There is a tendency in discussions of staffing and organizational structure to speak of people, especially software engineers, as being fungible—or not. What an exceedingly unpleasant choice of words! People are not fungible. People fungibility is an inappropriate concept. Let’s see how the underpinning issues can be discussed more fruitfully. What is Fungibility? Fungibility is […]
Agility
Being a coach is like…
Being a coach is like someone helping you learn to ride a bicycle. She can teach you, encourage you and praise you, but she cannot ride the bicycle in your place. Being a coach is like being an acrobat’s safety net. Without taking risks, the acrobat would never learn and without a safety net, the […]
Technology and Agility
A recent visit to the ancient site of Epidauros brought to mind some thoughts about how technology can work adversely to agility. The site of Epidauros is perhaps one of the most famous of Hellenic antiquity. Its Askleipion is inscribed in the list of world heritage sites. Fig. 1: The theater at Epidauros While the […]
A Manifesto for Service Management Agility—Summary
Over the past few months I have analyzed the propositions of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development in the context of the issues specific to service management. On this basis, I have proposed revised propositions intended to address the question of agility in service management and have added a fifth proposition. These new propositions constitute […]
A Manifesto for Service Management Agility—Part V
I have written four articles, each analyzing one of the propositions of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and proposing a modified version based on the issues characterizing the management of services. In this article, I ask whether there are values promoting agility and specific to the management of services that I have not yet […]
A Manifesto for Service Management Agility—Part IV
Also I shall untangle by what power The steersman Nature guides the sun’s courses, And the meanderings of the moon… lest we should think They roll along by any plan of gods. —Lucretius, De rerum naturæ V1 This is the fourth part of a series proposing a Manifesto for Service Management Agility. It draws upon […]
A Manifesto for Service Management Agility—Part III
This is the third part of a series proposing a Manifesto for Service Management Agility. It draws upon the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and proposes a modified version of that manifesto’s propositions, based on the issues characterizing the management of services. In this installation, I will discuss the first proposition, “Individuals and interactions over […]
A Manifesto for Service Management Agility—Part II
This is the second part of a series proposing a Manifesto for Service Management Agility. It draws upon the Manifesto for Agile Software Development and proposes a modified version of that manifesto’s propositions, based on the issues characterizing the management of services. In this installation, I will discuss the third proposition, “Customer collaboration over contract […]