I wanted to kick off this recommended reading with two articles by Ash Maurya, a founder who follows and blogs lean startup principals.
How We Build Features – Ash Maurya, July 2011
Ash explains the customer validation and development process that is followed at USERcycle. I reckon this is a really great starter guide for new lean startups that want to follow the steps of a successful startup. Be sure to look at GreenHopper and the Rapid Board for your kanban board! The other article by Ash that you should look at is The Achilles Heel of Customer Development. All I can say is that analytics rock!
The Secret Guild of Silicon Valley – Michael E. Driscoll, August 2011
Following on from the lean startup getting started guides by Ash above in this article Michael reminds folks that there are a group that keep things humming behind the scenes. Know who he is talking about? I reckon we’re lucky to have a number of these guys at Atlassian. I wonder how successful Australian startups are at getting these people on board though.
Why Software Is Eating The World – Marc Andreessen, August 2011
If you haven’t read this then stop what you are doing now and go read it. A great treatise on the current state of the software development world and what we can expect to see in the future.
The End of Agile – Andy Hunt, August 2011
The following caught my attention in this article when talking about the foundation of agile and how some of the new buzz around agile misses the point.
We’re still uncovering, still discovering. And you should be, too. What works well for me won’t necessarily work well for you; what works well for you now won’t necessarily work well for you next time.
I was surprised to hear prescriptive practices being employed, and expected, in some ‘agile’ shops – ‘tell us how to do it, we want the best practices’. That to me speaks volumes. You are unlikely to succeed with an agile transformation if you are taking an approach like that, so stop now.
ThoughtWorks Technology Radar – July 2011
Worth the long read for a state of play in software development today. I was surprised at how many folks are/have adopted DevOps practices and are following the movement. Then again, there is a big DevOps community in Sydney.
Got something to share? Let me know.
