Stan Wade
User experience of agile project: I have never known a project to develop at such a rate."
- Bio
Senior Consultant
I am a highly experienced Agile programme and project manager, with more than a decade's experience of Agile over a number of market sectors, primerily in the financial sector.
I have been an IT professional since my first degree in 1987 and have worked in virtualy every role within IT from developer through to national IT manager. My 2005 MBA from Imperial College supports my business led approach to IT, with my strong development and operations background ensureing I am comfortable in a technical environment
Since joining IndigoBlue I have focused on Agile programme management for our major accounts, most recently for Aviva.
My Most Recent Posts
Achieving the impossible? NFT in early sprints
24 APR 2012 | Posted in nft, testing | Author Stan WadeDoing non functional testing early in a project has obvious advantages. It’s also a challenge of course to be able to get meaningful outputs based on the current state of the project. This has created an interesting issue on several projects that I am currently working on.
OK, so let’s be more specific here. I was initially looking specifically at performance issues and not looking at stress/load, security and soak testing and any other NFT issues we could discuss.
Planning to Fail - Maybe not such a bad idea!
23 MAR 2012 | Posted in project management | Author Stan WadeMeasuring a project's success or progress towards success is a usually covered pretty well by most development philosophies. The KPI is commonly used to determine how far we are along the road and if we are moving towards our goals. I am happy we have the success bit covered.
Flow, Flow, Value, Flow
19 MAR 2012 | Posted in agile value, business value, IndigoBlue Second Wednesdays | Author Stan Wade |
1 Comment
The Second Wednesday on Flow, Flow, Value, Flow was again an enlightening discussion on the challenges of developing and releasing value.
The discussion looked firstly at the challenge of the evaluation of value. The problem seems to have multiple dimensions.
Adapt or die, be Agile, innovate!
08 FEB 2012 | Posted in IndigoBlue Second Wednesdays, innovation | Author Stan Wade | 1 Comment
We had a great session today at the Second Wednesday discussion on innovation. It was really valuable to have both IT expertise and innovation professionals to contribute.
I studied innovation formally at Imperial College Business School in 2006 and as part of that worked with Gartner on academic research on innovation in the software industry. At the time I remember being quite disappointed that industry still had some way to go. It seems that we are still struggling to get senior management to ‘play ball’ and let us establish effective innovation programmes, and yet it was universally agreed that to fail to innovate was an unacceptable risk.
Looking for Value
06 FEB 2012 | Posted in agile value, business value, prioritisation, story | Author Stan WadeWe need an estimate of value of each story to prioritise our backlog. In some cases that’s pretty easy because the story will deliver a lot of clear business value, but at other times searching for any value is a lot harder, especially for a business team that thinks in terms of revenues and costs.
We call it Velocity, but is it just Speed?
05 DEC 2011 | Posted in ADAPT, agile governance, incremental delivery | Author Stan WadeThe definition of the word velocity as defined in a dictionary I just referenced is ‘speed in a given direction’. That has two important components and I am not convinced, that when used in an Agile context, both are always true.
Its Autumn: Stopping Post-Its falling like leaves
12 OCT 2011 | Posted in tips | Author Stan WadeWe use Post-it notes all the time in our workshops. We also spend a significant amount of time picking them up off the floor as they drop from the whiteboard.
Here is a simple but effective tip! You can reduce the autumn leaf drop of Post-its by simply detaching them from the pad more effectively.
Can offshore suppliers afford not to be agile?
06 MAY 2011 | Posted in offshore, resourcing | Author Stan Wade | 2 Comments
I have read any number of reports on the progress of agile techniques within the industry and although they are as not robust as we would like, I think making a basic conclusion that 1/3 of projects are ‘Agile’ is not being too optimistic. I have now been told by HP that they claim it’s nearer to 2/3 of projects. Whatever number you choose, its still pretty big!
With these numbers bouncing around, how can software suppliers compete without having an agile offering with demand so high? To not offer an agile option is surely appearing to have a limited service capability.
During my studies at Tanaka business school, I was introduced to a concept called utility. It’s basically a concept used in economics to describe perceived value or satisfaction of something. The interesting thing is utility is subjective. I am not a great follower of football so the utility of a season ticket to Arsenal to me is pretty low, as it would also be to a Spurs fan. It’s pretty high for a ‘Gooner’ however.
Intercontinental Collaboration Challenge!
13 DEC 2010 | Posted in agile approach, collaboration | Author Stan Wade | 1 Comment
Isn't it great the way agile techniques allow you to discuss issues with your team mates sitting next to you in the same war room. It's not so great when the war room spans several continents. It’s even harder when your team members speak several different mother tongues and they are still trying to get a basic grasp of agile concepts let alone project details.
MY RECENT BLOG POSTS
Doing non functional testing early in a project has obvious advantages. It’s also a challenge of course to be able to get meaningful outputs based on the current state of the project. This has created an interesting issue on several projects that I am currently working on.
OK, so let’s be more specific here. I was initially looking specifically at performance issues and not looking at stress/load, security and soak testing and any other NFT issues we could discuss.