Blog

June 25, 2020

Greg Thomas

What do you need me to build?

In starting work on a new feature, story, use case, issue, etc, etc – there is generally some point where you are going to get confused. Perhaps it’s a new requirement, perhaps its a new concept you’ve never heard of or maybe, despite all the time that’s been invested, it’s written in such a way as to not evoke clarity in what you need to work on, there is one simple question which will give you what you need. “What do you need me to build?” If the answer is not an immediate, direct response, there is a problem –

June 24, 2020

Greg Thomas

Writing Features as Challenges

Whenever we write requirements, we start off with a great big vision that we want to achieve. This is great in theory but when people read it, especially if they are mid to end of the release and work is not going well, they instinctively push it aside for – “nice to haves”, “if we can get to it”, “maybe next sprint”. But if we switch our mindset and instead write our features as challenges we want to hit – we change our frame of reference to something we want to attain. Can we implement a chatbot for simple issues

June 23, 2020

Greg Thomas

It all comes down to Priorities

If you’re constantly forcing your team to hop between priorities and shiny objects, chances are your team will never get anything accomplished. Not for lack of trying but for lack of direction. The job of a leader is to keep the team’s eye on the goal, on the prize, on the delivery. Any external influences coming in are the Leader’s job to handle and keep off the team. And if you’re worried about your team not delivery enough “things”, remind people that they are instead focused on delivering that one “thing” that you wanted done right, correctly and the best

June 22, 2020

Greg Thomas

Lack of Leadership

A void in leadership can demotivate a team from 100 to 0 in seconds. Where everyone is looking for an answer, a path, a direction, anything that they can follow as a guide, hearing nothing in return leaves you feeling stuck, lost and confused. So what do you do? Step 1, figure out what you can do. Step 2, do it. Step 3, bring people in to so they can become a part of what you are doing. Step 4, don’t stop. Leadership appears in all sorts of places, even in ourselves, when we least expect it. Want more? Check

June 19, 2020

Greg Thomas

Which Chips Do You Want?

When someone says – “I want a bag of chips” – and you go to the store and return with a bag of chips, you are invariably destined to get the ill-fated response of – “Those aren’t the kind I wanted.” Such is life in any request for software. I want it to be blue. (But really, only in the bottom right corner). We need to be agile. (But we don’t want to change what we are doing). We should use this framework. (Not really, but it sounds nice). These are the statements that will be thrown at you as