Archive - February 2011

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Government Governance

28 FEB 2011 | Posted in agile governance, agile methodology, Government, IfG | Author Jason Smith |

1 Comment

IndigoBlue has been part of a very interesting review of Government IT, carried out by the Institute for Government (IfG), one of the most innovative think-tanks currently advising the public sector. Their report is issued this Wednesday and will be available from our website.

IfG Interview with John Wright on the benefits of Agile

Posted in agile project management, Government, IfG

John Wright talks to the Institute for Government about the benefits of adopting an Agile development process.

John Wright's interview [1:18]:

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Incremental Website Delivery

22 FEB 2011 | Posted in CMS, incremental delivery, website | Author Alex McLachlan

Changing to a new website Content Management System (CMS) can be a daunting project, particularly as the move to a better CMS is likely to encourage all sorts of new exciting features.

The problem this can raise is that adding the CMS implementation to the new functionality comes to a large project, with all the potential for delays, etc.

So, how can this be best managed? Incrementally is the answer.

Michael Smith Engineers - successful IndigoBlue pilot system

Posted in knowledge, website

The system shows great potential for using intelligence to match client needs to suppliers."

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Rational or emotional

09 FEB 2011 | Posted in change, change management, fear of change | Author Christina Canter

Here at IndigoBlue we are encouraging everyone to contribute to our blog page as one way of sharing our current thoughts about Agile delivery and transition and strategic change management with a wider audience. Talking with my colleagues we realised that for some of us the thought of writing a blog is exciting and an opportunity to share views with a wider audience but for others the thought was quite daunting.

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A bright future at Iris?

07 FEB 2011 | Posted in Iris, NFP | Author Rob Smith

Last week I met with representatives from Iris, including new NFP MD Dale Thomas, to discuss their future product strategy. I have to say, I was impressed; they appear to have injected a much needed level of professionalism into the organisation and now have clear product roadmaps for their New Generation (NG) products.

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Book Review: Systems Thinking in the Public Sector: ... a Better Way by John Seddon

04 FEB 2011 | Posted in John Seddon, systems thinking | Author admin

Systems Thinking in the Public Sector: The Failure of the Reform Regime.... and a Manifesto for a Better Way

by John Seddon

John Seddon argues powerfully for the government to forget sticking plasters like CRM and citizen empowerment and says don’t tweak the system. Ditch it.

Systems Thinking in the Public Sector gives example after example of exactly how the system fails from housing benefits and care for the elderly to call centres like Consumer Direct. Drawing on John Seddon’s extensive experience working as a consultant with UK public sector managers, this is a fiercely uncompromising, yet rigorous manifesto for change.

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Book Review: Freedom from Command and Control: A Better Way to Work by John Seddon

04 FEB 2011 | Author admin

Freedom from Command and Control: A Better Way to Make the Work Work

by John Seddon

This is a management book that challenges convention and aims to appeal to a wide target audience. Seddon argues that while many commentators acknowledge command and control is failing us, no one provides an alternative. His contention is the alternative can only be understood when you see the failings of command and control by taking the better - systems - view.

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Book Review: The Concise Executive Guide to Agile by Israel Gat

04 FEB 2011 | Author admin

The Concise Executive Guide to Agile (IEEE CS Press ReadyNotes)

by Israel Gat

The Guide targets executives from every function that Agile affects to provide them with the principles they need in order to become effective with an Agile initiative. The guide covers the rationale for Agile, implementing it, fitting it into your company, and scaling it to the enterprise level.

Note: currently only available as an ebook.

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What's in a Story?

01 FEB 2011 | Posted in agile methodology, story | Author James Yoxall

There still seems to be confusion around what exactly a Story is, and how you differentiate between good and bad Stories. There are existing answers out there, but there is still too much vagueness. This is the first post in a series proposing a more definitive answer.

The de facto criteria for stories is the acronym INVEST. When an organisation we are supporting tried to use INVEST though, we found ourselves resorting to phrases like: "it should only be used as a guide". This is an unsatisfactory situation.

So what are the problems with INVEST?