http://judykat.com/ken Scrum, XP, Management and the Ethics of Agile Software Development Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:23:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Constraints (July 2008) "There are some 146,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq, down from a peak of 170,000 in 2007" -- Reuters "Although no decision has been made, by the time President Bush leaves office on Jan. 20, at least one and as many as 3 of the 15 combat brigades now ... http://judykat.com/ken/2008/07/15/more-estimates-in-real-life/ The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction Programs, begins: "Iraq has continued its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs in defiance of UN resolutions and restrictions. Baghdad has chemical and biological weapons as well as missiles with ranges in excess of UN restrictions; if left unchecked, ... http://judykat.com/ken/2008/07/13/estimates-in-real-life/ A product owner describes work. The team estimates it. The product owner sets a delivery target. The team commits to it. Estimates People are good at estimating their own ideal effort on well-defined work within their realm of experience. People are poor at translating ideal effort into calendar days, estimating how long others ... http://judykat.com/ken/2008/07/10/stop-calling-it-an-estimate-stop-pretending-its-a-commitment/ Not to get super preachy on you all, but sometimes I think we're full bore on the wrong mission." -- 'Agile Shop' by Dave Laribee As people, we embrace change we can ourselves effect. Our conversations about value turn to story writing. Our conversations about competitiveness turn to scale. But ... http://judykat.com/ken/2008/07/06/local-optima/ http://judykat.com/ken/2008/07/05/wall-e/ http://judykat.com/ken/2008/07/05/independence-day/ http://judykat.com/ken/2008/06/29/life-underfoot/ Had to install office 2008 for mac on my personal macbookpro for work. This is how the Microsoft "mactopia" homepage rendered in Safari after the install. Better restart... http://judykat.com/ken/2008/06/23/satan-u-yur-office/ Jezebel has a post about a Massachusetts politician who defended gay marriage in his state. He didn't know his daughter was gay at the time. "Because, of course, he didn't know that I was gay then," the 18-year-old recalls. "So, for someone so publicly to fight for something that doesn't even affect ... http://judykat.com/ken/2008/06/12/empathy/ http://judykat.com/ken/2008/06/06/what-i-see-when-i-look-out-the-window/