SPaMCAST 472 - Michael Harris, The Business Value of Software

SPaMCAST 472 features our interview with Mike Harris.  We discussed his new book, The Business Value of Software. We discussed the definition of value and why value matters! In reality, software development, enhancements, and maintenance that don’t deliver value are a waste. Therefore it behooves all of us to understand value, how to recognize it, and how to measure it!

Mike’s Bio

Michael Harris brings a wide range of perspectives on IT, specifically in the area of delivering business value, to this book.  His international career has taken him from production management, through R&D, project management and academia to consulting before planting him firmly in charge of a large software engineering group for a public company.  It has been over ten years since he decided that he liked one of his former vendors so much that he would buy the company; and last year, he decided it was time to change the name of the company to reflect his passion.  In 2016, the David Consulting Group became DCG Software Value.  Mike is a Chartered Engineer (CEng.) and Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET) in the United Kingdom and a Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (MIEE) in the United States of America.  He is a SAFE Program Consultant and Certified Scrum Master.  

With their much-loved, high-achieving kids all grown up and pursuing their independent lives, Mike lives with his high school sweetheart, Jane, outside Philadelphia, in southern Colorado and on the coast of northern England as time, work and whim permit.  
Contact Information:

Email: m.harris@premiosgroup.com

Web: www.premiosgroup.com

Transparency Note:  Michael Harris is the President and CEO of the Premios Group.  I am part of the Premios Group.  The focus of the interview was Mike’s new book and followed the pattern I have used for all authors appearing on the cast.  

Re-Read Saturday News

This week, we tackle Chapter 7 of Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An Introduction by Daniel S. Vacanti.  The chapter is titled,  Conservation of Flow Part I.  The flow of work into and out of a process is incredibly important for establishing predictability.  Chapter 7 explains the concept of conservation of flow mentioned (almost in passing in Chapter 6).

Buy your copy today and read along!

Catch up on the all the installments of Actionable Agile Metrics for Predictability: An

Introduction

Introduction and Game Plan

Week 2: Flow, Flow Metrics, and Predictability

Week 3: The Basics of Flow Metrics

Week 4: An Introduction to Little’s Law

Week 5: Introduction to CFDs

Week 6: Flow Metrics and CFDs

Week 7: Interpreting CFDs

Week 8: Conservation of Flow Part I

Dead Tree Book

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/098643633X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=098643633X&linkCode=as2&tag=softprocandme-20&linkId=3488b22252fbe0c99b33ea226f9dcdf5

Kindle

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013ZQ5TUQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B013ZQ5TUQ&linkCode=as2&tag=softprocandme-20&linkId=f5bdfb462b1cb570344bba7dff6e3c37

Get your copy and begin reading (or re-reading)!

A Call To Action

I still need a few more leaders of Agile PMOs for a special podcast and for background interviews.  Please contact me to discuss the topic at spamcastinfo@gmail.com if you are interested in telling me your story!

Next SPaMCAST

SPaMCAST 472 will feature our essay on 6 Important Flow Metrics!  Getting the most value out of a process is important to any leader.  Balancing getting the most value with getting value sooner complicates the discussion.  In some cases, getting some value sooner is worth more than the same value delivered later.  Guiding the delivery of value is more complicated than a rank ordering a list of user stories and then magically hoping that everything will happen in the most effective and efficient manner possible.  Measurement is an important tool to help team and organizations ask the right questions.  The 6 flow metrics provide process transparency into organizations that leverage continuous flow, scrumban, and/or Scrum as the basis for their Agile implementations.

We will also complete our discussion of part 3 (3 of 3) of our discussion of chapter 20 of Tame The Flow: Hyper-Productive Knowledge-Work Performance, The TameFlow Approach and Its Application to Scrum and Kanban  (buy a copy here).

We will also have a column from the Software Sensei, Kim Pries.  

Shameless Ad for my book!

Mastering Software Project Management: Best Practices, Tools and Techniques co-authored by Murali Chematuri and myself and published by J. Ross Publishing. We have received unsolicited reviews like the following: “This book will prove that software projects should not be a tedious process, for you or your team.” Support SPaMCAST by buying the book here. Available in English and Chinese.