Download or read book Agile Retrospectives written by Esther Derby and published by Pragmatic Bookshelf. This book was released on 2006-07-26 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Project retrospectives help teams examine what went right and what went wrong on a project. But traditionally, retrospectives (also known as “post-mortems”) are only held at the end of the project—too late to help. You need agile retrospectives that are iterative and incremental. You need to accurately find and fix problems to help the team today. Now Esther and Diana show you the tools, tricks and tips you need to fix the problems you face on a software development project on an on-going basis. You’ll see how to architect retrospectives in general, how to design them specifically for your team and organization, how to run them effectively, how to make the needed changes and how to scale these techniques up. You’ll learn how to deal with problems, and implement solutions effectively throughout the project—not just at the end. This book will help you: Design and run effective retrospectives Learn how to find and fix problems Find and reinforce team strengths Address people issues as well as technological Use tools and recipes proven in the real world With regular tune-ups, your team will hum like a precise, world-class orchestra.

Download or read book FunRetrospectives Activities and Ideas for Making Agile Retrospectives More Engaging written by Tainã Caetano Coimbra and published by Editora Caroli. This book was released on 2020-08-21 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: FunRetrospectives is a book with the necessary tools to develop the main element of continuous improvement: an effective, committed team! With several years working with agile teams, Paulo Caroli and Tainã Caetano Coimbra know there are two main ingredients to finding the path to success and continuous improvement. First, a team that is aligned and committed to the project. Second, a work environment that fosters collaboration, one in which everyone can openly reflect, debate, and learn. But how can we achieve that? Each person in a team brings a different life experience and perspective, and we know that a group of people doesn't become a team overnight. That's why the main purpose of this work is to offer the necessary activities and tools to make everyone comfortable, aligned, and ready to be part of the best possible experience. The authors have gathered years of experience in this book, offering simple and straightforward activities. There will always be ups and downs, but everything that happens is essential for the team's growth, and a fun, safe environment allows you to get the best out of every situation.

Download or read book Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives written by Luis Gonçalves and published by Ben Linders Publishing. This book was released on 2015-01-28 with total page 73 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Getting Value out of Agile Retrospectives helps you and your teams to do retrospectives effectively and efficiently. It's a toolbox with many exercises for facilitating retrospectives, supported with the "what" and "why" of retrospectives, the business value and benefits that they bring, and advice for introducing and improving retrospectives. If you are a Scrum master, agile coach, project manager, product manager or facilitator then this book helps you to discover and apply new ways to do Valuable Agile Retrospectives with your teams. With plenty of exercises you can develop your own personal Retrospectives Toolbox to become more proficient in doing retrospectives and get more out of them.

Download or read book Learning Agile written by Andrew Stellman and published by "O'Reilly Media, Inc.". This book was released on 2014-11-12 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learning Agile is a comprehensive guide to the most popular agile methods, written in a light and engaging style that makes it easy for you to learn. Agile has revolutionized the way teams approach software development, but with dozens of agile methodologies to choose from, the decision to "go agile" can be tricky. This practical book helps you sort it out, first by grounding you in agile’s underlying principles, then by describing four specific—and well-used—agile methods: Scrum, extreme programming (XP), Lean, and Kanban. Each method focuses on a different area of development, but they all aim to change your team’s mindset—from individuals who simply follow a plan to a cohesive group that makes decisions together. Whether you’re considering agile for the first time, or trying it again, you’ll learn how to choose a method that best fits your team and your company. Understand the purpose behind agile’s core values and principles Learn Scrum’s emphasis on project management, self-organization, and collective commitment Focus on software design and architecture with XP practices such as test-first and pair programming Use Lean thinking to empower your team, eliminate waste, and deliver software fast Learn how Kanban’s practices help you deliver great software by managing flow Adopt agile practices and principles with an agile coach

Download or read book Improving Agile Retrospectives written by Marc Loeffler and published by Addison-Wesley Professional. This book was released on 2018-01-02 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Agile retrospectives help you get to the root of your real problems, so you can solve them quickly and effectively. They're the cornerstone of a successful continuous improvement process, and one of your best tools for triggering positive cultural change. In Improving Agile Retrospectives, leading agile coach/trainer Marc Loeffler combines practical guidance, proven practices, and innovative approaches for maximizing the value of retrospectives for your team--and your entire organization. You can apply his powerful techniques in any project, agile or otherwise. These techniques offer exceptional value wherever continuous improvement is needed: from "lessons-learned" workshops in traditional project management to enterprise-wide change management. Loeffler's detailed, results-focused examples help you recognize and overcome common pitfalls, adapt retrospectives to your unique needs, and consistently achieve tangible results. Throughout, he integrates breakthrough concepts, such as using experimentation and learning from system thinking. He presents small ideas that make a big difference--because they're deeply grounded in real experience. * Learn from failures and successes, and make good things even better * Master facilitation techniques that help you achieve your goals (and have fun doing it) * Prepare your retrospective so it runs smoothly * Practice techniques for generating actionable insights * Keep your retrospectives fresh and interesting * Perform retrospectives that address the entire system, not just your team * Focus on your "better future" with solution-focused retrospectives * Learn how to avoid typical pitfalls when facilitating retrospectives * Lead retrospectives across multiple distributed teams * Use retrospectives to support large-scale change

Download or read book The Pragmatic Programmer written by Andrew Hunt and published by Addison-Wesley Professional. This book was released on 1999-10-20 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What others in the trenches say about The Pragmatic Programmer... “The cool thing about this book is that it’s great for keeping the programming process fresh. The book helps you to continue to grow and clearly comes from people who have been there.” — Kent Beck, author of Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change “I found this book to be a great mix of solid advice and wonderful analogies!” — Martin Fowler, author of Refactoring and UML Distilled “I would buy a copy, read it twice, then tell all my colleagues to run out and grab a copy. This is a book I would never loan because I would worry about it being lost.” — Kevin Ruland, Management Science, MSG-Logistics “The wisdom and practical experience of the authors is obvious. The topics presented are relevant and useful.... By far its greatest strength for me has been the outstanding analogies—tracer bullets, broken windows, and the fabulous helicopter-based explanation of the need for orthogonality, especially in a crisis situation. I have little doubt that this book will eventually become an excellent source of useful information for journeymen programmers and expert mentors alike.” — John Lakos, author of Large-Scale C++ Software Design “This is the sort of book I will buy a dozen copies of when it comes out so I can give it to my clients.” — Eric Vought, Software Engineer “Most modern books on software development fail to cover the basics of what makes a great software developer, instead spending their time on syntax or technology where in reality the greatest leverage possible for any software team is in having talented developers who really know their craft well. An excellent book.” — Pete McBreen, Independent Consultant “Since reading this book, I have implemented many of the practical suggestions and tips it contains. Across the board, they have saved my company time and money while helping me get my job done quicker! This should be a desktop reference for everyone who works with code for a living.” — Jared Richardson, Senior Software Developer, iRenaissance, Inc. “I would like to see this issued to every new employee at my company....” — Chris Cleeland, Senior Software Engineer, Object Computing, Inc. “If I’m putting together a project, it’s the authors of this book that I want. . . . And failing that I’d settle for people who’ve read their book.” — Ward Cunningham Straight from the programming trenches, The Pragmatic Programmer cuts through the increasing specialization and technicalities of modern software development to examine the core process--taking a requirement and producing working, maintainable code that delights its users. It covers topics ranging from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques for keeping your code flexible and easy to adapt and reuse. Read this book, and you'll learn how to Fight software rot; Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge; Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code; Avoid programming by coincidence; Bullet-proof your code with contracts, assertions, and exceptions; Capture real requirements; Test ruthlessly and effectively; Delight your users; Build teams of pragmatic programmers; and Make your developments more precise with automation. Written as a series of self-contained sections and filled with entertaining anecdotes, thoughtful examples, and interesting analogies, The Pragmatic Programmer illustrates the best practices and major pitfalls of many different aspects of software development. Whether you're a new coder, an experienced programmer, or a manager responsible for software projects, use these lessons daily, and you'll quickly see improvements in personal productivity, accuracy, and job satisfaction. You'll learn skills and develop habits and attitudes that form the foundation for long-term success in your career. You'll become a Pragmatic Programmer.

Download or read book Project Retrospectives written by Norman L. Kerth and published by Addison-Wesley. This book was released on 2013-07-15 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the digital copy of the printed booik (Copyright © 2001). With detailed scenarios, imaginative illustrations, and step-by-step instructions, consultant and speaker Norman L. Kerth guides readers through productive, empowering retrospectives of project performance. Whether your shop calls them postmortems or postpartums or something else, project retrospectives offer organizations a formal method for preserving the valuable lessons learned from the successes and failures of every project. These lessons and the changes identified by the community will foster stronger teams and savings on subsequent efforts. For a retrospective to be effective and successful, though, it needs to be safe. Kerth shows facilitators and participants how to defeat the fear of retribution and establish an air of mutual trust. One tool is Kerth's Prime Directive: Regardless of what we discover, we must understand and truly believe that everyone did the best job he or she could, given what was known at the time, his or her skills and abilities, the resources available, and the situation at hand. Applying years of experience as a project retrospective facilitator for software organizations, Kerth reveals his secrets for managing the sensitive, often emotionally charged issues that arise as teams relive and learn from each project.

Download or read book Retrospectives Antipatterns written by Aino Vonge Corry and published by Addison-Wesley Professional. This book was released on 2020-10-02 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Improve Every Retrospective! Real Solutions for Every Team Leader, Facilitator, and Participant “. . . Aino has shared a robust, curated list of antipatterns and how to avoid them. . . . And she has shared so much more than tips and techniques. You will find a gold mine--with precious nuggets, including her personal experiences, effective facilitation resources, and pointers for extracting yourself and your team when you're stuck.” --From the Foreword by Diana Larsen, co-author, Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great Retrospectives are indispensable for continuous learning and improvement in Lean, Agile, DevOps, and other contexts, but most of us have suffered through at least one retrospective that was a waste of time, or worse. Now, leading agile coach Aino Vonge Corry identifies 24 reasons that retrospectives fail and shows how to overcome each of them. Using the familiar “patterns” approach, Retrospectives Antipatterns introduces antipatterns related to structure, planning, people, distributed teams, and more. Corry shares traps she's encountered and mistakes she's made over more than a decade of leading retrospectives and then presents proven solutions. With her insights and guidance, you can run enjoyable retrospectives that deliver concrete improvements and real value--or at the very least recognize when you are making the same mistake as the author! Create a common language, actionable solutions, and proven plans for solving the retrospective problems you'll encounter most often Recognize symptoms, assess tradeoffs, and refactor your current situation into something better Plan more effectively: decide who should attend and facilitate, when to schedule your retrospective, and how much time to set aside Handle “people” problems: deal with negativity, silence, distrust, disillusionment, loudmouths, and cultural differences Facilitate better “virtual” retrospectives, with tips for online retrospectives included in each antipattern Register your book for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available. See inside book for details.

Download or read book Retrospectives for Organizational Change written by Jutta Eckstein and published by Jutta Eckstein, 38106 'Braunschweig, Germany. This book was released on 2019-02-19 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Jutta Eckstein examines how retrospectives –originally a kind of a facilitated workshop for gaining feedback– can be applied conceptually to initiate and implement organizational change. Technically, retrospectives were an instrument for a group to examine a past joint period of time and learn from that. The participants of a Retrospective for Organizational Change do not share a joint past, yet they learn from their different individual experiences and use this as a basis to form a shared future. The main strength is to leverage the experiences of a diverse group. Especially if the change is dynamic, which means the approach toward the goal is unclear or if it is complex, where the goal itself is indeterminate, Retrospectives for Organizational Change can provide a way to support the change.This book covers the conceptual idea of using Retrospectives for Organizational Change and additionally reports on the feedback and experiences of its practical application.

Download or read book 7 Rules for Positive Productive Change written by Esther Derby and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. This book was released on 2019-08-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Change is difficult but essential—Esther Derby offers seven guidelines for change by attraction, an approach that draws people into the process so that instead of resisting change, they embrace it. Even if you don't have change management in your job description, your job involves change. Change is a given as modern organizations respond to market and technology advances, make improvements, and evolve practices to meet new challenges. This is not a simple process on any level. Often, there is no indisputable right answer, and responding requires trial and error, learning and unlearning. Whatever you choose to do, it will interact with existing policies and structures in unpredictable ways. And there is, quite simply, a natural human resistance to being told to change. Rather than creating more rigorous preconceived plans or imposing change by decree, agile software developer turned organizational change expert Esther Derby offers change by attraction, an approach that is adaptive and responsive and engages people in learning, evolving, and owning the new way. She presents a set of seven heuristics—guides to problem-solving—that empower people to achieve outcomes within broad constraints using their personal ingenuity and creativity. When you work by attraction, you give space and support for people to feel the loss that comes with change and help them see what is valuable about the future you propose. Resistance fades because people feel there is nothing to push against—only something they want to move toward. Derby's approach clears the fog to provide a new way forward that honors people and creates safety for change.

Download or read book Fifty Quick Ideas to Improve Your Retrospectives written by Tom Roden and published by . This book was released on 2015-11-01 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Learn how to improve retrospectives and avoid stagnation, with fifty ideas designed to help you enhance and energise your continuous improvement effort. This book will help you get better outcomes from retrospectives and from any continuous improvement initiative. It will help you consider how best to prepare for retrospectives, generate innovative insights, achieve valuable outcomes, improve facilitation techniques, keep things fresh and maybe even how to have a bit of fun whilst doing it. This book is for anyone who undertakes continuous improvement of any sort, especially those looking to get better outcomes from retrospectives, either as a participant, facilitator, coach or manager of teams. We include ideas for people with varying levels of experience. So, whether you are just getting started with Scrum and retrospectives, or a veteran of continuous improvement looking to fine-tune or get new ideas, or if your retrospectives have become a bit stale and need re-invigorating, there are ideas in here to support you.

Download or read book The Agile Self assessment Game written by Ben Linders and published by Ben Linders Publishing. This book was released on 2019-01-16 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Agile Self-Assessment Game is used by teams and organizations to self-assess their agility. Playing the game enables teams to reflect on their own team interworking, discover how agile they are and decide what they can do to increase their agility to deliver more value to their customers and stakeholders. This is the first book specifically about Agile Self-assessments. In this book, Ben Linders explains what self-assessments are and why you would do them, and explores how to do them using the Agile Self-assessment Game. He's also sharing experience stories from people who played the game. This book is based on his experience as a developer, tester, team leader, project manager, quality manager, process manager, consultant, coach, trainer, and adviser in Agile, Lean, Quality and Continuous Improvement. It takes a deep dive into self-assessments, viewing them from different perspectives and provides ideas, suggestions, practices, and experiences that will help you to do effective agile self-assessments with your teams. The book is aimed at Scrum masters, agile coaches, consultants leading agile transformations, developers and testers, project managers, line managers, and CxOs; basically for anyone who is looking for an effective way to help their agile teams improve and to increase the agility of their organization. With plenty of ideas, suggestions, and practical cases on Agile Self-assessments, this book will help you to apply assessments and help teams to improve. Note: The agile coaching cards needed to play the games described in the book can be downloaded for a nominal fee at benlinders.com/downloads.

Download or read book The Retrospective Handbook written by Patrick Kua and published by . This book was released on 2013-01-29 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you running retrospectives regularly? Perhaps you run retrospectives once a week, or fortnightly. Do you feel like you could be getting more out of your retrospectives and fuelling continuous improvement in your teams? You may already find retrospectives valuable, but suspect there are ways of making them better.This book condenses down eight years of experience working with the retrospective practice within the context of real agile teams. It offers you practice advice on how to make your retrospectives even more effective including topics such as: Best methods to prepare for a retrospective Picking just the right materials Facilitating retrospectives with ease Dealing with common retrospective smells Retrospectives in different contexts including distributed, large and small groups A checklist for preparation Ensuring retrospectives result in change

Download or read book Behind Closed Doors written by Johanna Rothman and published by Pragmatic Bookshelf. This book was released on 2005-09-19 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Great management is difficult to see as it occurs. It's possible to see the results of great management, but it's not easy to see how managers achieve those results. Great management happens in one-on-one meetings and with other managers---all in private. It's hard to learn management by example when you can't see it. You can learn to be a better manager---even a great manager---with this guide. You'll follow along as Sam, a manager just brought on board, learns the ropes and deals with his new team over the course of his first eight weeks on the job. From scheduling and managing resources to helping team members grow and prosper, you'll be there as Sam makes it happen. You'll find powerful tips covering: Delegating effectively Using feedback and goal-setting Developing influence Handling one-on-one meetings Coaching and mentoring Deciding what work to do---and what not to do ...and more. Full of tips and practical advice on the most important aspects of management, this is one of those books that can make a lasting andimmediate impact on your career.

Download or read book Toyota Kata Managing People for Improvement Adaptiveness and Superior Results written by Mike Rother and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2009-09-04 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Toyota Kata gets to the essence of how Toyota manages continuous improvement and human ingenuity, through its improvement kata and coaching kata. Mike Rother explains why typical companies fail to understand the core of lean and make limited progress—and what it takes to make it a real part of your culture." —Jeffrey K. Liker, bestselling author of The Toyota Way "[Toyota Kata is] one of the stepping stones that will usher in a new era of management thinking." —The Systems Thinker "How any organization in any industry can progress from old-fashioned management by results to a strikingly different and better way." —James P. Womack, Chairman and Founder, Lean Enterprise Institute "Practicing the improvement kata is perhaps the best way we've found so far for actualizing PDCA in an organization." —John Shook, Chairman and CEO, Lean Enterprise Institute This game-changing book puts you behind the curtain at Toyota, providing new insight into the legendary automaker's management practices and offering practical guidance for leading and developing people in a way that makes the best use of their brainpower. Drawing on six years of research into Toyota's employee-management routines, Toyota Kata examines and elucidates, for the first time, the company's organizational routines--called kata--that power its success with continuous improvement and adaptation. The book also reaches beyond Toyota to explain issues of human behavior in organizations and provide specific answers to questions such as: How can we make improvement and adaptation part of everyday work throughout the organization? How can we develop and utilize the capability of everyone in the organization to repeatedly work toward and achieve new levels of performance? How can we give an organization the power to handle dynamic, unpredictable situations and keep satisfying customers? Mike Rother explains how to improve our prevailing management approach through the use of two kata: Improvement Kata--a repeating routine of establishing challenging target conditions, working step-by-step through obstacles, and always learning from the problems we encounter; and Coaching Kata: a pattern of teaching the improvement kata to employees at every level to ensure it motivates their ways of thinking and acting. With clear detail, an abundance of practical examples, and a cohesive explanation from start to finish, Toyota Kata gives executives and managers at any level actionable routines of thought and behavior that produce superior results and sustained competitive advantage.

Download or read book Retrospectives for everyone written by MADHAVI LEDALLA and published by Notion Press. This book was released on 2020-07-13 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Metaphors from our day-to-day life can throw new perspectives when juxtaposed with professional or personal experiences. What seemingly looks like a mundane chore can give great insights with interesting and innovative improvisations. The author, a committed technologist, makes this brave and successful attempt to explain retrospectives using contexts from day-to-day life with suitable graphic representations for ease of understanding. The book focuses on 'retrospectives' as a platform for teams as well as individuals to reflect and improve. She strongly advocates that, regardless of the industry, teams need to have an experimental mindset to continuously learn and adapt. Thus, reflecting on diversified areas such as work-life balance, goals, team collaboration, product development, process, technology, delivery, or targets is an ongoing process that happens either explicitly or implicitly. The book highlights the need for teams and individuals to come out of their comfort zones and think out-of-the box, while staying in sync with their individual and organization's goals. Illustrations shown in the book can be customized according to organizational or individual aspirations.

Download or read book Agile Retrospectives Second Edition written by Esther Derby and published by Pragmatic Bookshelf. This book was released on 2024-02-23 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In an uncertain and complex world, learning is more important than ever before. In fact, it can be a competitive advantage. Teams and organizations that learn rapidly deliver greater customer value faster and more reliably. Furthermore, those teams are more engaged, more productive, and more satisfied. The most effective way to enable teams to learn is by holding regular retrospectives. Unfortunately, many teams only get shallow results from their retrospectives. This book is filled with practical advice, techniques, and real-life examples that will take retrospectives to the next level--whether your team is co-located, hybrid, or remote. This book will help team leads, scrum masters, and coaches engage their teams to learn, improve, and deliver greater results. For nearly two decades, scrum masters, team leads, and coaches have relied on the first edition of Agile Retrospectivesas an essential resource to facilitate better retrospectives. This edition builds on recent research, reflects the authors' experiences over two decades, and shares wisdom gleaned from the global retrospective community. Find practical advice to level up retrospective skills. Address the challenges of remote and hybrid retrospectives head on. Take advantage of expanded guidance on designing and facilitating retrospectives--based on the questions and concerns of practitioners worldwide. Gain insight into choosing a broad or narrow focus for retrospectives. Explore how to use both objective and subjective data to enable more effective conversations. Learn how to make decisions that stick. Understand the importance of psychological safety and how to foster it in retrospectives. Elevate issues and engage managers in systemic change. Learn from many real-life stories that demonstrate how our advice has impacted retrospectives at organizations around the globe. Finally, find a set of recommended flows that reveal the authors' thought process in designing retrospectives for scenarios teams faced in real life.