Software Process and Measurement Cast

The Software Process and Measurement Cast 821 features our interview with Alex Natskovich. We talk about the attributes of a leader when building a business but even more importantly learning to be a leader. Success requires knowing how to handle the transitions. Alex’s Bio Alex is a seasoned engineering leader and CEO. Born in Belarus, he harbored a lifelong dream of becoming an engineer. After graduating from university, he moved to the USA. During the initial years, he resided in New York, working as a software engineer in various companies. One of the most notable was the startup Conductor, where he joined as the 5th employee. It has now evolved into the leading global SEO and content intelligence platform. During his tenure there, Alex was responsible for building and maintaining an industry-leading link-building system. Simultaneously, he embarked on building his own company, MEV (named after the mega-electron-volt) – a strategic software development partner for fast-growing companies. Afterward, he decided to settle in the Bay Area. While at the helm of his company, he assisted esteemed companies such as Cartier, Novo Nordisk, Daiichi Sankyo, and Avadel in overcoming complex business challenges through software solutions. Additionally, he aided numerous startups in developing stable and scalable digital products, making them attractive for acquisition. Alex is passionate about empowering businesses with the right technology. He firmly believes in the power of teams. Building a high-performing team, in his view, necessitates being open-minded and always striving to thoroughly understand the team’s objectives and needs for success. This solution-oriented mindset and team focus form the cornerstone of his company. Website: LinkedIn: Email: Learn To Tame Your Work Intake Beast! Work Intake Summer Camp is in session! Like a swimming pool, there is always time to join the fun. Jeremy Willets and I are celebrating summer in the northern hemisphere with a summer camp. We’ll look at the primary causes of work intake problems... and how to solve them! Join us for an entertaining and informative LinkedIn Live event. The next weekly session begins at 11:30 EDT on July 31st (). Each session will: Define one work intake problem per session, Identify how to recognize the problem, Offer a pragmatic approach to tackling the issue, and At least one scary story of work entry gone wrong (this is summer camp) We would like you to register at our Maven page so we can remind you when the session goes live. If you register we also have a Work Intake Problem Worksheet that we use in our workshops that we will email. However, if you’d rather not register on Maven you can set a reminder on LinkedIn (). In either case, we will announce when the sessions go live on LinkedIn. Share the invitation with others, wear sunscreen, and be kind to your fellow campers! Re-read Saturday News Three main ideas struck me during this read of Chapter 9 of . Chapter 9 is titled: Cheating Chaos. The chaos we are working to cheat is the random energy pushing us in random directions from inside and outside ourselves. Creating order provides a space for optimal experience and flow. Logistics note: Including this week, we anticipate completing this re-read in 4 weeks. Are there recommendations for the next book in the Re-read series? Buy a copy and read along – Week 1: – Week 2: – Week 3: – Week 4: – Week 5: Week 6: Week 7: Week 8: Week 9: Week 10: Next SPaMCAST The Software Process and Measurement Cast will feature and me discussing Urgency versus Importance. We thought the Work Intake Summer Camp discussion was so important (not just urgent) that we decided to share it. We will also have a visit from Jeremy Berriault, the Evolutionary Agilist.

The Nine Core Principles of Work Intake are a key backbone of Mastering Work Intake by Jeremy Willets and Tom Cagley. Teams and organizations need to apply these principles to avoid chaos. In the SPaMCAST 804, we illustrate the application of the Nine Core Principles based on role and organizational hierarchy beginning with the classic Scrum team roles. We also have a visit from Susan Patente, who brings her Not A Scrumdamentalist column to the podcast. This installment discusses why organizations do projects and their role in society. Learn To Tame Your Work Intake Beast! Jeremy Willets and I have opened a new workshop cohort to help you learn to tame the work intake beast! The workshop will run from 31 May to 28 June in five manageable 90-minute chunks. For more details hop over to our Maven site for more information, sign up, or join the mailing list! Re-read Saturday News Chapter 4, Deep Work is Meaningful begins Part 2 of by Cal Newport. Part 2 contains Newport’s rules and ideas for learning to work deeply. There are several ideas that I want to highlight in this chapter. The first is that attention and focus are finite AND consumable resources. Remember to buy a copy of and read along. Week 1: - Week 2: - Week 3: - Week 4: - Week 5: - Next SPaMCAST SPaMCAST 805 will feature our interview with Peter Schroeder. We will discuss plane crashes, fatherhood, and the journey from a technologist to a business person. This is not a two truths and a lie exercise.

Special Note - SPAMCAST 409 was due to be posted last week, but bad things happened to my main computer and my backup decided to air-gap itself from the Internet. That said, #409 is going up a week later so the Re-read Saturday news is a week out of date. This week we talk about Chapters 22 and 23. I have declared that last weekend was a very stressful vacation from posting. Now the show goes on! In Software Process and Measurement Cast 409, we feature our essay on advice I recently provided to a listener to the podcast on whether a team is really one or two teams. While the essay is a result of answering a friend’s question, the ideas in the essay can be applied when you are building any sort of team. Our second column this week features a visit to Jeremy Berriault’s QA Corner. Jeremy and I discussed how QA should communicate with other leaders in the organization. In the third and final column, Jon M. Quigley begins a three-part arc on requirements in “The Alpha-Omega of Product Development.” This week on discusses the elicitation of requirements. Re-Read Saturday News This week we continue our re-read of ’s , Second Edition with a discussion of Chapters 20 and 21. Chapter 20 is a discussion of applying XP. The short version is that there is no one perfect way to apply XP, which dovetails nicely with Chapter 21 which addresses the concept of purity and certification. IF there is no one perfect way to apply XP, how can there be an absolute litmus test for XP purity? Use the link to X in the show notes when you buy your copy to read along to support both the blog and podcast. Visit the Software Process and Measurement Blog (www.tcagley.wordpress.com) to catch up on past installments of Re-Read Saturday. Next we are going to read . This will be a new book for me, therefore an initial read, not a re-read! Steven Adams suggested the book and it has been on my list for a few years. Click the link (), buy a copy, and in a few weeks we will begin to read the book together. Next SPaMCAST In the next Software Process and Measurement Cast, we will feature our interview of Jessica Long. Jessica and I discussed storytelling. Storytelling is useful in all types of organizations for both projects and as a tool in organizational transformations. Jessica and I will both be presenting on using stories at the Agile Philly, Agile Tour 2016 on October 10th. Shameless Ad for my book! co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book nglish and Chinese.

Today, a special announcement: I would like to introduce you to the Patterns Video Podcast.  Ben Woznicki and I have been working on this project for nearly six months and it is finally time to stop starting and start shipping (that’s an agile joke). 

Our idea is to share patterns (hence the name) for how teams and organizations can release sooner with higher confidence. Both Ben and I have helped a lot of different organizations. We've seen things that work well, seen things that work poorly, seen some things that do both, and unfortunately some things that would make your hair stand up. The effective patterns are what we are here to share as well as provide space for you to interact and learn. All of the videos will be on the shorter side.

Our typical format will include:

1. A brief review of the basic idea that we're talking about.
2. Discuss the problems the idea is trying to solve and introduce any controversy on the topic.
3. Provide an approach to use the concept within specific contexts (think hints and tips)
4. The history of the idea.
5. Finally, common challenges when using the idea and antidotes to those challenges.

At least in the short term, we are going to deliver the video content in two ways:

1. SPaMCAST Podcast feed.  This will be a medium resolution version that is better for commutes or just listening while you jog.
2. Patterns Podcast YouTube Site. This will be a full 1080p version of the video (those get large) for those interested in the full impact of Ben’s cinematic multicamera video techniques. 

All of the videos will be short and conclude with a call to action. We will begin delivering every two weeks. While Ben and I like to talk, we want to hear from you because your perspective will help us learn and grow. Contact us at:

[email protected]

@tcagley on twitter

[email protected] 

@benwoz on twitter

The International Function Point Users Group (IFPUG) released the Software Non-Functional Assessment Process (SNAP) Assessment Practices Manual 2.1 under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike License. IFPUG is the only international functional sizing standards organization to release a new standard under this license.

The SNAP provides organizations and projects a means to develop a quantifiable measure for the non-functional requirements (NFR). By sizing non-functional requirements software development can planned, evaluated and managed better; saving organizations time and money. The SNAP standard provides organizations using IFPUG measures with a unique competitive advantage to those using other software sizing methods which do not account for non-functional software size.

SNAP has been designed to be complementary to IFPUG Function Points which means you can use function points to measure the function size of an application or project and then leverage SNAP to measure the non-functional aspects of the application or project. The combination provides the person measuring with a very robust understanding of the project or application which can be used for leading and managing work.  Better information typically equates to better decisions and better decisions yield better projects.

Another benefit of this sizing this component of project work is that it will allow organizations to build historical data repositories that can be referenced to assist in decision making for the technical and/or quality aspects of application Assessment Practices.

Click the link above to read the document in full. Remember that the Creative Commons License allows you to free distribute the manual, create derivative works if you release them under the same Creative Commons License, but you can’t sell or use the material for commercial purposes.

Note:  I am currently prepping to take the SNAP certification test . . . Anyone want to study together?