HL Arledge

Are EnvisionConnect users moving to Windows Vista?

Ordinarily, I am the first to push folks to upgrade to the latest and greatest, and—as a Microsoft partner—Decade Software cannot recommend not upgrading to Microsoft's latest operating system.

However, I want to at least caution those who are considering it.

Initial tests running EnvisionConnect and Windows Vista are positive. We know of no known issues, but like many software vendors, we are concerned with the sluggishness of Windows Vista.

Some have even started a campaign to force Microsoft to reinstate Windows XP as it's flagship product.

As such, I recommend weighing the Pros and Cons yourself before jumping in.

J. Peter Burzzese at this to say at InfoWorld magazine...

"Some say Vista isn't ready for the enterprise, although my last post describes how Vista was put into use at Continental Airlines immediately - and planes didn't fall out of the sky. So, obviously it is satisfying some, albeit not all. As for the 'Save XP' campaign... it seems like a moot point. Come 2009, if you're not ready to move to Windows Vista, its successor will probably show up long before the extended support for Windows XP ends in 2014."

...and you thought the Apple/Linux debate was all there was to worry about.

I'm speaking at a Fresno Wal-Mart this weekend

Sunday, I will be hosting an event for the associates of Wal-Mart.

It will be quite a different experience than speaking to software developers, I'm certain.

I'll let you know how it goes next week.

Hectic week, "bear" with me

I heard some growling, because you haven't heard much from me this week.

This is Sprint Planning week for my Scrum teams, and we have just upgraded our task board software, so it has been a busy one. I hope to be posting normally—if you can call it that—next week.

Hang in there.

Always a pleasure speaking with you

The presentation went really well yesterday.

As usual, the team at the Central Valley Business Incubator were most gracious, and the members of the Central Valley Regional Jobs Initiative's Software Cluster were great.

I always appreciate the opportunity to speak to such a receptive audience.

Beginning in March, I will be speaking monthly at various software user groups around the state.

I look forward to meeting you there.

Crazed Code Monkey raves about Scrumbut

The other day, I mentioned Scrumbut, the folks who say they are practicing Scrum, but they are doing some things different. They—I've said way too often—are practicing Scrumbut not Scrum.

Tommy Norman, in his blog "Ravings from a Crazed Code Monkey," describes how he came from a Scrumbut shop into a company open to applying Scrum as it was intended. His experiences with the two are as different as night and day.

Check it out.

Scrum tackles incapability and immaturity head-on

Jeff Sutherland published a paper at HICSS-41 that documents cost savings a CMMI level 5 organization delivers switching to Scrum.

Then Ken Judy wrote, I would not invest in productivity measurement to justify agile adoption, saying...

"...a CMMI-5 company invests in more measurement than I would ever do so let’s take advantage of what they learned. While taking it with a grain of salt. The company believes work costs about half as much if they use Scrum instead of their best of breed CMMI level 5 waterfall practice."

For those of you who hate process, level one of the Capability Maturity Model will cost even more, but I am still inclined to believe that Scrum would still prevail.

Jeff touted his combination of Scrum and CMMI Level 5 as "the Magic Potion for Code Warriors" at the 2008 International Conference on System Sciences in Hawaii.

Decade Software is a living, breathing entity

I don't usually regurgitate post verbatim, but these thoughts from Anna Farmery are well worth repeating...

"Business exists because of humans—because humans establish them, because humans run them, because humans buy from them.

I think if we change our mindset from a business as an entity to business being human it can have great benefits

1. Care about it's health by checking on its heart and soul is fit and well - engagement surveys, sessions with people, feedback
2. Care about its vision by constantly ensuring that it's vision is clear.
3. Care about its "blood pressure" by listening and searching for pressure points that need to be released.
4. Care about its "teeth" by ensuring that the targets are stretching, that they are motivating people to push on...
5. Care about its hearing by ensuring that the lines of communication are working well.
6. Care about its mind by ensuring that information is being shared, that people are encourage to develop their thinking...
7. Care about its beliefs and values to ensure they are being respected.
8. Care about its mobility - can it act quickly?

A business is so much more than a corporate entity - it is a group of people who want to achieve their dream, it touches peoples lives in the community, in the world."

Scrum virus hunter admits to being infected

I often wondered how blog wars begin. Now, I know.

Following my Tuesday post, Jason Gorman had this to say about me on his blog...

"...He's putting words into my mouth (and that's some feat with  someone who loves the sound of his own voice as much as I do). I never said that Scrum was Snake Oil. I said it was simple and quick to learn, and that's why it spreads so rapidly. I'm simply commenting on how Scrum spreads, not what Scrum is."

Sorry, Jason, I'm originally from a southern state, and we were never very good at war.

If that was what you intended to say when you referred to Scrum as a virus, then I'm glad we cleared that up.

It is always good to welcome another victim into the Scrum ward.

Thanks, Jason!

Cartoonist infected by dreaded Scrum virus

Fellow ScrumMaster, Mike Visdos, was as offended as I was when Jason Gorman described Scrum as a virus spreading through the software industry.

In fact, it inspired this cartoon from Mike's Implementing Scum site...

As Mike said...

"This past week I have watched Scrum be called a lot of names and publicly flogged for some of it’s practices.

Um.

People.

Get over it.

Please.

Remember, Scrum helps people, teams, and organizations transform their business to be the best it can be."

Software Developers infected by virus, spreads to office

Last week, Jason Gorman compared Scrum to a virus. I would like to remind him that being infectious doesn't make something a virus. Laughter is infectious, but it is good for you. Laughter spreads quickly, because it makes those infected feel better.

In my opinion, Scrum and Laughter are two "viruses" that simply cannot spread fast enough.

Like the laughter contagion, Scrum also makes people feel good. It does so by making them successful—by helping them reach their goals.

In Jason's post, he exposes his believe that Scrum is nothing more than Snake Oil sold by consultants, then he exposes the fallacy in his believe with the following statement...

"...Scrum is not exactly rocket science. It shouldn't take long to get a practical handle on the key principles and practices. 5 minutes might be pushing it - but you can certainly figure most of it out in, say, a sprint or two."

That is exactly what we did at Decade Software Company. We were into our second sprint and making great progress, long before I received my certification as a ScrumMaster, and we were a year into the process, before I was certified as a Scrum Practitioner.

At our company, no Scrum consultant has ever darkened our door, but my development department has used Scrum to literally quadruple quality and quantity across the board, and today, our design, implementation, conversion, and client service teams are starting to see success with Scrum.

If Scrum is a virus, we don't want the cure.