Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Learn to Prototype Like a Badass! w/ Danielle Tomson

On August 12, Danielle Tomson led a workshop entitled Learn to Prototype Like a Badass!





Event Description:
Prototyping is a rapid way of creating a testable product, without writing a line of code. In this class, join Danielle Tomson of the Occom Group, as she walks through how to best use Axure to build prototypes that will test your product's value to customers. Designed with product managers and designers in mind, this class gives you a tool box of Axure best practices, how to test your Axure prototype on customers using Validately, and some prototyping tips and tricks. No experience is required. Participants can follow along or download Axure before the meet-up and try these techniques live. 

Bio:

Danielle Tomson is well-versed in early stage software innovation, service design and prototyping processes. She has lectured in service design, prototyping, Axure and product management at Boston University and New York University. She is a Product Partner at the Occom Group, which works together with their clients to define their ideas and needs before turning them into great software solutions. In a previous life before software development, she worked in international development and graduated from Yale.

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This event is co-sponsored with Lean Product Best Practices meetup group.

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Note: This post was updated after the event to include the deck and sample file.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Importance of Reflection within Agile Software Teams

Embedding Reflection and Learning into Agile Software Development by Jeffry Babb, Rashina Hoda, and Jacob Norbjerg is an interesting study that emphasizes the importance of reflection and continuous learning for software teams via Reflective Agile Learning Model (REALM). The study emphasizes both Reflection-In-Action and Reflection-On-Action within Agile teams.



It showcases this concept within Agile Ceremonies:



It also points out that when teams are working at an unsustainable pace, they often remove their opportunities to be reflective and minimize their opportunities to improve.

While the concepts in the article should not be new to experienced agile practitioners, the Reflective Agile Learning Model (REALM) is worth looking into more. I am also encouraged that studies like this are being done.

Read more at:
http://computingnow.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/issues/2014/07//mso2014040051.pdf
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