AYE Classic Article - Don't Tell Doreen

What do you do when a co-worker proposes doing something you think isn't quite right? In this week's AYE Classic Don't Tell Doreen Steve Smith shares an experience, what he did, and what happened.

What's New for the Week of June 26, 2006

Here's the host news this week:

Esther will be at the Better Software conference leading two tutorials: one retrospectives and on management with Johanna.

After participating in the founding meeting of the Agile New Mexico group, Jerry packed up his work and drove to his summer retreat in the Santa Fe National Forest, where he will spend the summer (mostly) writing.

Steve returns to work after a family vacation in New York City where the everyone had a great time.

Don wraps up loose ends with some local clients this week. Friday he migrates to the west coast again, but this time for a week of vacation on Vancouver Island.

Dave is pondering the tipping points and phase transactions that happen as a team grows and a product gets large and complex. Is there a unifying model? There are certainly lots of partial explanations and bits of prescriptive advice.

Johanna is in Las Vegas at the Better Software conference, where in addition to the tutorial with Esther, she will be presenting a management track talk. She is glad to escape the Boston-area rain.

AYE Podcast Posted: Steve Smith on Requirements

If you haven't seen or heard Steve Smith (or Esther Derby), here's your chance. Esther interviewed Steve, and here is the podcast with Steve talking about requirements.

Typos Happen

Many, but not all, of you who received our most recent email update may have noticed an embarrassing typo in the Subject: line. How'd that happen?

Well, we're human. Even though our email updates get several rounds of review, some problems can escape into the wild (and in this case, the problem was injected late in the process by yours truly, who probably needs to use a larger type face when editing documents).

The typo got fixed because someone noticed and reported it. (Thanks, Fiona!) And therein is one of the secrets of Amplifying Your Effectiveness: Develop a network of people who care enough about you to point out when you goof, so that you can make corrections, and keep your network healthy by thanking them. So, thank you Fiona for this one. And to Charles for the oops on the website that went unnoticed for months. And to Sherry, for lots of editorial commentary. And to everyone else who has (or will) take the time and trouble to send us a note when we slip up.

What's New for the Week of June 19, 2006

Here's our host news this week:

Jerry is recovering from a traumatic trip back from NYC, where he presented writing clinics at the ICCA annual meeting and at the New York Writers' Circle. Aside from the two-day flight back, the trip was highly successful, with visits to all grandchilden, great nieces and nephews, and highly favorable reception of Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method.

Esther is doing the final review of her new book Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great (co-authored with Diana Larsen) before the book goes off to the printer.

Don finishes his trip on Monday, and heads home to hot and humid North Carolina (as opposed to the "dry heat" of Southern California).

Steve is vacationing with his family in New York City.

Dave is working with a client on testability issues, and is pondering what fiction to add to the summer reading list.

Johanna just returned from a successful trip to London, where she managed to contract "airplane-itis" (the head cold you get from an airplane). She spent an entire weekend without email visiting cousins (and is paying for it today). This week she brings Daughter #1 to university for early orientation. And, the big news: she signed a contract with Pragmatic Bookshelf for her project management book.

Humor and General Systems

What different does your point of view make? This week's new article Humor and General Systems by Michael Bolton provides some ideas. You can find other articles in the AYE Library on the Article page.

What's New for the Week of June 12, 2006

Jerry is enjoying New York City. See Last week's news for details.

Dave is juggling several projects which all decided thatearly June was the right time to catch fire.

Steve is closing his remaining project. He starts a five-day vacation to New York City at the end of the week. Steve, Ann Rae, his spouse, and Keri, his daughter will be having lunch with AYE alumni Ken Estes, Dick Estes, and Arthur Goldberg on Saturday.

Don's off to Southern California for client work the rest of the week.

Johanna celebrated Daughter #1's high school graduation this past weekend, and is off to London. She'll be speaking at SIGIST and at Grove Consulting with AYE alum Dot Graham.

AYE Classic Article - Technical Debt

The Zero-th Law of Holes: When you find yourself in a hole, quit digging! In this week's AYE Classic Climbing Out of Technical Debt Johanna Rothman tells how to recognize the signs of technical debt, helps you understand how it happened and offers suggestions for the dig out.

What's New for the Week of June 5, 2006

Jerry is running two writing clinics next week in NYC. Monday, June 12, Dorset House will host him. On Tuesday, June 13, he'll be at the KGB Bar, 7pm-9pm. 85 East 4th Street, 2nd floor. Between 2nd & 3rd Aves. Info: (212) 505-3360. (Ed note: If you live in or around New York, take this opportunity to talk and write with Jerry. You will enjoy it -- JR)

Esther heads to Portland for the Secrets of Agile Teamwork. Her article on preparing to coach is up on Scrum Alliance.

Steve completed a project last week. And when not writing draft articles this weeks, he will focus on finances, such as filing expense reports.

Upon returning home from visiting children and grandchildren, Don discovered minor storm damage in the yard. This means Don will be adding chain-saw practice to his planned writing week.

Johanna will be running a writing/speaking workshop for consultants this week. And, she's getting ready for her London visit next week. (See Johanna's blog for more details about London.)

Dave has been playing touch-and-go with a cold, and is trying to keep it at by long enough to give a talk on writing testing code.

Update as of June 8: Jerry's Monday event at Dorset House is full. The Tuesday event is still open.

Improving Productivity

There are many ways to improve productivity. In this week's new article Improving Productivity by Dwayne Phillips mentions some counter iintuitive ways to boost productivity. You can find other articles in the AYE Library on the Article page.