Category Archives: business value

A Really Common Problem

Posted on March 8, 2023 by Liz

I haven’t written in a while for various reasons, and will probably post more about the climate later (being an even bigger and more important problem), but today I wanted to write about a Really Common Problem that I keep … Continue reading →

Posted in business value, complexity, scrum | 2 Comments

How do you terminate a project in your org?

Posted on July 18, 2016 by Liz

We all know that when we do something new, for the first time, we make discoveries; and all software projects (and in fact change efforts of any variety) target something new. (You can find out what that is by asking, … Continue reading →

Posted in business value, capability red, deliberate discovery, real options | 1 Comment

A Stakeholder goes to St. Ives

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Liz

As I was trying to resolve my problem, I met a portfolio team with seven programmes of work. Each programme had seven projects; Each project had seven features; Each feature had seven stories; Each story had seven scenarios. How many things did I need … Continue reading →

Posted in business value | 7 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

The Five Whos

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Liz

Many of the companies I visit start with much the same problem: the development team aren’t collaborating effectively either internally or with the business, so they would like to adopt Agile, or better forms of Agile. Usually these are pretty … Continue reading →

Posted in business value, stakeholders, stories | Leave a comment

BDD in the large

Posted on June 1, 2012 by Liz

One of the biggest problems I encounter with BDD is that it was started by developers, for developers, so that we could get a better grip on what it was we were developing. As we began to understand the complexities … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, business value | 23 Comments

Commitment – a novel about managing project risk

Posted on March 31, 2012 by Liz

If you’ve heard me speak at any conferences or read my blog over the last few years, you’ll know that I’m really, really into Real Options. I’m half-tempted to get “Options have value. Options expire,” added to my tattoo. The … Continue reading →

Posted in business value, life, stories | 2 Comments

The Myth of “What” and “How”

Posted on March 5, 2012 by Liz

I often hear things like, “Tell the team what to build, but don’t tell them how to build it.” Or, “A feature is what you’re building. A story is how you’re going to build it.” Or, “When you’re doing TDD, … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, business value, stories, testing | 1 Comment

ATDD vs. BDD, and a potted history of some related stuff

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Liz

Another question that people often ask around or to me is, “What’s the difference between Acceptance Test Driven Development and Behavior Driven Development?” To explain, I’ll go back to the time when I first learnt BDD. BDD started at a … Continue reading →

Posted in bdd, business value, stories, testing | 15 Comments

Business Velocity

Posted on June 16, 2009 by Liz

Pascal Van Cauwenberghe has written a great post on estimating business value, tying it into a feature-injection style template. I particularly like the idea of calculating business velocity, and showing value earned over cost on a visible chart. Even though … Continue reading →

Posted in business value, stories | Leave a comment