Archive for the ‘Learning’ Category
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
This winter, SD Times editor Jennifer deJong Lent asked me to contribute an SD Times article on recommended books for developers. Jennifer and I agreed my list would exclude books about languages, databases or IDEs. I was pleased to contribute.
Jennifer begins her article with the following: “With the proliferation of online articles and ebooks, old-fashioned paper books seem not to have a place in today’s world. Many experts, however, still find useful things in paperbacks and hardcovers. From technology to people and team management, these books still help developers out today. Here are what the experts recommend.” Continue reading
Tags: Agile, BABOK, Books, leadership, Personal Development
Posted in Agile, Books, Career, Communication Skills, ellen gottesdiener, Learning, roles and responsibilities, SD Times, Software Development, Writing | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
I’m pleased to share with you an “author cast,” a podcast interview of me by Yaaqub (Yamo) Mohamed of The BACoach.
Yamo’s interview got me thinking and reflecting on my own professional learning journey and dig into the two books I’ve written (so far 
). Continue reading | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile BA, Agile Business Analysis, agile requirements, Books, Business Value, Elicitation, Product Owner, requirements, Workshops, Writing
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Analysis, Books, collaboration, Communication Skills, Discovery Workshop, Elicitation, ellen gottesdiener, Facilitation, leadership, lean, Learning, requirements, Requirements by Collaboration, retrospectives, The Software Requirements Memory Jogger, Workshops, Writing | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
I was recently interviewed by SearchSoftwareQuality editor Yvette Francino about this week’s Business Analysis and Requirements Workshop at the Better Conference/Development Conference this week in Las Vegas, Nevada (6-7 June, 2011).
Yvette asked me to explain the logistics, if we would be emulating gathering requirements for a particular project and if the workshop be relevant regardless of domain area. Here are my answers: As conference chair, Continue reading | 1 Comment
Tags: Agile, Agile BA, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, BABOK, Business Analyst, business analysts role, Business Value, Documentation, Elicitation, Product Owner, requirements, Stakeholder Analysis, Stakeholders
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Business Analyst, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Analysis, BABOK, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Analyst, Business Value, collaboration, Communication Skills, Documentation, Elicitation, ellen gottesdiener, Facilitation, iiba babok, lean, Learning, requirements, retrospectives, Stakeholder Analysis, Stakeholders, Waste, Workshops | 1 Comment »
Monday, November 1st, 2010
By Guest Blogger Rob Elbourn, Scrum Team Lead working at a major financial concern in UK. Visit Rob’s Agile78 Blog
I recently attended the “Agile Requirements by Collaboration” presentation at Skills Matter lead by Ellen Gottesdiener from EBG Consulting. Here are some of the main points I got from it.
Ellen described how collaboration needs to happen on several different levels of granularity along the way requirements are viewed on agile projects– the product (which establishes the product or portfolio roadmap), the release and the iteration (or work-in-progress).
Exploring these views can occur in several different facilitated workshops, from the roadmap workshop, to the release workshop to iteration workshops. The corresponding requirements that are clarified or driven out from these workshops also appear on different levels – boulder, rock and pebble.
The idea is that the pebbles form your user stories and are driven out at the level of the iteration workshop. Projects can encounter rock sized requirements at the iteration level and suffer a time delay as new pebble requirements are chipped off from them. This brings to question the level of “doneness” for a user story. Continue reading
Tags: Agile, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, collaboration, Facilitation, Workshops
Posted in Agile, agile requirements, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Consulting, Business Consulting Training, Communication Skills, Learning | No Comments »
Friday, July 30th, 2010
By Mary Gorman
In my Stickyminds.com column “Playing at Work: Agile Games Deliver Value” I share game ideas and experiences – the benefits games can provide, selecting an appropriate game, facilitating a game, and designing a winning game.
Designing and Facilitating Agile Games
When writing the column I got to thinking how agile principles could provide a basis for good game design and facilitation. I reflected on a recent experience I had at Deep Agile 2010: Empowering Teams with Agile Games. Working in a small group we created a new game, tested it, and retrospected both the game and our design process in less than half a day. We consciously (and some times unconsciously!) were being agile! (To see and learn more about our game, read Michael Sahota’s summary at The Backlog Is in the Eye of the Beholder.)
Games and The Agile Manifesto
To clearly communicate the agile-ness of our work and what we learned I did a quick mapping to the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. Continue reading
Tags: Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile manifesto, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, games, Learning, retrospectives, Workshops
Posted in Agile, agile manifesto, Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, games, Learning, mary gorman | No Comments »
Thursday, June 24th, 2010
b
y Mary Gorman and Ellen Gottesdiener
We liked it when a good thing took on a life of its own.
We learned that it really resonated with many folks.
We lacked sharing the full understanding of the technique.
We longed for more sharing.
Liked – Learned – Lacked – Longed For
At the recent Deep Agile event, Mary briefly mentioned a 3Ls’ technique she used in a recent retrospective (Liked, Lacked, Longed For). A few folks tweeted about it, and it took off in the web’o’sphere
To fulfill our longing to share and provide some background, keep reading to learn how we use this technique.
Many moons ago… Continue reading | 8 Comments
Tags: Agile, Agile Planning, Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, mary gorman, retrospectives
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Agile Planning, agile requirements, Agile Workshops, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Business Value, collaboration, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, retrospectives, Workshops | 8 Comments »
Friday, May 14th, 2010
Last time, I introduced Open Space, an innovative approach to creating change in whole systems and inspiring the best in human performance. Also called Open Space Technology (OST), Open Space was created by Harrison Owen in the 1980s. It’s a self-organizing practice that encourages people to exchange information and ideas in informal settings.
How Does It Work?
To start, Open Space participants gather in a dynamic opening event in what we call the marketplace. Anyone can offer topics they care about, want to reflect on, and learn about with others. You don’t have to be an expert, guru, or even highly experienced or knowledgeable about the topic you convene. During the marketplace, participants create a board that lists all the session topics people want to talk about, with time slots and locations for each proposed topic.
Then each participant directs her own choices. Groups convene sessions around these topics and record their findings.
Open Space operates on four principles:
1. Whoever comes is the right people.
2. Whatever happens is the only thing that could have.
3. Whenever it starts is the right time.
4. When it is over it is over. Continue reading
Tags: Agile, agile games, Business Analysis Training, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, Open Space, OST, retrospective, roles and responsibilities
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, agile games, Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, Open Space, OST, retrospectives, roles and responsibilities | No Comments »
Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Next week, I’ll have the honor of facilitating the Open Space at the Deep Agile 2010: Empowering Teams with Agile Games Conference May 15-16 in Boston.
If you haven’t heard much about Open Space, read on. I want to share my experiences and define this technique in detail.
My Open Space Journey
Imagine going to an “un” conference: it’s like other conferences, except that you determine the topics, interact with others who have passion, experience, and curiosity about the same topics, and cross-fertilize your knowledge by sharing with other highly engaged learners. If you’re bored, tired, or not getting value from any session, it’s OK to just walk away. Oh, and someone will record and share the findings, so you can get a flavor for any sessions you missed. That’s Open Space.
Wow. Continue reading | 2 Comments
Tags: Agile, agile games, Business Analysis Training, Deep Agile, Deep Agile Games, Facilitation, Learning, Open Space, OST, retrospective, roles and responsibilities
Posted in Agile, Agile Business Analysis, Business Analysis Training, Facilitation, Learning, retrospectives | 2 Comments »
