Category: Agile

Home › Archive for Agile

Complex, critical systems programs are under real pressure to deliver faster. The fastest teams I’ve worked with get their speed from first-time quality; going fast in the wrong direction is ultimately more costly in dollars, schedule, and—most impactfully—mission effectiveness. “Move fast and break things” was Facebook’s internal motto for years. When the thing that breaks is the ability to repost a Minions meme and the potential upside is a new strategy for keeping billions of eyeballs engaged for longer, it’s a worthwhile tradeoff. Facebook outgrew the motto in 2014, changing to “move fast with stable infrastructure”. Defense and other critical …

Move Fast and Validate Things Read more »

The concept is simple: create a version of your solution that’s just good enough and put it out in the real world to validate assumptions about the product and market. That way, if your assumptions are wrong, you can pivot or shut it down without having spent too many resources on a failed idea. If your assumptions are right, you’ll have some great feedback to propel you along and help populate your product roadmap.

The term is often misapplied. Learn what an MVP is, what it isn’t, and how to leverage them for the success of your concept.

Read more →

A common misconception is that Agile development processes are faster. I’ve heard this from leaders as a justification for adopting Agile processes and read it in proposals as a supposed differentiator. It’s not true. Nothing about Agile magically enable teams to architect, engineer, design, test, or validate any faster.

Read more →

“Agile” is the latest buzzword in systems engineering. It has a fair share of both adherents and detractors, not to mention a long list of companies offering to sell tools, training, and coaching. Dive into a thoughtful, reasoned discussion about when and how agile can work for systems engineering projects.

Read more →