Author Archives: Liz

Using BDD with Legacy Systems

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Liz

One question I keep being asked is, “Can we use BDD with our legacy systems?” To help answer this, let me give my simplest definition of BDD: BDD is the art of using examples in conversation to illustrate behaviour. So, … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 12 Comments

The Hobgoblin Manifesto

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Liz

For Chris, the most Puckish person I know and who I am proud to call my friend. A Hobgoblin is mischevous from birth We never mean to harm, but to disrupt, To muddle up the stasis of the Earth That … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

An open letter to Bob Marshall

Posted on January 18, 2014 by Liz

Dear Bob, We’ve had our differences, mostly around a particular set of tweets you sent out about the Pask award in 2010. I was respectful enough to address those with you face-to-face. You refused to retract them, particularly the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

The Dream Team Nightmare: a Review

Posted on November 30, 2013 by Liz

I remember Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone very well. They were the duo who published the “Choose your own adventure” books in my childhood; games which took you from one scene to another, battling monsters, solving puzzles and collecting items … Continue reading →

Posted in coaching | 1 Comment

Disorder, or, How I Got a Black Eye

Posted on November 18, 2013 by Liz

In the Cynefin framework, the Disorder domain is the one in the middle. It’s the state of not knowing what kind of causality exists. Over on the right we have the predictable domains of Simple and Complicated, and on the … Continue reading →

Posted in complexity, cynefin, evil hat, real options, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

BDD Before The Tools

Posted on October 24, 2013 by Liz

Another client approached me today about BDD and using tools like Cucumber to automate scenarios. There are a few things I’d love to teams see develop as a focus before heading down the tools path. You may already be doing … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, complexity, stakeholders | 6 Comments

A Separation of Concerns

Posted on October 22, 2013 by Liz

Out at Agile Eastern Europe in Kiev last month, I was privileged to see Bjarte Bogsnes and his talk on “Beyond Budgeting”. One of the elements that struck me most profoundly was when he separated the concerns inherent in budgeting. … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, business value | 13 Comments

Capability-based Planning and Lightweight Analysis

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Liz

As a follow-up to my post on estimating complexity, I wanted to share one of the interesting things I’ve been doing with the ideas and the numbers. This is quite long, but it’s turned out to be faintly revolutionary, and … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, capability red, complexity, cynefin | 10 Comments

Estimating Complexity

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Liz

Over the last few years, teaching people the Cynefin framework early on in engagements has really helped me have useful conversations with my clients about when different processes are appropriate. There’s one phrase I use a lot, which is self-evident … Continue reading →

Posted in capability red, complexity, cynefin, evil hat, real options | 29 Comments

Behavior-Driven Development – Shallow and Deep

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Liz

I had a bit of a chat with Eric about Shallow Kanban. The idea with Shallow Kanban is that you’re doing the basics – visualizing the workflow, improving collaboratively, limiting WIP, making policies explicit, etc. – but perhaps only some of … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd | 5 Comments