RE: [xpAdoption] Digest Number 132

This is some of the best discussion I've seen on this list.  I've had some
interesting learning experiences over the last three years having to do with
trying to move a culture.  Because I've been astounded at some of the things
that have come out of the mouths of managers, I decided to enter a period of
learning.  I could think of nothing else to do (even though I tried).

Over this last year, I've read a number of articles on the net about organizational 
change including Dale Emery's writings.  I've read a number of books including "The 
Blind Men and the Elephant", "Extreme Programming Applied: Playing to Win", "Software
Leadership", "The Secrets of Consulting", and my favorite at this moment at least,
"Beyond the Wall of Resistance" by Rick Maurer.  I took an excellent class given
by Ouellette Associates called "The Politics of IT Project Management."  I have
a number of other books on my list to read yet this year on the same subjects.
I'm currently reading "Lean Software Development," an excellent book on the 
underlying theory of agility.  This last book is opening up my mind as to why I
was so able to accept agility.  In a former life, I got an MBA and as part of that
I did a lot of study on Japanese business and manufacturing techniques as well as
the management techniques being promoted at the time (Taguchi, Deming, Ohno, Peters,
Bennis, etc...).  This background set me up to be able to accept the agile concepts 
more readily.

I have experienced the despair being discussed in some of the messages.  However,
over the last year as I read these articles and books on organizational change, I
began looking at my situation in a different way.  I'm referring to what actually
has changed.  Even though there is quite a bit of resistance in the management of 
my organization, there are several well-respected managers who have become quiet
supporters of XP and more openly, agility in general.  One respected project lead
has become a vocal supporter of XP and his team (the one that is doing it the most
pure) is satisfying its customers with their performance.  This project lead 
actually turned around a difficult relationship between a customer group and the IT 
group involved (using XP as part of his strategy).  One of our Technical Leads is a 
vocal supporter of XP and all of our Tech Leads are interested and open about XP and 
agility in general.  We are a year into a training program called the "Test-First
Certificate" which involves a combination of classroom hands-on training in TDD
as well as required mentoring time and required experience time followed by a final
check-up on the work.  We have handed out 25 certificates.  We expect to get another
30 through the program this year.  While a few managers who supported this idea
have cooled down on it, nobody is stopping us from continuing it into 2004.  We've
been asked to provide an Advanced Test-First Certificate and will probably do that
in 2005.  The other architect and myself have been running a Tech-Lead training
program since July with 8 students.  This program is being run somewhat like a 
University course with tests and research projects.  We've been asked to do the 
same type of program for project leads.  This will be an excellent opportunity to
introduce agile ideas (Lean Software Development will be one of the texts for the
course) to the project leads.

I started reading a little about XP in 1999.  I wrote a white paper suggesting we try 
it out in 2000.  We started our first XP project in September, 2001.  Since then, it 
has been a real roller-coaster ride.  However, when I look back at 2003 honestly, I can 
say that we are setting the stage for the organization to move.  It is much slower than 
I would like but it is happening.  Referring to Rick Maurer's Five Touchstones, I'm working 
on Relaxing and Maintaining Clear Focus.  Those are becoming a little easier for me when I 
look back over the last year.  Now I have to work on one that is a little hard for me at 
times, Respecting Those Who Resist.  Once I've begun doing that more, I can Embrace the 
Resistance and even Join With the Resistance.  I'm probably talking about another two years 
or more of development for myself and I honestly don't know if I'll make it.

Mike Corum

-----Original Message-----
>Message: 6
>   Date: Fri, 09 Jan 2004 18:58:22 -0500
>   From: "J. B. Rainsberger" <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: Re: Digest Number 130
>
>Ron Jeffries wrote:
>
>> On Friday, January 9, 2004, at 3:52:54 PM, J. B. Rainsberger wrote:
>> 
>>  > This is just what I've experienced. I don't know what it means. What it
>>  > /encourages/ me to do, however, is never take business responsibility
>>  > for delivering software with programmers that aren't /mine/. What's left
>>  > is what I'm terming the Business interface: stories, priority, release
>>  > schedule, cost per iteration, and the like.
>> 
>> Good story, and I understand. I might, for myself, say something rather
>> similar: never take business responsibility for delivering software with a
>> process that isn't entirely mine, including hiring/firing.
>> 
>> Of course we can't always get that deal. But otherwise we're talking about
>> responsibility without matching authority -- and that's Known Bad
>> Territory.
>
>All right, so to force me to dip my toes into that murky water, I 
>essentially have to be desperate to the point of not being able to earn 
>a living otherwise. (Fortunately, in the worst case, I can always tutor 
>high school mathematics for my wife....) This means that I, for one, 
>will never cause any improvement in this general situation. If it all 
>depended on me, then non-Agile teams wouldn't become Agile teams any 
>more quickly than it is happening now.
>
>Questions.
>
>Can /anyone/ make it go faster?
>If so, who's trying to do it?
>
>But if not, then I guess I was just born at the wrong time and I should 
>just quit, keep bees and grow asparagus.
>-- 
>J. B. Rainsberger,
>Diaspar Software Services
>http://www.diasparsoftware.com :: +1 416 791-8603
>Let's write software that people understand



 

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