objective software sizing measures.  Certainly there is an abundance of available units of measure (story points, use case points, source lines of code, hybrid measures, etc.) — BUT, only Function Points are supported by  ISO/IEC world standards and provide consistent, objective and technologically independent assessments of software size based on “user” requirements.  (Soon, the Software Non-functional Assessment Process – SNAP points for non-functional size will also become an international standard.)

Isn’t it time that your company adopts function points as a universal standard for software size?  YOUR timing is perfect because in less than 5 weeks, International Software Measurement and Analysis (#ISMA14) will be in Cleveland and you will have the opportunity to learn from industry experts in an intimate (less than 200 people) setting. (p.s., I’m one of the main conference speakers so you’ll know at least 1 person there!)

FUNCTION POINT proof is “in the pUDDING” (so to speak)…

We have an English proverb “the proof is the pudding”

The modern version of “The proof is in the pudding.” Implies that there is a lot of evidence that I will not go through at this moment and you should take my word for it, or you could go through all of the evidence yourself. Source:  http://tinyurl.com/5uc7eq3 

I can espouse the benefits of function points, as can IFPUG insiders and supporters such as the world-respected author/guru Capers Jones (whose 17 published books use Function Points as a universal software sizing measure). But, when the mainstream media features articles on Function Points – it’s a call to action for senior executives and IT professionals to take note! Here’s a recent example: (click on the image to read the full story!)

Need help selling your boss on the benefits?

I’ve written up the top 10 reasons to attend ISMA14 with us- won’t you join me (and a ton of other measurement professionals) in Cleveland on Sep 13?

Carol Dekkers, CFPS (Fellow), AEC, PMP, P.Eng.
President, Quality Plus Technologies, Inc.
IFPUG Director of Communications and Marketing

 

Estimation Poker – Bluffing (and Winning) with Metrics

In May 2016, I presented a webinar for ITMPI on the topic of Estimation Poker based on the broad topic of software project estimation – regardless of the development approach.  The webinar was well attended despite technical difficulties (I recorded it while in Italy and suffice to say, internet connections from my site happened to be… less than optimum.)  I re-recorded the webinar on my return (with far superior results) and the recording can be accessed at this link:  ITMPI Estimation Poker Webinar Re-Recording:

A teaser 10 minute segment is on YouTube – Dekkers Estimation Poker teaser

I’ve also uploaded the full slide deck to Research Gate – click Research Gate – Dekkers Slides here to download.

Let me know what you think.  Note that this is different than the Agile Estimation Poker (which I forgot about was already established when I designed my webinar.)

Have a great weekend!

Carol

 

What Software Project Benchmarking & Estimating Can Learn from Dr. Seuss

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction – or children’s stories at least, and I’m hoping you’ll relate to the latest blog post I published on the QSM blog last week.  I grew up on Dr. Seuss stories – and I think my four siblings and I shared the entire series (probably one of the first loyalty programs – buy the first 10 books, get one free…)

I’d love to hear your comments and whether you agree with the analogy that we seek to create precise software sample sets for benchmarking and in so doing, lose the benefits of the trends we can leverage with larger sample sets.  Read on and let me know!  (Click on the image below or here.)

Happy November!

Carol

Combining Soft Skills and Hard Tools for Better Software

One of the more interesting topics in software development (at least from my perspective) is the culture of the industry.  Seldom does one find an industry burgeoning with linguistics majors, philosophers, artists, engineers (all types – classically trained to self-named), scientists, politicians, and sales people – all working on the same team in the same IT department.

This creates an incredible diversity and richness – and leads to sometimes astounding leaps and bounds in innovation and technological advancement, but it can also create challenges in basic workplace behavior.  This post takes a look at the often overlooked soft skills (empathy, leadership, respect, communication, and other non-technical skills) together with technical competencies as an “opportunity” (aka challenge or obstacle to overcome.)

It was published first on the Project Management Institute (PMI) Knowledge Shelf – recently open to the general non-PMI public.

Added bonus here:  I referenced the You Tube 2013 University of Western Australia commencement address by Australian comedian/actor Tim Minchin at the University of Western Australia in 2013 in my post (he shares his 9 recommendations to graduates, my favorite -and the one I quoted – is #7 Define yourself by something you love!)  I believe it’s worth the watch/listen if you need to take a break and just sit back and think about soft skills during your technical day. (Warning to the meek of heart – it’s irreverent, offensive, and IMHO, bang on in his core sentiments.  If you’re offended, I apologize in advance!)

If you’d like a pdf copy of the post above, please leave me a comment with your email address!  (And even if you don’t, I’d love your opinion!)

Have a great week!

Carol

IFPUG (News) Beyond MetricViews – FP for Agile / Iterative S/W Dev

With the support of QSM, Inc., I wrote and published this article on a new area of the International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) website called “Beyond MetricViews.”

While the IFPUG already had published guidelines in this area, the key points to this article include:

• If you want to measure productivity (or anything else) consistently across two or more software development projects – where each was developed using a different approach (i.e., waterfall vs. agile) – one must be consistent in the definition and application of the measures (and metrics);
• Function points are defined in terms of elementary processes and agile methodologies deliver such functions iteratively (not complete in one iteration) – posing challenges to the uninitiated;
• Regardless of whether you measure productivity, defect density (quality), costs or other aspect of software delivery – it is critical to do an “apples to apples” comparison.

Here’s the article (click on the image) for your interest.  (You can also visit the blog at www.qsm.com for details.)

Comments and feedback is appreciated!