This week’s newsletter summarizes the most overlooked pitfalls of scaling a software development team. #1 ❓ I can’t get enough output. I keep adding teams, but the results do not grow as much! Why? Companies usually react to not getting enough output by adding more typing hands, i.e., resorting to scaling. Scaling typically means …
What does it mean to have a cross-functional software development team? This week’s letter discusses this in more detail. #1 ❓ Why are my cross-functional SW dev teams not effective? 💡 Cross-functionality is seldom enough for SW development teams to be highly effective. 📚 Cross-functional teams are groups of people with various specializations who …
WIN #012: Cross-functional Software Development Team Read More »
What are the most likely reasons for misunderstandings within a software development team? I explore the most probable culprits within this week’s newsletter. #1 ❓ How come SW developers do not understand each other? Why can’t they effectively collaborate immediately after they are put on the team? 💡 Turns out that most used terms …
WIN #011: Most Probable Reasons for SW Development Team Misunderstandings Read More »
How to identify whether your team acts as a team and not something else (e.g., as a workgroup)? Here are some useful ideas to help you with that. #1 ❓ I have never seen a “high-performing” team described in books or on social media. Are they real? 💡 Of course they are real; it …
Introduce a new team member into a team using this 4-step process. #1 ❓ Why do we even talk about suboptimal SW engineering approaches? ❓ Why don’t we use the best SW engineering approach for our teams? ❗️ Turns out that context matters here a lot. The “State of DevOps Report” repeatedly showed, year …
WIN #009: Introducing a New Team Member Into a Team Read More »
How to deal with the Scatter-Gather downsides? Find out in this week’s ideas newsletter. #1 ❓ What if team members leave the team? ❓ Wouldn’t it be great if the effects of their departure were minimized? 💡 Effective teamwork and essential collaboration serve as very effective risk mitigation tools here. Teamwork is more about …
Delivering in small batches is really important, but often overlooked. Find out why this is in this week’s Ideas Newsletter. Small batches ensure quicker feedback How often should I ask for feedback while building software products? Ideally, never! Make feedback inevitable within your system, so you don’t have to ask for it explicitly. Do it …
WIN #007: Importance of Delivering in Small Batches Read More »
Find more ideas for user story splitting in this issue of the Weekly Ideas Newsletter: Look for conjunctions Want to split a story, but find it hard to do? It doesn’t always have to be that hard. A simple yet effective action to get you started is to look for conjunctions! If not starting with …
Struggling with long-lasting story implementation and the risks it bears with it? Here are four simple ideas for user story splitting: Split stories by scenarios Have you ever got stuck with a user story on your board not moving anywhere forever? Do other user stories seem to get done much faster? There are many …
Do you feel there are many back-and-forths between developers and QAs within your team? The frustrating cat-and-mouse games within SW development teams are pretty usual. The most common ones are between developer and verification roles (e.g., testers, code reviewers, etc.). As discussed in the earlier post, teammates working on the same challenge separately, tend to …
WIN #004: Define Behaviors and Make Design Decisions Together Read More »