In a situation with 35 Software Development Scrum Teams, 260 team members from Engineering, QA, Product Management, and 1 Agile Coach, we were tasked with conducting 'audits' of the agile process.
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For those who think going to an Agile Development System in a large development department ill be easy, I can tell you that you'll be disappointed. But the reward is worth it. In my experience with an enterprise software deployment, as well as numerous web based startups, Agile is the way to go.
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I've been associated with several early stage startups in different sectors and situations, cutting edge and not so cutting edge technologies. Some failed, some succeeded. And in some cases it depends on your perspective and goals as to which is which.
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As the name implies, the road map is not a one time or final design but a continuous narrative on how the product will be initially planned and how it will evolve.
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There are millions of working adults who for whatever reason never finished their four year degrees. Some dropped out due to family or economic reasons. Some failed to accrue the required credit hours due to not taking it seriously in their youth.
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As new technologies are being introduced around us it is instructive to learn from the past that sometimes adoption and markets emerge unevenly.
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In the current global economy, and with the tight labor market, outsourcing remains a tool that many will use. The reasons for outsourcing are varied. Some will use it for the perceived lower cost. I'll return to that later.
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We successfully deployed a crude laptop running Linux in a secure environment and partnered with networking companies to provide wireless networks to any schools that didn't have them. Our version 1.0 Learning Management System had lessons, assignments, and file storage with views for students, teachers and parents. We patented how we assembled content and how we would use advertising to fund it. Then we piloted in three school districts. We were on our way to revolutionize K12 learning.
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You've got a great idea. But that's not enough. Startup Product Management requires experience that only someone who's been there can understand. Your Co-founder or VP Products may be new to the profession, or may have minimal experience with a single product. That's where we come in.
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My method would take into account the weighted strength of importance the consumer places on a characteristic and therefore when compared to the underlying product data, provide a numerical ranking of the available alternatives. The website or mobile app user would select the weight either as a discrete radio button (not important, somewhat important, important, very important) or on a continuous percent scale using a slider widget.
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Many article have been written about Agile Development at large scale. Some say it doesn't work. I hadn't read those when I took on 35 teams in a software development company.
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Contacting potential students for master and PhD programs is somewhat different than calling on sales prospects. Yet there was enough overlap that when an enrollment platform was needed we started with an open source CRM and modified it. Sounds simple? Not exactly.
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A factory that makes steel shelving for the home products retail industry always ordered their rolled steel pickled and oiled to reduce tool wear and metal dust in the factory. But the cost was higher and competitors were buying 'dry' rolled steel which was cheaper. The workers insisted the total cost would be higher due to more frequent tool wear and machine and shop maintenance. So we set up an experiment to see.
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Lessons learned helped propel Steve to higher levels of quality management eventually reaching the level of Division Director of Quality over three manufacturing plants of a major defense contractor.
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Due to EPA regulations, the cost to paint industrial steel products skyrocketed. The disposal of paints and thinners had to be done by qualified and certified disposal teams. In response, companies developed electrostatic powder coat technology.
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In the 1980's Satellite Communications were being deployed in all the services. Satellite dishes need protection from the elements, natural and battlefield. One program required antennae that could survive not only extreme weather exposure but also nuclear blast waves at a specified distance. The engineers and scientists calculated that a protective radome of a specified wall thickness and variability be used to protect the dishes. The problem was that the process for making the radomes had more variability in wall thickness than allowed by specification. Rejected radomes were piling up at the supplier.
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