Ryan Ripley, David Bernstein, Woody Zuill

Ryan Ripley (@ryanripley), David Bernstein (@tobeagile) and Woody Zuill (@WoodyZuill) got together to discuss legacy code, what it means to be a great programmer, test driven development, and how the principles that we adopt drive our practices.

Software development is one of the few activities that requires us to use both halves of our…
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At the center of our discussion was David’s new book: Beyond Legacy Code

This book now has a prominent place on my desk next to Uncle Bob Martin’s classic book  Clean Code. David starts the reader off with the current state of software development and why many of the problems that we observe and experience still persist today.

He calls this “The Legacy Code Crisis” and does a brilliant job of making the case for agile software development practices.

Legacy code is code without confidence. @tobeagile
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The second part of the book covers 9 practices that “extend the life and value of your software”.

The 9 practices are:

Each practice is explained clearly along with why each practice is important. The “why” is critical. It’s easy to explain the mechanics of TDD, but also showing the value that the practice provides makes the book appropriate for programmers, managers, and executives alike.

My favorite aspect of this book is that David’s explanations and insights are infused with the values and principles of the agile manifesto.

His prose is engaging and feels conversational. It’s a pleasure to read David’s thoughts on these topics as he is clearly knowledgeable and passionate about agility and creating humane systems of work.

I love this book and cannot recommend it highly enough.

As Woody Zuill noted on the podcast: “If I had what it takes to write a book, I would like to have written this book.”

And then…we called it a night.

Will you help the Agile for Humans podcast grow? Please review Agile for Humans on iTunes or Stitcher and leave your comments on the blog site. Help your friends and co-workers find Agile for Humans by sharing your favorite episodes with them. Thanks for you do to support the show.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

David – http://www.tobeagile.com/

Woody – http://zuill.us/WoodyZuill/

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Ryan Ripley, Don Gray, Tim Ottinger, Brad Rasmussen

Ryan Ripley (@ryanripley), Don Gray (@donaldegray), Tim Ottinger (@tottinge), and Brad Rasmussen (@Rass30) got together to discuss “Where does work come from?”. The conversation moved in multiple directions that included theories or work, what motivates people, management theory, and how to introduce agile at large organizations.

The closest metaphor that I’ve found about knowledge work IS knowledge work – @donaldegray
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This is the kind of podcast that I like to keep a notepad near by while I listen. There are a lot of interesting thoughts and insights from the guests that I hope you find useful. If you do hear something resonates with you, we’d love to hear about it in the comments section! Or you can leave us a voice message here – ASK A QUESTION – that could end up on a future episode.

There is a big difference in the way you work when living among friends vs enemies – @tottinge
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And then…we called it a night.

Will you help the Agile for Humans podcast grow? Please review Agile for Humans on iTunes or Stitcher and leave your comments on the blog site. Help your friends and co-workers find Agile for Humans by sharing your favorite episodes with them. Thanks for all that you do to support the show.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Don – http://www.donaldegray.com/

Tim – http://agileotter.blogspot.com/

Brad – http://t.co/TLWbo8fp9n

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Ryan Ripley, Amitai Schlair, Woody Zuill

Ryan Ripley (@ryanripley), Amitai Schlair (@schmonz) and Woody Zuill (@WoodyZuill) got together to discuss Mob Programming (#MobProgramming). Mob programming involves the whole team working on the same thing, at the same time, in the same space, and at the same computer. You can think of it as pair programming turned up to eleven.

We talked about the benefits that mob programming can bring to a team, how it can simplify the hiring and on-boarding process, and what to do when the mob needs some alone time.

We have to pay attention to what’s working and continually turn up the good!
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We also learned about the Mob Programming Conference coming to Cambridge, Mass on May 1st and 2nd. Hosted by Agile New England and organized by Nancy Van Schooenderwoert, Llewellyn Falco, Woody Zuill, Kurt Kilpela, and Peter Carmichael this is shaping up to be the event to attend if you are interested in learning about and seeing Mob Programming in action.

And then…we called it a night.

Will you help the Agile for Humans podcast grow? Please review Agile for Humans on iTunes and leave your comments on the blog site. Help your friends and co-workers find Agile for Humans by sharing your favorite episodes with them. Thanks for all you do to support the show.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Amitai – http://www.schmonz.com/

Woody – http://zuill.us/WoodyZuill/

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Ryan Ripley, Amitai Schlair, Jerry Weinberg

Ryan Ripley (@ryanripley), Amitai Schlair (@schmonz) and Jerry Weinberg (@JerryWeinberg) got together to talk about how to be more self-aware, what it means to be a recovering perfectionist, making writing a little simpler, why errors are so difficult to deal with, and who should be on an agile team.

Speaking with Jerry is a memorable experience. He is the author of more than 80 books, including the best-selling Secrets of Consulting, More Secrets of Consulting, and An Introduction to General System Thinking. One of my favorites is Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method. His books have had a profound impact on my career and writing as did getting to speak with him on this podcast.

Will you help the Agile for Humans podcast grow? Please review Agile for Humans on iTunes and leave your comments on the blog site. Help your friends and co-workers find Agile for Humans by sharing your favorite episodes with them. Thanks for all you do to support the show.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at http://www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Amitai – http://www.schmonz.com/

Jerry – http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/

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Ryan Ripley, Don Gray, Aaron Kopel, Tim Ottinger, Jason Tanner

Ryan Ripley (@ryanripley), Don Gray (@donaldegray), Aaron Kopel (@aakopel), Tim Ottinger (@tottinge), and Jason Tanner (@JasonBTanner) got together via Skype to discuss their thoughts on 2015 and what they are looking forward to in 2016. We covered a lot of ground and a variety of topics including: Professionalism, #NoEstimates, Book Recommendations, Teamwork, Learning, Leadership, and the benefits of agility.

And then…we called it a night.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Don – http://coachingbeyondtheteam.com/

Aaron – http://www.projectbrilliant.com/

Tim – http://industriallogic.com

Jason – http://appliedframeworks.com/

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Ryan Ripley, Bill Caputo

Bill Caputo (@logosity) joined me (@RyanRipley) for a discussion about 12thprinciple.org – a site dedicated to the only principle in the agile manifesto that describes how teams should be organized:

Build projects around motivated individuals.

We dug in to team dysfunctions, system dysfunctions, and how metaphors help us exchange information both effectively and poorly.

And then…we called it a night.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Bill – http://12thprinciple.org

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Ryan Ripley, Mark Kilby, David Horowitz

Mark Kilby (@mkilby) and David Horowitz (@ds_horowitz) – CEO of Retrium (@RetriumHQ) – joined me (@RyanRipley) for a discussion about continuous improvement, retrospectives, and remote teams.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

No plugs this week. Just a big thank you to the listeners for continuing to spread the work about the podcast and for your feedback and support.

Mark – http://markkilby.com/

I also work with distributed volunteer teams as well. I’m not only the co-founder of Agile Orlando, but I’m the co-founder of Agile Florida, a network of multiple user groups in the state of Florida. We collaborate on events, share information on speakers, and help other user groups through our efforts. You can read our Agile2015 experience report on how we work as a distributed team at….

David – https://www.retrium.com/

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Ryan Ripley, Tim Ottinger, Mark Davidson

Tim Ottinger (@tottinge) and Mark Davidson (@agiledelivery) joined me (@RyanRipley) for a discussion about the Product Owner Role, #NoEstimates, Product Management, and the concept of “controlled disappointment”.

The Product Owner (PO) role is near super-human. Shared responsibility is one approach to bring this role back down to earth. During this discussion we talk about the complexity of the PO role, the impact that the PO has on the project, and how developers and Scrum Masters can support the PO as they lead the team towards delivering a successful product *release*.

And then…we called it a night.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Tim – http://agileotter.blogspot.com/

Mark – https://twitter.com/agiledelivery

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Ryan Ripley, Allen Holub

Allen Holub (@allenholub) joined me (@RyanRipley) for a discussion about #NoEstimates, #NoManagement and what it truly means for an organization to adopt agility. Allen is a trainer, writer, speaker, and coach who takes a non-tribal view of software development and eschews the dogma that surrounds many of the current agile topics and practices.

Allen recently gave a keynote at DevWeek 2015 on #NoEstimates where he opened with: “We just need to stop doing all estimation now.”

Along with #NoEstimates, Allen I discussed what it truly means for an organization to adopt agility, why such a transformation is so difficult, and how Kanban wrapped around a waterfall can make life easier for both companies and coaches.

We wrapped up with a discussion on #NoManagement and Holocracy.

And then…we called it a night.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Allen – http://holub.com

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Ryan Ripley, Vasco Duarte

Vasco Duarte (@duarte_vasco) joined Ryan Ripley (@RyanRipley) for a discussion about #NoEstimates. Vasco is the author of the #NoEstimates Book, Founder of Oikosofy, and host of the Scrum Master ToolBox Podcast.

One of the staring points of #NoEstimates is: “We as an industry are not able to estimate well.”

We as an industry are not able to estimate well.
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With that starting point, alternatives are necessary. #NoEstimates seeks to explore those alternatives.

We started with Vasco’s early days of discovering the #NoEstimates path. It started with data. I won’t steal Vasco’s thunder, but it was interesting to learn how much many of the #NoEstimates ideas are driven by actual project data from a variety of sources.

Software projects are a search for value. My goal is to find value. @duarte_vasco
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We then moved on to cover many of the questions that #NoEstimates critics and skeptics ask when hearing these ideas for the first time. How to pick one project over another, how to align with project dependencies and more are covered during our hour together.

Finally, we touched on the kind of environments where #NoEstimates is not an option:

In cases where you are not allowed to experiment, where you are not allowed to learn, where you have to know everything upfront, you have no option but to speculate about the cost of a particular project.

And then…we called it a night.

Agile for Humans is brought to you by audible.com – get one FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trial at www.audibletrial.com/agile

Ryan – https://ryanripley.com

Vasco – http://softwaredevelopmenttoday.com/

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