#management
39 posts
2017 - June
1 post2015 - January
1 post2014 - November
1 post2014 - September
1 post2014 - July
1 post2014 - March
2 posts2013 - November
2 posts2013 - October
1 post2013 - August
1 post2013 - July
1 post2013 - June
3 posts2013 - May
2 posts2013 - April
1 post2011 - May
1 post2011 - April
1 post2010 - June
1 post2010 - January
2 posts2009 - December
2 posts2009 - November
2 posts2009 - July
5 posts2009 - June
2 posts2009 - May
1 post2009 - March
1 post2008 - December
1 post2008 - October
1 post2007 - September
1 post2017 - June
1 postEstimates are Promises - A Better Metaphor
Estimates can become promises when risk is managed: lock in time and cost, prioritize the first 20% of the scope, and use staging deliveries and velocity as gauges for adjusting course.
2015 - January
1 post[Off-Topic] Compilation: "Processes and Methodologies Won't Help You!"
The collection criticizes ready-made recipes such as Agile, Kanban, and #noEstimates and argues for the scientific method, skepticism, and continuous study to make better decisions.
2014 - November
1 post[Small Bites/Off-Topic] "People over Processes" — what are "People"?
The author explains that Agile requires processes and continuous improvement, while dealing better with people calls for psychology, behavioral economics, and network concepts. Our behavior is less rational than it seems.
2014 - September
1 post[Off-Topic] Agile: the Truth Behind the Method
I argue that Scrum, XP, and other Agile practices cannot save bad teams. They expose risks and problems quickly. Agility depends on committed people, continuous practice, and concrete behavior changes.
2014 - July
1 post[Off-Topic] Someone Important Left the Community! Now What??
TJ Holowaychuk’s departure does not determine Node.js’s future. Resilient communities renew themselves when established figures make room for new contributors, without turning people into idols.
2014 - March
2 posts[Off-Topic] Breaking Bad was a very successful startup
Reading Breaking Bad as a startup, the author sees Walt as an entrepreneur obsessed with quality, scale, and territory. To him, taking responsibility requires sacrifices and good partners.
[Off-Topic] Lean Is Dead, Long Live Efficiency
Agile and Lean became an industry of courses, certifications, and tools that obscures their principles. The text argues for returning to basics: deliver value, avoid waste, learn, and question.
2013 - November
2 posts[Off-Topic] Remote Work — Small Office, Home Office (SoHo)
Remote work can work, but it is not a universal solution. The text argues that structures between centralization and isolation support collaboration, mentoring, and career development.
[Off-Topic] Agile Done Wrong
The text argues that Agile cannot save teams without technical ability and commitment. Planning, pair programming, quality, and responsibility become a performance, and bad professionals need replacing.
2013 - October
1 post[Off-Topic] #noEstimates Debunked
The author separates projects from ongoing operations to defend estimates, objectives, and constraints in projects. To him, constraints drive innovation, but competent execution matters more than any methodology.
2013 - August
1 post[Off-Topic] Estimates Are Promises. Promises Must Be Kept.
The author argues that software estimates are promises, not predictions, and that keeping them requires responsibility for communication, negotiation, time, and obstacles, as well as code.
2013 - July
1 postPredictably Irrational
Drawing on Dan Ariely, the author introduces Behavioral Economics to show how prices, dishonesty, and placebos expose predictably irrational decisions, something essential for anyone who manages people.
2013 - June
3 postsIntroduction to Agility
Robert Martin recounts how XP, Scrum, and Crystal converged in the 2001 Agile Manifesto. The author warns against dogmatic processes and consultancies that put methods ahead of people and customer value.
Processes, Methodologies, and the Human Brain
The author explains how emotion, randomness, and pattern-seeking create superstitions and false recipes for success. In projects, methodologies should be tested and adapted, not treated as universal truths.
What Does It Mean to Be a Manager?
Henry Mintzberg treats management as a practice, not a science or profession: good managers combine art, craft, technique, and experience to act according to the context.
2013 - May
2 postsProcesses and Methodologies Won't Help You
Processes and methodologies don’t create good developers. The text argues for continuous practice and competent professionals first, then techniques and processes that can extend their work.
[Translation] Standards: excellence vs. mediocrity
Reporting on an exercise at Toyota, Jason Yip shows that the standard was the champion’s time: four seconds. The text contrasts standards that limit with those that drive excellence.
2013 - April
1 post[Translation] Estimation — The Best We Can Do
Ron Jeffries argues for estimates as ranges of cost and velocity, used to test risks, make decisions every two weeks, and guide the product without becoming a promise or negotiation.
2011 - May
1 post[Off-Topic] Opinions, Truths, Democracy and Ethics
Akita separates opinion from truth and democracy from anarchy: teams can decide how to implement a strategy, but must respect inviolable principles, professional ethics, and the client's outcome.
2011 - April
1 post[Off-Topic] Mea Culpa: Democratic Organizations Don't Work
After revisiting his defense of democratic organizations, Akita concludes that companies belong to owners and shareholders, while teams help implement strategy within defined limits.
2010 - June
1 post[Off-Topic] Jeff Patton and Megan Fox in the same post?
For his talk at Wire 2010, the author recreated Jeff Patton's iteration-and-increment example on video, replacing the article's pixelated image with a more polished version.
2010 - January
2 postsOff-Topic: Literature for Agile Managers
Reading for Agile managers includes complex systems, chaos, and evolution. The thesis is that Agility requires studying principles and context, not copying recipes from Lean, Scrum, or manufacturing.
[Off Topic] Dunbar and Cross Functional Teams
In Dunbar's experiments, a multidisciplinary lab solved in 10 minutes a problem that E. coli specialists had spent weeks trying to overcome. Debate and metaphors make new ideas emerge.
2009 - December
2 posts[Off Topic] Watch Out for Kanban-butt
Kanban is a technique from the Toyota Production System, not a synonym for Lean or a complete methodology. In non-repetitive software, understanding why comes before applying the tool.
[Off-Topic] You Don't Understand Anything About Scrum
Scrum's origins lie in complex adaptive systems, self-organization, and the studies of Takeuchi and Nonaka. Scrum, XP, and Lean share roots and should be understood through their principles.
2009 - November
2 posts[Off-Topic] Restaurants and Technology
The restaurant analogy separates companies whose core business is technology from those that merely use it for support. In the former, programmers should experiment and create tools, as at GitHub.
[Off-Topic] Obedience to Authority
Drawing on Asch and Milgram, I argue that conformity and obedience weaken Agile teams and advocate decentralized organizations, with leaders and architects recognized through merit.
2009 - July
5 posts[Off-Topic] Intervene or Not? The "Catch-22" of Co-Pilots
Drawing on airplane accidents, the author adapts the PACE protocol for software teams: ask, alert, challenge, and intervene when a manager ignores serious risks.
[Off-Topic] Reference Books 2008-2009
A reading list on Lean, Agile, management, complexity, and science reveals the path that led the author to connect self-organization, continuous learning, and democratic organizations.
[Off-Topic] Agility, Chaos, Self-Organization
The text connects Agile with complex systems, chaos, emergence, and power laws. The thesis is that organizations learn and innovate best at the edge of chaos, though provoking disorder carries risks.
[Off-Topic] Negotiable Scope Contract
The author contrasts fixed- and negotiable-scope contracts: trying to freeze uncertainty turns problems into disputes and losses, while prioritized deliveries and collaboration reduce risk.
[Off-Topic] Authority vs. Responsibility
The author argues that separating authority from responsibility dooms processes to failure. Teams accountable for results should decide how they work, with specialists serving as consultants.
2009 - June
2 posts[Off-Topic] Standards, Commodities, and Innovations
Apple and Zara illustrate a Lean view: rethinking standards, reducing waste, and producing to demand can increase delivered value and reduce stuck inventory.
[Translation] Advice for Software Development Managers
Gerald Weinberg shows how blame culture and incongruent communication sabotage projects, while congruence improves problem-solving. Change happens through six stages.
2009 - May
1 post[Off-Topic] The 5 Team Dysfunctions in Code
Five team dysfunctions appear in anti-patterns such as null checks, duplication, untested code, and hard-to-understand solutions. Isolated techniques cannot fix a command-and-control organization.
2009 - March
1 post[Off-Topic] Net Negative Producing Programmer
Fabio introduces NNPP, the programmer who creates losses by accumulating technical debt or becoming a single point of failure, and distinguishes this profile from juniors willing to learn.
2008 - December
1 postTranslation: Technical Debt
Steve McConnell's translation separates accidental from strategic technical debt, explains its interest, and suggests tracking it in the backlog. Shortcuts can make sense when traceable and repayable.
2008 - October
1 postOff-Topic: The Agile Manifesto, or How to Become Google
The author argues that agility depends on philosophy, trust, and self-organizing teams, not procedures alone. Through Conway, open source, and Google, he advocates a culture that supports innovation and adaptation.
2007 - September
1 postTranslation: Counting Is a Waste of Time
The translation criticizes counting tasks, estimates, and hours when those numbers do not guide decisions. A case involving 20 to 25 tasks a day exposes the waste of measurement.