Agile Takeaways from SoCal Code Camp UCSD June 28th, 2014

SoCal Code Camp is a free event held every year for software professionals to meet, network and learn from their peers. This community driven event has become an international trend where peer groups of all disciplines, platforms and programming languages band together to bring content to the community. The Camp takes place over two days with 100+ learning sessions to choose from.

As a Scrum Product Owner, I attended sessions focused primarily on Agile tools and techniques. The following is a list of some of the stand-out takeaways from the event:

1. The two most important metrics to measure the success of working software:
   1. Are people actually using it?
      
   2. What are they saying about it?
2. If you see a lot of waste in your existing software development process, create value stream maps to identify areas of improvement and distribute to the team (include upper management!). Below is an example:
3. Insistence on development estimates can indicate dysfunctions in planning. Estimates anchor us to what we think we want which is not very Agile. Check out twitter for more information on the #NoEstimates movement.
4. Get good at retrospectives. Retros drive team communication and efficiency. Those doing the work know how best to do it and how best to improve.
5. Control the urge to control (this produces waste). Instead, respond to change over following a plan.
6. The metrics that management should really focus on measuring:
   1. Employee happiness
   2. Working software
7. Learn about Agility Based Management

Recommended reading and watching, provided by the presenters:

• One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? – Harvard Business Review article by Frederick Herzberg
• What to Ask by Justin Wilcox – Helping with customer discovery.

Thanks to all the volunteers of SoCAL Code Camp and to UCSD for hosting the event. Special thanks to those who presented at my sessions:

• Woody Zuill – Great information regarding mob programming and #NoEstimates.
• Vincent Bonacci – Information about applying Agile and Lean principles to software start-ups.
• Mike Vincent – Great discussion about which agile metrics really matter.