SPaMCAST 501 features our essay on Agile Metrics. Progress is easy to visualize when we use the yardstick of calendar time. My wife and I spent 17 days in Europe. There are 177 shopping days until Christmas (as of July 1, 2018) — I expect presents this year. How long it takes to deliver a piece of work, in days, is something nearly every human can understand. Over the past few months, I have been cataloging questions I have heard. Well over 70% of work-related questions center on how long a piece of work will take and whether the answer to that question has value. Cycle time metrics are ways to generate answers to 'how long' questions in a manner that is valuable and predictable. Our second column features Jeremy Berriault. In the QA Corner, Jeremy and I discussed the idea of self-reliance rather than using third-party testing organizations. Or when you have to use third parties for testing, Jeremy provides advice on getting the most out of your third party. Anchoring the cast is Susan Parente. Susan discusses certification. There are tons of certifications and more appear every day. Susan provides advice on which ones are important and which are not! Re-Read Saturday News This week we are full ahead in our re-read of L. David Marquet's Turn the Ship Around! We dive into chapters 24 and 25, which are titled: A Dangerous Passage and Looking Ahead. Pick the next book in the re-read series. I will cut the poll off on 2 July. Current Installment: Week 16: A Dangerous Passage and Looking Ahead -https://bit.ly/2lIbslb Previous Installments: Week 15: A Remembrance of War and Leadership at Every Level - https://bit.ly/2Imi5lS Week 14: Part IV and Under Way for Deployment - https://bit.ly/2tcXprb Week 13: Final Preparations - https://bit.ly/2t1OgSn Week 12: Underway for San Diego and All Present and Accounted For - https:/ /bit.ly/2J7AkRx Week 11: Mistakes Just Happen and We Learn - https://bit.ly/2IMZYL2 Week 10: A New Ship and We Have A Problem - https://bit.ly/2IUJ6RL Week 9: Up Scope! and "A New Ship" - https://bit.ly/2KfDZbS Week 8: Under Way on Nuclear Power and "I Intend To . . ." – https://bit.ly/2rnvkgxWeek 7: Change, In a Word and Welcome Aboard Sante Fe – https://bit.ly/2r5l1hk Week 6: I Relieve You - https://bit.ly/2F7C5ag Week 5: Call to Action and Whatever they tell me to do! - https://bit.ly/2IXZugS Week 4: Change of Course and Frustration - https://bit.ly/2qbPzgK Week 3: Pain and Business as Usual - https://bit.ly/2qfd74g Week 2: Forward and Introduction - https://bit.ly/2H8K4Jg Week 1: Game Plan - https://bit.ly/2HgCdqW Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 502 features our interview with Marcus Hammarberg. Marcus returns to talk about his new book Salvation: The Bunshu Story. The story provides a real-life example of how agile can save the world -- or at least part of it.