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Category Archives: Microsoft Solution Frameworks

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Requirement: Technical Excellence for Scrum

Posted on by Posted in Agile, Business Musings, Microsoft Solution Frameworks, Scrum, Software Development, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I have spoken about excellence a couple of times over the last year. (click here and here). Technical excellence should be a requirement for development organizations. Seems simple enough. Pretty straight forward. After all, we are in the business of developing software, aren’t we?

Yet, this doesn’t seem to be at the top of the priority list. We seem to take short cuts.  Somebody always has a time-to-market issue.

The ROI is tough to prove. By itself, being technically excellent doesn’t drive income to the bottom line straight away, yet lack of technical excellence will drag your bottom line down.  Here are some excuses I have heard:

  • The business is beating on us for more functionality faster.
  • The sales guys have already over-committed us by signing the contract for the date and scope to be delivered to a client. Development will find out after the fact.
  • We don’t have time to automate our deployment process.  We need to start coding.
  • Automated testing doesn’t work for us.  Our testers can do it faster.
  • The users have changed requirements again, causing developers to rework their code again.

Often, these time to market (I call them BS) factors often cost up to 10X the original cost to develop. Yet, we find out the cost later. Those enhancements that “had” to be there for a client will cost us 10X to modify later. Most of us hope we are not going to be there to feel the pain, having moved on to a new career inside or outside our employer.

Let’s look at this a different way. Your plumber tells you he can patch a leak quickly for $60, or he can take replace the pipe for $100. Most of us would say “Do it right. I will pay the $100.” We won’t be happy about spending a $100, but it is the right thing to do. The plumber doesn’t even have to mention that the patch is temporary, and we will probably spend more money later.

So, why is it that we have a tough time with being technically excellent? Regardless of whether you are drinking the Scrum Kool-Aid or not, your development organization has to be technically excellent. Take the time to do it the right way. Refactor the gobbledy gook code. How can you afford not to be? I am reminded of the quote: “You can pay me now or you can pay me later!”. In the case of software, you pay 10X.

Before I go……………  Ok, so I am coming across a little strong to make my point.  Corners can be cut as long as they get corrected in the very near future.
Thanks for coming in today.

Chris

Software excellence: Use the tools you have

Posted on by Posted in Microsoft Solution Frameworks, Scrum, Software Development Leave a comment

I was checking out Linkedin updates yesterday, and found this long running discussion on Linkedin around software tools.  What was intriguing to me was a post on TFS (Click here). I was reminded of a not-to-distant time when I was guilty. We have a problem that we need to solve, and the latest software product is the answer. I admit that this has happened to me a time or two. While the main focus in the above post is using Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server to it’s fullest extent, I think the bigger question is do we use the software we have to its fullest extent. Probably not.

Organizationally, we come up with some crazy excuses for buying something new, when in reality, we should be looking at how we use what we have. Here are some of the excuses I have heard:

  1. We need product xyz, because what we have doesn’t work the way we do.
  2. What? I didnt know we had a load testing tool.
  3. We need product xyz because it is cool.
  4. It is way to expensive to buy the new version.
  5. Our competitor uses Safesforce.com, so we must as well.

I am not saying that these are the only reasons. I am sure there are plenty more that have been put out there. I have taken to asking myself would I make the same decision if I was spending my own money? Most of us, me included, tend to make different decisions if we are spending our own money. When you hear one of the five excuses, challenge them. Your budget is tight, so make good use of what you have. Look at your existing tools. What can they do for you?

Thanks for coming in today.
Chris