An argument against why all teams should have the same velocity score. In agile teams use velocity scores to understand their current rate of change. To achieve the same velocity across all teams, one would first have to define a standard frame of reference. A frame of reference for a team of software professionals could be the combination of, and not limited to a number of complex factors.

Every framework has some pros and cons. Like many things, it's about trade-offs. Despite all the claims, Agile is not the ultimate solution. Although it's a flexible method, and I use it the most. The problem with agile is it has been commercialized. Many of us are doing agile but not being "Agile." Scheduling 2-week sprints with standups is not being Agile.

Consultants are a mainstay for getting work done. With the abundance of options and types of agencies in the market, there is something for everyone. Whether you are trying to get a new Word Press blog up and running or have goals to disrupt another industry, companies out there want to help you.

When you join a new team as a manager, it may seem like complete chaos to you. Everything and everyone is unfamiliar. The amount of information you need to absorb is immense. It feels overwhelming and confusing. You're trying to understand the product, meet the team, learn architecture, and, at the same time, make sure the execution continues. Here are some ways to make the onboarding less stressful.

I am always looking for ways to add richness to a working environment. I seek creative ways to engage colleagues and solve problems by creating an environment for value and innovation to emerge. The developer sprint is when the engineering team prepares for the next set of objectives as they see fit. Here is a story about how I introduced the developer's sprint to my team and some of the things I noticed about the effect it has had on our culture and productivity.

We are excited to share our very first episode of the Pragmatic Lead Podcast. What better way to share a new endeavor than inviting your great friends to participate. Join us for a short conversation that explores the powerful dynamics that can be had between Product and Technical folks.

I have been working on building an understanding and strategy for building autonomous teams. Early in my career this was a goal that I was asked to accomplish and here is my first attempt at writing down what it takes to get started with building autonomous teams. By the end of this article on building autonomous teams you should have a high level understanding on how to get started. Enjoy the benefits of a culture of self organizing and the productivity benefits it can yield.

Technical debt is a risk or complexity that degrades the quality and stability of the system. It's a cost we're paying for borrowing future productivity by taking shortcuts to ship features faster now. There is a lot of factors that can have an impact on the software's quality, increase the complexity, and introduce more risk that most of us call technical debt.

Communication is hard. Communication is so complicated it has been the issue I have heard the most when talking to businesses and teams. If we overlook the value of developing communication skills, we limit our ability to grow, share ideas, or develop others. Good leaders can communicate effectively, but how can a manager help someone else build their ability to communicate with others?

Writing and maintaining your notes takes time. It feels like extra work with our busy schedules, and it may be hard to justify spending the effort to do it. I encourage you to stick to the most straight forward system possible at first. Be it a paper notebook, notes app, or something else. Being organized and on top of things has a high return on investment. Your productivity will skyrocket. And people around you will benefit too.

Strapi is a headless CMS that supports REST and GraphQL out of the box. In this video, I walk you through how to deploy Strapi from localhost to Azure Cloud using their App Service and managed MySQL database.

I have had a fantastic opportunity to build new teams from scratch or establish leadership for new organizations necessary for product growth. Each time I saw someone from my organization transition into a leadership role, it created more opportunities for me by becoming known as someone who pays attention and cultivates talent around them. We want those in our organization to take leadership roles; leaders will develop those around them to take on more challenging work. These leaders will grow the fastest and reap the best, or frankly, the most challenging positions.

As managers, we have a unique opportunity to affect the work-life of the people we work with. A well balanced work-life engagement promotes productivity and resilience. Let's review five opportunities for a leader to have a meaningful impact on the well being and productivity of their team.

As as a software engineering manager you need to have a full map to be effective at supporting your team to be successful. This means strong understanding of the system design. network topology, service architecture and tech debt, product critical path and stakeholders.

Being a project lead can be challenging. There are so many variables to make everything work out in the end. But it's a rewarding experience if everything is going right. Following a few simple guidelines can set any project up for success. Understand what success looks like, develop a plan of execution, hold people and yourself accountable, know when to escalate. Easier said than done.

Working from our homes can be rewarding, but it may also lead to new problems due to what it means to bring our work into our home life, by establishing a couple of small ceremonies to my day and honoring social obligations. In contrast, at home, I can appreciate my personnel time just as well as I do my office hours.

All the communication best practices go out of the window. The visual cues like eye contact, body language, tonality are not available or degraded over video calls or Slack. It introduces room for misinterpretation, miscommunication, and frustration.