Wednesday - July 30, 2008
Getting to an Agile process
Most of my customers are "Big IT" -- most of whom aren't comfortable with Agile methods. They like Big Design Up Front (BDUF), detailed plans, specific dates far in the future, and gigantic deliverables. Here's another nail in that coffin.
Sadly, the article doesn't mention the biggest mistake the corporate IT makes in project management. The label almost all changes to a project scope as "failure". Any Agile technique will lead to learning, which leads to scope changes, which -- alas -- is failure.
Posted at 09:27 AM Read More
Author:
Steven Lott
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Python BDUF Agile
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Wednesday - August 08, 2007
Problems, problems, problems
Centuries ago -- it seems -- Jim Coplien facilitated a session for us at CiliPLoP. It was life-altering. Really. Almost 10 years later, I think I've found something equally cool.
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Author:
Steven Lott
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ProblemMapping problem analysis requirements
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Monday - June 25, 2007
State-Based Object Modeling
Object modeling is hard. Objects are characterized by their attributes (or internal states), associations, and operations. There is a tangle loop between object identification and state identification.
Recently, I've fielded some questions on locating the state transitions for objects. In the SOA world, we are sometimes trying to understand composite objects, and characterize the services we should provide and the state transitions they can undergo. In the Java Composite Application Platform Suite, one message-passing technique is to accrete information into a large composite object.
In another instance someone claimed they had 800 states. This, it turned out, was a bluff and the users quickly whittled the list to a mere 80 states. This is still crazy, since people can rarely comprehend more than a dozen of anything; the magic number is 7±2.
Posted at 09:29 AM Read More
Author:
Steven Lott
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object-oriented software development design
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Tuesday - August 22, 2006
A New Architecture Involves Ignorance
And overcoming Ignorance takes (a) time and (b)
understanding what you don't know. See /dev/null's post on Gestation: architectures don't arrive
overnight.
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Sunday - July 30, 2006
How to Avoid Problem-Solving
I've seen two interesting techniques recently for
avoiding problem-solving. Thought I'd like to pass them on to anyone else who
feels lazy.
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Sunday - October 16, 2005
Object Modeling (Revised)
This is a quick overview of one approach to object modeling. It provides a course of action that, as a minimum, serves to prevent "designer's block"; it helps identify where to begin.
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Saturday - October 15, 2005
Deployment
The deployment process installs and configures
software so it can be used to create the promised business value.
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Tuesday - October 11, 2005
Implementation
The implementation process implements (or
constructs) the software. Once implementation is complete, the final
deliverable is a document describing the deployment of the software for actual
productive use.
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Monday - October 03, 2005
Design
The design process is similar to other object
modeling exercises, carried out at a much lower level of detail. Final
implementation descisions are made during design. It permits us to go forward
and create other deliverables for implementation and deployment. A design
document presents the packages and classes that will be purchased, downloaded
and constructed.
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Saturday - October 01, 2005
Architecture
The architecture development process identifies a
candidate solution to the problem documented in the Requirements. Once the
architecture is known, then additional deliverables leading through design to
implementation and deployment can be created.
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Thursday - September 29, 2005
Requirements
The process of requirements analysis has two
goals: complete the document template and understand the problem. Completing the
document creates a structured framework for exploring the problem and capturing
information. The problem and its solution are only understood through a
written
description. Ultimately, software development is an exercise in knowledge
capture.
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Monday - September 26, 2005
Deliverables, Process and Standards
Programming delivers software, but prior to that,
it delivers a reasonable plan that shows that the software really will solve a
problem. This document describes a set of deliverables that is a workable level
of documentation, consistent with best industry practices.
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