Leaving Clarus…
Goodbye Staff and the Associates. My decision, to leave Clarus has been one of the hardest decisions I have made yet. I never have had a “bad” work day, some have been challenging, but overall I have...
View ArticleLife Cycle of a Silver Bullet
Almost any improvement method is hailed as the best way to save busi-ness from problems when it is new. Unfortunately, a few years later, this same method is now the reviled, flawed method that a new...
View ArticleThree reasons to choose Kanban over Scrum
Scrum is a powerful tool. Kanban is a powerful tool. Use them appropriately.
View ArticleThe value of quality Product Ownership
The Scrum Product Owner role is one of the most misunderstood aspects of the framework. Often I find in my teaching and coaching that people believe the PO’s role is to write user stories and groom the...
View ArticleWhy social groups groups and self-organising teams are more productive
I have been banging on for years about software and business being a social process. Finally, I have found some evidence.
View ArticleHow to start with regression testing
Recently I had the pleasure of speaking in front of 30 employees from a range of Clarus clients as part of one of our agile training courses. My intended topic was “changes in regression testing that...
View ArticleLooking for rock solid business analyst - Clarus is hiring
high calibre IT consulting firm work with those committed to Business Analysis professionalism great opportunity to work across numerous projects Clarus’ Business Analysis Competency has grown...
View ArticleScrum and Prince2 – poles apart and complementary practices?
I have been asked a number of times of whether there is a place for Agile, and more specifically a place for Scrum in a Prince2 framework? Or perhaps the other way around? As a certified Prince2...
View ArticleCould John Kirwan be New Zealand’s greatest Product Owner?
In taking on coaching the Auckland Blues he is taking on a challenge similar to what most product owners face on a day to day basis – how do you deliver a winning product to your customers using only...
View ArticleFree Scrum tool
During our Scrum training we tend to guide teams to use whiteboards over tools. However, we have found that after a few Sprints there is stuff that could be better done by a machine than by a human....
View ArticleWhat do you track on your Scrum board?
A typical Scrum board normally contains four columns – one for the User Story and then a “To Do”, “In Progress” and “Done” column for tasks. But is there anything else useful to track?
View ArticleSylvester McMonkey McBean – Agile for money-bags
In the last two weeks Clarus has been approached by two separate training companies asking us to teach their “Agile course”. All we have to do is provide the expertise and do the teaching. Likewise,...
View ArticleWhat do you track on your Scrum board? – Part 2
If your team is 100% allocated to your project, how many hours of useful work can individuals expect to get through each day? A good starting point is to accept that your organisation will be busy...
View ArticlePete's first blog
Hello, and welcome to my first blog entry as software development consultant at Clarus. But, before I start, let me introduce myself.
View ArticleTurning on the fire hose – five reasons to attend a Don Reinertsen workshop
Last year I was fortunate enough to attend a workshop by the legendary Donald Reinertsen called “The Science of Lean Product Development”. This year – after many discussions, we have convinced Don to...
View ArticleHow to manage support work in Scrum
A recurring question I am often asked is “how do I deal with business as usual (BAU) support work during a Sprint?” There is often a great temptation for teams to include a guesstimated “support work”...
View ArticleClarus’ Coming of Age
Six years ago I started Clarus with a dream – to bring together people I respected to improve the IT industry. The dream was simple – change the world by creating a business that was people-centred and...
View ArticleReinertsen - Man of Mystery
As you know we are gearing up to bring Lean Product Development guru Don Reinertsen out to New Zealand next month and it has been really interesting for me to discover the lack of supporting material...
View ArticleHow Specification by Example helps Agile teams make better products
Specification by Example is an incredibly valuable addition to the Agile community. Many people are talking about SBE, but what exactly is it and why is it needed?
View ArticleHow to run a Sprint Review
The most common Scrum meeting that people seem to get wrong is the Sprint Review. I hear people calling it a “demo", a “showcase” or my pet hate the “show and tell". This completely fails to achieve...
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