Author Archives: rob

Thoughts from the front line with ThoughtWorks Twist

Posted on June 28, 2012 by rob

At the beginning of this year I was fortunate to be drafted into a team with the task of enabling them to sucessfully use a new-to-the-bank tool called Twist developed by ThoughtWorks. What is Twist, and what other tools is … Continue reading →

Posted in agile adpotion, BDD, Cucumber, FitNesse, Twist | 2 Comments

How solutionising in your standup burns time you dont want to waste

Posted on May 8, 2012 by rob

This will be a very short blog. I have been to tonnes of standups…….. tonnes……, and its not uncommon to observe a lot of solutionising. You might also call it tunnelling; its when two people quickly dissappear down a tunnel … Continue reading →

Posted in Core Agile, stand ups, xp | 2 Comments

Developing margins

Posted on January 3, 2012 by rob

After a lengthly break from blogging, mainly due to the nature and intensity of my work changing, it occured to me….  that I didn’t have enough time, in fact, nobody had enough time… something that needed to change… Divine revelation? I … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioural change | Leave a comment

What to do when you find resistance to change….

Posted on July 27, 2011 by rob

Back from holidays and ready to blog again. After a sustained period of overlapping work it had reduced my creative capacity somewhat. Many of us have come across resistance to change while attempting to move a company more towards agile. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Naked Standups

Posted on March 22, 2011 by rob

ah I see I have your attention 😉 I recently hosted a small session in an “unconference” in Deutsche Bank where we talked about daily standups, we talked about the various patterns of reporting, eg. what did I do yesterday, … Continue reading →

Posted in Core Agile, stand ups, xp | 2 Comments

Pair Programming, “Recognition vs Recall” and Keyboard Shortcuts

Posted on February 22, 2011 by rob

I cannot find anything about this in suitable detail on the web so I am writing my own: what we “learned” in school IT students (including myself way back when) have been sold the story that recognition is much better … Continue reading →

Posted in behavioural change, multitasking, pair programming, xp | Leave a comment

FitNesse and Java vs Cucumber and Groovy

Posted on January 27, 2011 by rob

I was recently tasked with piloting a couple of design tools designed to help us with our development. The first one was FitNesse, and the second Cucumber with Groovy. The problem with “cutting edge” pieces of software tooling is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile Requirements, BDD, Cucumber, FitNesse, Groovy | 3 Comments

Agile, lean and kanban exchange 2010

Posted on December 6, 2010 by rob

I recently attended the agile, lean & Kanban exchange in London (http://skillsmatter.com/event/agile-scrum/agile-lean-kanban-exchange-2010). Sadly I got snowed in Thursday, and after hiking 2 miles through snow to a station that was closed (people were telling me on the way it was … Continue reading →

Posted in conference, Core Agile, kanban, lean, skillsmatter | 2 Comments

XTC (eXtreme Tuesday Club)

Posted on November 15, 2010 by rob

I thought I’d share my experience of going to the XTC for the first time. Having heard that its ‘A regular London meeting (weekly) for XP newbies, practitioners, and experts. Like XPday it’s ‘more than just XP’. See some of … Continue reading →

Posted in xtc | Leave a comment

Agile Multitasking

Posted on October 21, 2010 by rob

I went to a skillsmatter session last night, and a great one it was too! All about how to “multitask” and “context switch” in an Agile manner (NOT!). Greg Gigon dismissed the myth of multitasking (well at least for the … Continue reading →

Posted in multitasking | 3 Comments