Conversation with the Situation – a Software Example

As I posted recently, professionals in many fields work by having a “conversation with the situation”.  What does this really mean, in software development?  To answer that question, I’ve decided to share a recent design episode from a system I’m working on.  I’ll try to capture the full “conversation with the situation” – both my… Read More

Earned Value Starter Kit

At the end of my talk on Earned Value, I’ve been giving away the “Earned Value Starter Kit” that we put together at Optimation.  It is a fairly simple spreadsheet, which makes it easier to get started with ‘lite’ Earned Value. In case you miss out on a copy, you can download it here. Thanks… Read More

Programming Languages for Kids – time to go mobile

At the BarCamp following the NZCS 50th Anniversary Conference, there was an interesting discussion on programming languages for kids.  It was suggested that the key players ( Phrogram, Small Basic, Scratch etc)  don’t get it quite right.  That rings true to me.  Reflecting on this after the session, I realised the reason: When I was… Read More

Speaking on Earned Value at NZ Computer Society Conference

I’ll be speaking at the New Zealand Computer Society’s 50th Anniversary Conference, on the topic of Earned Value Management. I’m looking forward to being part of an interesting conference, and hopefully helping to lift the profile of EVM in New Zealand. Link to presentation abstract ( The abstract’s reference to “Number 8 wire” may be… Read More

Converting to WordPress

Regular visitors may notice the site looks a bit different. I am transitioning to WordPress. Initially, all the old pages will be available both as WordPress posts and at their old URLs. I will eventually redirect requests for the old ones to the new URLs instead. By the way, this means commenting finally works properly… Read More

Sorry about old comments

Most old comments, from before the conversion to WordPress, have unfortunately been lost. (Very sorry!!) I lost them when Haloscan (who I was using for comments) shut down their service. As it happens, there weren’t a large number of comments on any of the pages that used Halscan commenting, possibly because it was somewhat less… Read More

Agile Roots Presentations Online

Presentations from the Agile Roots conference are now online. My full presentation is here, although sometime I hope to isolate the middle section (on workplace interpersonal skill) so it can be viewed as a stand-alone 15-min presentation. [Done] As it stands, the presentation is 30 minutes on these topics, with 5 mins of questions at… Read More

Speaking at Agile Roots

The Agile Roots conference is on, next month in Salt Lake City.  If you haven’t checked out the conference web site, hurry over there now! If you like this blog (and presumably you do, since you’re reading it 😉  I think you’ll love the conference.  It’s a new and different kind of agile conference, focussing… Read More