Thursday, January 14, 2010

Even Newer Set of Quotes from Twitter

Been far too long since I lasted posted anything, but there was a lot of moving going on in December and some other things so far in January.  More moving is left, but I am going to promise to post more often.  However, as I have another collection of quotes from folks on twitter, I thought I'd put them out before the list gets too long:

Alan Shalloway - a process tells you to fix your problems is different than a process that gives you information on how to fix it.

Alan Shalloway - There is a big difference between eliminating waste & not creating it in the first place.

Alistair Cockburn (reported by Biran Marick) - Remember talk from about "micro-techniques". If I recall right, he said his observation of ppl like @kentbeck and @wardcunningham was that they gained great speed by doing many small things extremely well and quickly. Alistair Cockburn - Right & I could never develop that idea because micro-techniques come in xtremely context senstitive bushel-basket-loads not onezies.

Bob Marshall - Imo Red Bead is profound because it has many layers; vain hope; delusions (all round); (false) pride; introspection; etc. Don Reinertsen - Profound and possibly dangerous. It intentionally creates a situation where the player's actions have no effect on outcome. Bob Marshall - Yes. But that's kinda the point, really? From Deming's perspective... Don Reinertsen - To some extent players are taught to accept variation rather than improving the process. (e.g. batch size reduction) Bob Marshall - Yes. But that's reality for most orgs and most workers. Variants on Red Bead can explore more "enlightened" scenarios. Don Reinertsen - The game certainly proves the methods Deming dislikes won't work. It also incorrectly shows SPC doesn't help outcomes. I think it would be more profound if outcomes had both controllable and variable components. Teach the middle way... Bob Marshall - For me, Red Bead is very Zen, in that it's point is left for the participants and audience to draw out themselves. I concur Red Bead fails to show benefits of SPC: In coaching, "ARC" reminds us Awareness -> Responsibility -> Commitment. I participated in an enlightening 15min workshop at Agile 2008 with teams and dice that could show SPC well (!RedBead). Karl Scotland - Red Beads useful to change thinking on purpose/demand/outcomes. Intentionally exaggerated scenario is powerful.

Bob Martin - humans test creatively. Machines test reliably. Both are vital. Confusing the two is disaster.

Carlton Matthews - overheard someone use this quote, "Don't ask me to cook dinner if I can't buy the groceries"
Daniel Lapin (via Carlton Matthews) - The complacent are always conquered by the committed and the diffident are always defeated by the determined.

Dave Rooney - Fair enough... knowledge is indeed power. Scott Duncan - And applied knowledge is powerful. I think more people know what to do than do it. How to transmit belief plus knowledge?

David Anderson - in next decade aim to change focus to "manage rules of game" not "manage work" or "manage people" - Deming system design.

Don Reinertsen (on “value”) - Economic view also allows Gilb's subjective dimension. A thirsty man will pay more for what is objectively the same water.

Gary Hamel (from a retweet by Bob Marshall) - "In the absence of purpose, only thing that will disrupt the status quo is pain." http://tinyurl.com/yjes5zn

Jeff Bezos (via Jason Yip) - There are two kinds of companies, those that work to charge more and those that work to charge less.

Jochen Schuchardt - We sometimes equate project mgmt with the visible planning artifacts. But the heart of it is people and relationships.

Johanna Rothman (from her blog, ptd to from Twitter) - good interviews should make a candidate (and an interviewer) think, not sweat [preceeded by “Good interviews do not surprise people. Good interviews build rapport with a candidate, learn about a candidate, preferably with behavior-description questions and auditions. Maybe with hypothetical questions. Maybe with a meta-question.”

Jon Bach - FB is an album for friends, Twitter is a coffee shop for colleagues.

Kent Beck - there's a world of difference between telling me what to do and helping me learn by telling me what to do.

Max Planck (via Michelle Sliger) - A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it.

Michael Feathers - I still think the best way to predict the future is to have friends in time zones ahead of you.

Michael Feathers - If you want to learn from experts listen to their questions more than their answers.

Ralph W Emerson (Via Alan Shalloway) - "As to methods there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring principles, is sure to have trouble."

Ramsey Show (via Carlton Matthews) - "Savings has to be done on purpose. Debt can just happen."

Rob Myers - so the msg could be "slow down for quality & use quality to speed up"

Ron Jeffries - If we write a great tester's tests before even writing the software, and ship when they run, have we found or prevented defects?

Ron Jeffries - It is becoming clear that w sufficient disrespect, sarcasm, recalcitrance, we can stop any/t good from ever happening again.

Roy Atkinson (via Noami Karten) - If each of us holds up a little bit of the world, it will weigh none of us down.

Scott Duncan - Change may be hard as 1 change often causes/requires another, then another. What looked like absorbable change cascades.

Scott Duncan - I think we can/should talk about both what is valuable to do & how best to do it. Being clear about what both mean. Don't see a need to create a dichotomy between the what & how as long as we realize the latter serves the former. Perhaps an uber-value [is] "We value being clear about what is important to accomplish over how we achieve that end"?

Seth Godin (not from, but pointed to from, Twitter) - Organizations thrive on their ability to allow individuals to remain faceless. It permits them to act badly, not in the interest of their customers.

Skip Angel - Decided that bug repositories are evil. Gives teams excuse 2 defer defects not show-stoppers. Don't all bugs cause workarounds 4 team/users?

Skip Angel - While #scrum is based on empirical sys 4 learning, u must have values & principles 2 guide ur learning. Agile Manifesto does that. Chris Sterling - agreed. I am more interested in teams learning & changing rather than being "right"; a team will get better when focused on both.

Stephen Parry (via Grant Rule) - "If you measure your business using averages, don't be surprised to find yourself running an average business.”

Tobias Mayer - IMO waste is defined as 'work that adds no value for any stakeholder' (others restrict to 'for customer'). Much refactoring is waste ie rework.. due to commiting too early. Lunch breaks are not work, hence not waste.

Tobias Meyer - Are agreements the same as rules, & if not, what's different? I've always found group rules to be unnecessary, in fact detrimental. Dale Emery - Agreements come from people who agree. Not all rules come from (explicit, negotiated) agreement.

W. Edwards Deming (Via Glyn Lumley) - 'Examples teach nothing unless they are studied with the aid of theory. Most people merely search for examples .. to copy them'

Ward Cunningham - Estimating is the non-problem that know-nothings spent decades trying to solve.