The Transformation Blog

Two of the most profound trends over the past 10 years driving software innovation are Agile software development and Human centered design (often known as UX in software circles), yet these trends have often moved independent of one another, or worse, been at odds.  First, let’s do a quick review of what we mean by UX and Agile:

My last blog article incited a riot among the Scrum purists.. Well, maybe not a riot, but it certainly invoked emotions and passions which I love... but what I don't love is how the Scrum faithful are increasingly resistant to critical thought and debate... so let me attempt to clarify my motives and objective in writing my last article..

Yesterday’s dramatic announcement (link at Engadget) of layoffs and R&D cutbacks by Nokia (which has been leaking out for months) should be a sobering reality check for Agile and Scrum advocates who have exploited Agile mythology by packaging Scrum and Agile into lucrative “solutions” that can be easily purchased for those willing to whip out their check books.  For those that missed the news, Nokia is laying off...

In recent weeks, there has been increased discussion among some in the Agile PMI community who are seeking empirical proof for how and why autonomy and team empowerment actually works. What I find interesting is how difficult it is for Agilists to provide much more than anecdotal evidence supporting this foundational Agile principle.

This discussion interested me because I have reached beyond the Agile community over the last year to learn more about how human performance is influenced by our work environments and our cognitive biases

The last few months at Gear Stream has revealed a recurring client challenge that I’d like to highlight that has the potential to undermine Agile success and worse, introduce outcomes nearly as dysfunctional as those we’re seeking to eradicate with Agile.  What is this challenge you ask?  Agile teams routinely lack insight and appreciation for who their real customers are.

The fine folks over at Forrester know a good trend when they see one,  and CIO Magazine, not to be left out of the party is using Forrester’s latest report on Agile adoption to publish their own commentary (Agile Goes Mainstream) on why this is such wonderful news.  With Forrester and CIO Magazine essentially declaring victory over software and product development practices long ago proven ineffective in the modern world (waterfall, ad-hoc, etc.) and in it’s place