Metadata and Social Networking and Google – a quickie.

Metadata is data about data. It is data.

Social Networking is functionality regarding data about people.

Data is as data does.

What you do with that data is what matters, eh?

So what is Google doing with the data that they are capturing data in support of the Semantic Web? I am sure they will not tell me, but I still wonder, and still do not trust them.

Right now, there is an old “supervisor” of mine shaking his little head at that last comment.

And he is probably still using Chrome like the other cool kids. I wish I was a cool kid.

Best,

Josh

Doing Work

It is the fashionable thing to poo-poo Waterfall methodologies lately, but I am beginning to think that it is far too simplistic a view to say that you can’t know everything ahead of time. True, the classic Gantt Chart model with each activity planned to the hour, dependencies, and Critical Path *may be* overkill, but what is this chart really doing? It is saying that “these are things we need to do, and this is how we are going to try to do it.”

Agile, Kanban, Scrum all denote tasks. Some use sticky notes. Some use a backlog. The tasks are still there. What is missing is that long black .mpp bar that limits the amorphous black box of “Development”. Non-Waterfall approaches still execute tasks in order, but that order is defined as you go to an extent. In reality, every team member has what they know about the project and tasks in their mind, and they are doing mini Gantt charts in their head. Even if it is moment by moment, people plan. Nobody sits and just codes without a goal. Remember, you have plans to accomplish goals. You might say that the definition of a plan is it’s goal.

When nothing is known about an incipient effort, there is room and need for Agility. There is less room or need for Agility when the project is more cut and dry (“install MS Office” or “stand up Drupal in our dev environment”).

Point being, even “Agile” approaches involve planning. Just not as much, and not as far ahead, and not to the level of detail that an overzealous Business Analyst / Project Manager might do in their trusty .mpp. Seriously, I have seen some pretty detailed project plans, but I have not seen any that presume to know horrific levels of granularity. Those horrific granules are generally requirements, and they are valid in any effort. They tend to live somewhere else -wireframes, a functional spec, business rules, wherever that particular team puts that stuff.

People over process is a tenet of Agile. This is, apparently, to say that in “Waterfall” practices process trumps people. Everyone reading this knows that invariably any project, no matter how strong the Business Case or how vital the technical effort, there is someone in an office that can derail everything at whim. People are always over process. The trick is to adapt the process to the people and accommodate the people. All your stakeholders are important, and it is equally important to realize who has not been named a stakeholder yet has the ability to rock your world if they choose to.

Even something as sexy as Kanban is to some people; it is just people performing tasks in an organized fashion. What is new about this? It is Waterfall, diluted. The very discussion of Kanban and it’s amazing achievements in Japan is ceremony. Putting up the board is ceremony. Taking the cellophane off of the post-its is ceremony. Ceremony means nothing. You just don’t want to waste more time than you have to. You don’t want to say things like “muda” because nobody will know that you mean “waste” and you will be mudaing all over the place.  The little stickies are ceremony. Sprints are ceremony.

Any task that has been designated as a 4 day task will take 99 percent of developers 4 days to do. If they finish core functionality in one day, they will use the 3 extra to make it better. They build. And at the end of 4 days and continuous integration, QA as part of a breathing application begins. This is where the Kanban board has an advantage. This, and in the team-oriented approach to work and work product.

Still, Waterfall lingers there in the background. There is that goal. I need to get to the store. I am not sure which roads I will take and I did not know that the shortcut I generally take is closed, but I will get to the store. Waterfall chokes on anomalies – which are more common than uncommon. But regardless, I left the house with a path in mind and adapted. Agile assumes the goal of Waterfall.

Now, who really cares about what these things are called? Who cares about Waterfall vs. Agile vs. Framed Agile or what have you? A lot of people do. A lot of people with vested interest care. They want you to take their certification course and to obviate the utility of their software package for your development shop. There is some merit in this, but not enough to warrant the degree of productization we can see in the world of software methodologies. I try my best to not name names but to ask about a team’s approach. Invariably, words like “sprint” come up – but I take it with a grain of salt and assume it distinct from the hardcore Scrum sprint. You have to be flexible. You have to take all these tools, approaches, philosophies, certifications, and take what is useful and leave behind but keep close by that which is not immediately useful. If you do that, you will be able to adapt and build. You have been doing it since you first drove to the store.

Best,

Josh

Facebook Badges

Have you ever seen anything so ugly? I am not talking about ME. I am different, but not ugly. Mom promised.

I am talking about the badge itself. Aren’t badges supposed to be something you want to show off? What is the idea of a badge if not to display something you are proud of?

In addition to the template below, there are two other versions:

1. horizontal (with scroll bar)
2. 2 column (where things are split in apparent random manners).

Also, I am curious as to the utility of this. Thoughts? Throw a badge on random pages and have someone join your fan page or whatnot? Because of course, a link isn’t groovy enough I guess and if people are fans, they sometimes need some coaxing to realize that they are, in fact, fans.

Enjoy the weekend.

Josh

OMG with the Agile

I need to do this. I am writing, but this does not belong in the chapter I am working on and I cannot get past it. Therefore, I must purge myself of it. We have been here before, yes. Consider this a duplicate post if you like.

Agile is not Scrum. It is not XP. Okay? Those are commercial terms. A philosophy has become productized and the very tenets of Agile are lost in the nonsensical ceremonious definitions that make up these trademarked and certifiable methodologies.

Keep it simple.

You what to know what Agile is?

Easy.

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

• Working software over comprehensive documentation

• Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

• Responding to change over following a plan

Can we please just build software and get over our cute little processes? Agile only makes common sense. It is the agile methodologies that blow me away with their arrogance. And this post has not been spawned by any project I am working on now. I, as you may know, have a book that is late and I detailing a story about a company I worked with that had their own branded agile process. It had all sorts of checkpoints and mandates and on and on and on. That company crashed and burned.

Meanwhile, my buddy Mike (who I still cannot link to but don’t mind because I get to use him without exposing him wherever possible) built screenr.com off of a totally informal process. THAT is Agile. Rather, that is an EXAMPLE of Agile manifested as agile development.

This is not to say there should not be requirements. With stakeholders come requirements. When you have few stakeholders, it is very possible that requirements can be something you just talk about all day as you build. They change. They are required. That means you NEED to talk about them.

It’s not about thinking outside the box. It is about getting rid of boxes until you require them. Like requirements.

Thanks,

Josh

screenr.com – plug and recommendation

Okay, I really try to not give plugs to projects that I know very little about, but I will make an exception in this case for a few reasons:

1. I know the lead developer, and he is top-notch. He is also a very solid dude, period. He is probably one of the only people that can make me believe it is possible to develop off of a vision alone. I owe him for that, because it is true.

2. It is actually a useful webapp.

If you tweet, twit, or user Twitter, there may be times where you want to display functionality either to your sales team, a potential lead, or a colleague.

Check out this twitter screencasting tool that is worth a mention if not 5 minutes of your time in case there is one time that this thing might be useful to you. I have already found an occasion to use it and as much as I wish I could claim I had something to do with it, that is not that case.

Best,

Josh