Recent Blog Posts

  • My Clutter is Different
    By Johanna Rothman - Friday Jul, 4
    On the long weekends, Mark and I make a concerted effort to clean up the house. That means I have to address all my little piles: go through them, recycle what I can, throw out what can’t be rec... more »
  • New Tools Section
    By Ryan Shriver - Thursday Jul, 3
    One of the things that helps reenforce new concepts, like the ones I���m teaching, are simple tools that guide you along the way. Like a carpenter���s square, hand plane or ruler, simple tools can be ... more »
  • It’s ok to wet yourself every once in awhile
    By Andrew Glover - Tuesday Jul, 1
    Dan North, the veritable progenitor of behavior driven development (or BDD), recently blogged about unnecessary DRYness (meaning don’t repeat yourself) with respect to clarity of intent when it ... more »
  • Expert Panel at Agile Experience
    By Neal Ford - Tuesday Jul, 1
    Last weekend, I spoke at the Agile Experience in Reston. It was a great conference, lots of interesting topics, and a different crowd than most technical conferences. Half the attendees were managers,... more »
  • easyb 0.9 hits the streets
    By Andrew Glover - Monday Jun, 30
    The easyb team is pleased to announce the release of easyb 0.9, baby! The 0.9 release has: Numerous IntelliJ plug-in improvements The easyb plugin for IntelliJ can now be downloaded directly from w... more »

In the Spotlight - Esther Derby

Co-author of "Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management"

Esther Derby is one of the rare breed of consultant who blends the technical issues, and the managerial issues with the people issues. She is well known for her work in helping teams grow to new levels of productivity.

Management coaching, Scrum implementation, retrospectives, and project assessments are four of Esther?s key practices that serve as effective tools to start team transformation.

Recognized as one of the world?s leaders in retrospective facilitation, she often receives requests to work with struggling teams. Esther also coaches technical people who are making the transition to management and is a Certified Scrum Master.





















Presentations by Esther Derby

Managing in the Agile Organization

When agile teams self-organize, some managers believe their work is done. Not so. While a manager?s focus may shift away from delegating, making assignments, and tracking progress, there is still plenty to do.

Introducing a Culture of Change

tbd

Agile Retrospectives

"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him." A. Huxley.
The same is true for software teams. Too often, we don't do much ? if anything ? to squeeze learning out of experience. Retrospectives are a way to take "what happens" during a software development project and use it to build understanding and capability. This team learning process is an integral part of every Agile method.