Two Common Release Plan Types

Two basic types of release plans that are widely used are scope-boxed release plans and time-boxed release plans. “In a scope-boxed plan the work that the team will do is defined in advance, but the release date (time) is uncertain. In a time-boxed plan the time and release date is defined in advance, but the specific work that people will… Continue reading Two Common Release Plan Types

Lessons from Yahoo News’ Failures

Chris Lehmann’s Purple Reign gives an inside view into the demise of the Yahoo News machine.  Weighing in at nearly 9 thousand words it might take you a while to get through it.  I’ve snipped out some of my favorite passages from my own perspective. The original article is a much better read than my uneven summary.

Beg, Borrow, Steal

Lehmann relates how one of his reporters acted to get his job done without overdue concern to corporate support:

My reporting team did important and groundbreaking work on … the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill—our reporter moved down to New Orleans from New York, on his own dime, to cover it.

Often we have to get things done without all the support we would like–without all the resources we think we need. I like this example of dedication from this reporter who moved to the site of a big story to cover it.

Agile: The Good and Bad Parts

Agile: the Good Parts (according to Bertrand Meyer): developing in short iterations of two to six weeks … has profoundly transformed the software industry for the better. absolutely no one, regardless of rank, is allowed to add anything during [an] iteration. And now, some bad bits of Agile: the general rejection of what’s derisively called… Continue reading Agile: The Good and Bad Parts