TL;DR — Enjoy these 10 handy tips on preparing for software product demos I learned during my short career as a professional opera singer. At about the 1:30 minute mark of the video drama titled ‘Apple Keynote Failures’ we witness yet another reminder that even the best-laid plans of mice and men tend to blow up badly…
Tag: Agile
How to avoid a visit from your friendly neighborhood Technical Debt Collector
TL;DR — Everyone is fine with deferring technical debt, that is until ‘Tony from Support’ shows up w/a bug that breaks your app’s kneecaps. If mob movies were framed as software development, imagine how many story lines would read as follows … … Pamela the Product Owner, desirous of saving “Saint Jerome’s Home for Abandoned Bambinos” from foreclosure,…
Of course it’s okay to selectively incorporate SAFe® practices
TL;DR — As waterfall survivor I understand concerns over SAFe®. That said, I don’t think it’s necessary to toss the baby with the bathwater. I came up with the term ‘HyperScrumDamentalist’ a few years back in response to an overly-zealous scrum master who was more concerned over the letter of the law than the ‘Heart of Agile.’…
Of course it’s okay to split unfinished Product Backlog Items
TL;DR — The best refined stories of mice and men sometimes go awry. This includes dealing with stories sized with the best of intentions. I’m often intrigued — and sometimes amused — by broad and definitive proclamations made on behalf of the Agile manifesto. The following blog post showing up in my LinkedIn news feed being an example I’d like to…
How I spent a Memorial Day weekend chasing a mobile ghost
TL;DR — How I lost a 3 day weekend but won a stronger team overlooking an atomic feed write delivered to an early MVP served by an eager CDN. It’s been a few years, and a different place of employment, yet I remember the conversation and the events that followed as if it were yesterday … … it…
Software delivery is a lot like Pizza Delivery
TL;DR — How I pulled an F up to a B+ in grad school with only a pizza box, a prayer, and an assertion that customers don’t give a crap about ‘how’ apps are delivered. Let me tell you a story about how I almost failed grad school by failing to communicate how software delivery is a…
A little about DeanOnDelivery & the nut behind the keyboard.
TL;DR — Who is Dean Peters? Let’s start with experienced agile product manager, recovering programmer, servant leader, mountain biker, grill master, husband, & Dad with a secret past life as a professional opera singer. A grizzled veteran of nearly three decades of delivering valuable software, Dean Peters is a product manager and recovering software engineer working across…
6 Product Management Predictions for 2017
With a new year comes our one legitimate chance as product managers to plan waaaaay ahead into the future with our usual level of accuracy, but in behemoth batches, and without all those pesky KPIs to which we’re held accountable. Given this liberty, I offer for your edification and entertainment 6 product management predictions for…
A more Pedestrian Path to User-Centered Product Management
tl;dr: How not to be a stubborn jerk when behaviors reveal user paths you didn’t initially anticipate. User Story As an end-user, I want the software to work for me; not the other way around. Description The internet is replete with images of inefficient park and greenway designs where users have beaten their own, more…
An epic idea walks into a JIRA backlog …
TL;DR: Good ideas sometimes come in the form of epics. Here’s a “Five Ws & an H” “approach to getting them initially prioritized right. User Story As a product manager, I need a way to initially prioritize new epics. Description An idea walks into a JIRA backlog. The product owner says, “Hey, we have an…