Replies

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  Posted by LStacey at Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:02 am

  Sorry about that. While our spam catcher is very good at catching spam, every now and then it catches things that aren't. Did you get the option of a CAPTCHA code?

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  Posted by Nigel Evans at Thu Mar 24, 2011 9:21 am

  "Lean & process improvement techniques" is an all embracing phrase - you could be referring to anything that's been said about how to run successful projects over the past 20 years! But assuming you're talking about the move away from the plan-driven waterfall model of development towards an incremental and iterative approach, then yes, there is plenty that small teams or lone developers can take away from the agile experience.

  Personally I find Alistair Cockburn's book "Crystal Clear A Human-Powered Methodology for Small Teams" is the most relevant collection of ideas. The book is not prescriptive, so don't expect a step by step guide. Rather, it sets out to identify the properties that successful project teams share, the strategies and techniques practiced by those teams, and the incremental and iterative nature of an effective development process. Crystal Clear itself is designed for teams of 2 to 8 co-located developers. Small teams and even individuals can apply many of these principles directly to their work. For Example...

  Properties of successful development projects include:

  * Frequent Delivery (of working product)

  * Reflective process improvement (think about how you did things)

  * Osmotic Communication (be in the same room)

  * Personal Safety (feeling able to admit your weaknesses and learn)

  * Focus (Knowing what to work on next and having the time and space to work on it)

  * Easy Access to Expert Users (often the customer)

  * Technical Environment (Automate your testing, use Configuration Management and Frequent Integration)

  Strategies

  * Start projects with an exploratory 360, by looking at it from all angles (not just the technical issues), including: Business value; Use cases or user stories; Business Domain modelling; Technology sampling; Agile Project Plan (coarse grained plan)

  * Walking skeleton (create a working framework as early as possible)

  * Incremental rearchitecture (plan for system architecture to evolve as you go)

  Techniques

  * Reflect on your process (develop what works, dump what doesn't, and try something new regularly).

  * Agile Planning (e.g. Blitz planning, Project backlog/iceberg)

  * Burn Charts (make progress visible to developers and the customer - manage priorities dynamically)

  Process - incremental and iterative:

  * The heart of the process are frequent Episodes (timescale: minutes to hours). This is a repeating micro-cycle of Design - Code - Unit Test - Check in.

  * A series of episodes make up each Integration Cycle (timescale: hours to days). This is a repeating cycle of Integrate (the work produced during the episodes) - Build - Integration Test - Check in.

  * A series of Integrations result in an Increment in the product functionality (timescale: days to weeks). At the end of each increment: Reflect on and improve the process, and Plan next increment (fine grained plan). Increments should be Time-boxed (if you're running out of time, then reduce the scope and stick to the schedule).

  * Deliveries of working product (timescale: weeks to months) should be made regularly so that the customer can give feedback and reprioritise. After each delivery Reflect on and improve the process.

  * The project is complete and can be wrapped-up when the customer accepts the last delivery.

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  Posted by Nigel Evans at Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:12 am

  OK, it worked today :)

  <edir>

  It seems like if I mistype the CAPTCHA code the first time (because I can't read it clearly) then the second attempt always fails.

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  Posted by LStacey at Fri Mar 25, 2011 10:51 am

  Fantastic summary! Thanks, Nigel.

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  Posted by BbiteTom at Fri Mar 25, 2011 5:37 pm

  As a starter, no matter how small the business and very applicable to a 1 man workshop is to write it down, document it. For example you know the place is a mess and that tidying up would make tools more accessible, easire to find and therefore save time and reduce frustration.

  1. Photograph the workshop before and after. Pin them on the wall and it will help you resist slipping back to the before. If you do the photograph shows you exactly what the after looked like without you having to reinvent it.

  Then perhaps daily monthly or weekly you can post an up to date photo of an even more enhance state and you are on your way

   

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  Posted by LStacey at Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:34 am

  Lots of Lean & process improvement techniques seem to be geared towards medium & large companies with equally large processes. Are there any teqhniques aimed at small businesses such as the 1 man workshop or consultancy?

  If so, where is a good place to start?