The MoSCoW principle
Thu, May 3rd 2012 9:12a Alex Kassabov I’ve always wanted to write a spy novel: a handsome spy hero, a gorgeous girl, a foreign location in the heart of an evil empire, enemies outwitted and defeated. But most of all — an attention grabbing, instantly captivating title. Unfortunately, this is not one of those posts. Maybe, when I cross into the myth-filled middle age, suffering a mid-life crisis, I’ll throw all caution to the wind, retreat to a secluded location and pen my critically acclaimed literary debut. [read] Keywords: facebook
twitter
xml
141
Working on features with no value – frustrating
Fri, Apr 27th 2012 9:12a Alex Kassabov Few things on a project are as frustrating as being forced to work on a feature that adds no value to the immediate goal of releasing a product. When project managers who are new to product development confuse product ship date with the project deadline, you end up being forced to deliver features that will not be used for weeks or even months to come. Perhaps, not ever. That’s when you sit staring, with a twitch in your eye, at the most basic story. Those “I’d rather be ” [read] Keywords: development
facebook
office
twitter
86
Mr. Potato Head of Agile or How to fill a box
Wed, Apr 25th 2012 9:12a Alex Kassabov In the Downtown Disney Marketplace there’s a store called Once Upon a Toy. One of the areas inside of the store sells various loose Mr. Potato Head parts: Disney themed parts, Star War themed parts, Halloween parts — almost anything you can imagine. Some parts, like the eyeballs, are small. Other parts, like the arms, are larger. And yet others, like the hats and the shoes, are large. They sell parts by a box: pick up an empty cardboard box, fill it with whatever parts strike your fa [read] Keywords: facebook
twitter
84
eBooks are our faceless friends
Fri, Apr 20th 2012 9:12a Alex Kassabov I love my Kindle. I’ve read probably a hundred books on it and will definitely read many hundreds more. I love everything about it: the convenience factor, the screen, the storage space, the form factor — everything.
I’ve read about a hundred books, but, if it wasn’t for Shelfari, I probably wouldn’t remember reading half of them. Not what the book is about, but the very fact that I’ve read this book. If I were browsing library shelves and happened to pick up [read] Keywords: notes
facebook
twitter
297
Agile does not mean fast
Mon, Apr 16th 2012 9:11a Alex Kassabov When people think of Agile, what drives customers’ interest in Agile is thinking that Agile will enable them to get projects don’t faster and cheaper than the classic project management. But that is not always the case.
Agile is not synonymous with fast. The dictionary defines “agile” as “able to move quickly and easily”. An Agile team is one that can quickly and easily react to changes in project’s requirements and new ideas as the project takes shap [read] Keywords: facebook
twitter
86
I’m baaaack! On the road again
Mon, Mar 12th 2012 9:13a Alex Kassabov I’m baaack! On the road again.
I know it’s the wrong song, but it my head I sound like Aerosmith singing “Back in the Saddle”.
60 degrees in early March in Chicago, weekend — I’m riding! Get that bike out of the basement; dust off my helmet and the riding glasses; and let’s see whether all this riding on rollers is going to pay off.
First of all, no amount of indoor training can truly prepare you for the road. No matter how fit and strong you think you [read] Keywords: facebook
twitter
149
The cost of Agile
Wed, Mar 7th 2012 8:12a Alex Kassabov A lot of customers want to run their projects Agile. Agile is hot, sexy and all the cool kids are doing it.
But when your customer asks you to run their project Agile, do they really know what they are getting into?
Everybody likes the advantages of Agile: the daily stand-ups, the working product at the end of every iteration, the team working on features that add value. But there is a cost and a time commitment that is not always expected or understood.
An Agile project runs on user stories. &# [read] Keywords: admin
development
facebook
twitter
185
Agile or waterfall
Thu, Mar 1st 2012 8:13a Alex Kassabov Coke or Pepsi? Miller or Bud? Mac or PC? Agile or Waterfall?
When a consulting company embarks on a project, what is a better methodology to use: Agile or the traditional Waterfall? What projects lend themselves better to one or the other?
Waterfall methodology seems to work better when a project presents a known problem with a known solution. Upgrading a server, creating a time-off system, or building a submarine — all are projects that are better executed by the waterfall approach. You k [read] Keywords: policies
consulting
facebook
mac
server
twitter
114
What are rollers. Exercise takes over
Tue, Feb 28th 2012 7:10a Alex Kassabov Is it too late to talk about Christmas presents?
My Christmas present, the one I got myself, has kept me so busy, I’ve hardly had time for anything else in the evenings. No, I’m not talking about the new Call of Duty game (even the Black Ops have more or less fallen by the way side) or the American Idol DVD box set (as if I would watch it). What I got for myself was a set of Travel Trac Inertial Rollers.
If you’ve never seen or heard of rollers, they are like a treadmill for yo [read] Keywords: facebook
twitter
144
New year – new goals
Sun, Jan 1st 2012 12:08p Alex Kassabov And on the first day of the year, it’s Shelfari that sets my first goal of the year for me.
And in the mean time, WordPress reminds me that I’ve been away from my own blog too long. Long enough to have forgotten how to use it.
So here’s to two immediate goals for this year: read more and blog again.
Happy New Year, everyone!!! [read] Keywords: facebook
twitter
