Blog post: How to develop software like commanding a tank - Posted by Gojko Adzic to his blog on Oct. 11, 2006, the author draws parallels between Gary Klein's research of variations in understanding orders among commanders and tank platoon leaders, reaching conclusions that giving answers to ‘what‘ and ‘how‘ does not prepare individual teams for reacting to unforeseen problems, and the challenges faced within software development teams. hat He asserts they should be more focused on goals that contain (‘why‘) and anti-goals (‘watch out for‘). He continues by describing how he tested/experimented with this altered focus. He concludes that focusing on goals improves understanding and helps to establish a common framework for communication, although he also asserts that identifying and expressing true goals, not just repeating specifications or requirements, is perhaps the biggest challenge.
Blog Post: The waterfall trap for “agile” projects - This post by Gojko Adzic to his blog on Dec.4, 2007 hints at how agile (iterative) efforts can sometimes slip into waterfall (incremental) efforts and what to do about it- how to avoid it. He does an excellent job of explaining the difference between incremental and iterative development using a few simple images. He also addresses how to deal with the uncertainty.
DACS Gold Practice Initiative
