My experience is whether you take agile and add waterfall, or you take waterfall and add agile–either way you end up with something fragile.
* I didn’t come up with the name fragile. Rushad, who I’m working with on a startup project, coined the term.
My good colleague and friend Philipp Küng and I have launched the Agile Livin’ podcast.
We’ve been working on several projects together in the last year including another (unreleased) podcast and a startup which we may have announced too soon. (You’ll have to hear the first podcast to hear us talk about how we announced bitfondue.com.)
Last week Philipp told me to listen to the excellent “Back to Work” podcast after I made a random comment on Twitter:
I’ve been simplifying my life ALL afternoon, but it’s STILL complicated. #ThisMayTakeAwhile
While I was listening to episode three, I mentioned to Philipp that not only were Merlin Mann and Dan Benjamin encouraging me to be more mindful about my life, but they were making me think it would be fun to try another podcast together.
I’m a practicing agilist and a Scrum Master for an agile development agency and of course I’ve noticed a lot of overlap between agile practices at work and mindful living outside of work. (Mostly, but perhaps not always entirely, good overlaps.) And like many converts and true believers I like to talk about the things I’m passionate about. It seems like Philipp was also on that wavelength, and so the Agile Livin’ podcast was born.
Take a listen to the first iteration of our podcast in which we find a name, and clutter the Internet.
Agile Livin’ Podcast, Iteration #1
Philipp selected all the images, and indeed did all the hard work, on the podcast’s blog.
This is what happened Friday when I drank two Redbulls, I turned into a twitter babbler. Since these comments are about to fall off the bottom of my recent twits, I want to record them for future reference. Though, truth be told I’m not as sure I see all the connections I was making on Friday. Redbulls will do that to you.
Kylie Minogue’s record producer, Stuart Price, said that they had one specifc criteria for choosing songs for her project Aphrodite–each song chosen must pass The Parton Test. Which is to say, every song would have to sound good in the style of Dolly Parton.
You may, or may not, appreciate how well Dolly Parton understands pop culture and the media. But if you’re evaluating an idea, you could always ask yourself, “Could I make this work in the style of Dolly Parton?” If the answer is ‘yes’, you might have a hit on your hands.
A Dallas friend of mine pulled up this video of the Scissor Sisters doing a live cover of Kylie Minogue’s “All The Lover’s“–in the style of Dolly Parton. Jake Shears is no Dolly, but the video shows, Kylie and her producer are on to something.
Lean Agile Tea Zurich
I have blogged.
Four Lean Agile practitioners and tea drinkers met together earlier this month to drink tea and discuss Lean and Agile in practice. (At least one beer and some cakes were consumed as well.) We discussed Test Driven Development, social contracts, the ALE network and really giving up command and control during the first roundtable, no-fuss exchange of ideas on the practical implications of lean and agile concepts. Read about it here.