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Estimating on an Agile project

Methodologies, Process Methodology, Programming, Projects No Responses »

May 092013

If you’ve ever had any involvement with an Agile project (whether it was “pure” Agile or not), you’ll likely have encountered the beast which is effort forecasting and analysis. This drives the initial estimate of the amount of work which your team thinks it can deliver within a given period.

Example of a scrum style sprint
[source]

It doesn’t really matter how big your project is, sizing up the amount of work which can be produced is a time honoured tradition, but how do you know if you’re even in the ballpark of getting your estimates right?

Over at ThoughtWorks Studios, Martin Fowler (and others) have spent significant time and effort in trying to document some conclusions about this very topic and a PDF white paper can be found on the ThoughtWords Studios website.

It’s hardly a light read – at 32 pages – but can you really afford to take estimation lightly? In a world of commercial agreements, balancing customer or client expectations and attempting to meet tight delivery timelines, getting your estimations accurate is a key step in delivery.

However, in my mind going into this document, it really helps to have a decent view of what it is you are trying to build. The more uncertainty going into any kind of sizing or storyboarding exercise, the rougher the estimation or analysis is going to be.

There’s no silver bullet, one-size-fits-all methodology at play here, however this document is a really good read if you are looking to canvass different views and opinions about how to set expectations around Agile delivery. Be prepared to have your designs challenged, and to field changes as they can (and do) present themselves!

If you aren’t quite ready to dip into the minefield which is Agile planning and forecasting, perhaps you’d find value in another e-book from ThoughtWorks – “How do you develop a shared understanding on an Agile project?”. Remember, for an Agile project to succeed, everyone needs to play their part – the methodology isn’t just for programmers!

For those who haven’t already gone to visit the ThoughtWorks website, here’s a direct link to the PDF.

Adventures in Home Networking

Infrastructure, Projects, Technology No Responses »

Mar 132012

When we moved into our new residence last year, we were not quite prepared for the long, painful learning process which was coming our way. This was the first time we had lived in a property featuring a back-to-base alarm system; and therefore the first time to experience pain with ADSL.

After initial trials and tribulations in getting the line connected (a long story), I had problems with our modem, which turned out had been semi-fried late last year (probably was transmitting at the wrong frequency) and only achieving half speeds.

I bought a nice brand new shiny Netgear ddual band WLAN/ADSL2+ combo, but in the end disabled the wireless, as it interfered with broadband throughput at the time. Later, I dropped an old D-Link onto the network to provide signal for the back of the house.

Once that drama was past us, there was still a nagging issue with the connection dropping frequently – between a dozen to half dozen times per day, with it not automatically reconnecting. It turned out to be a problem with where the modem was literally connected – with a back-to-base alarm, the house had had a dedicated DSL filter installed to one of the four phone jacks.

After some trial and error, I located the appropriate phone jack (in the Kitchen/TV area of all places!) and we’ve been golden ever since. Well, that was one problem solved.

The other problem was that my server was with my desk, in my office, and I wanted it as close to physically connected to the router/line as possible. Short of moving my server into the Kitchen/TV area, this was not going to happen.

I also didn’t want to rely on wireless, given the Kitchen was between the office and the TV area – so I decided to investigate advances to the Powerline LAN options. This turned out to work perfectly, although I’m now thinking of upgrading to the 500+ mb option, over the 200mb version I’m using now.

Here’s an illustration of the initial configuration (which I wasn’t thrilled about):

Anyhow, I debugged my network configuration recently and was startled to discover that my server’s 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN card was only transmitting at 100mb. This was due to my Netgear WLAN (2.4 GHz) router only supporting a 10/100 LAN interface.

As I have a number of Western Digital TV boxes (WDTV Live with WiFi), I wanted to ensure as much throughput from the server as possible. I wanted to move the dual band into the office, and connect the server to it’s 10/100/1000 LAN interface. That, and I wanted that dual band goodness enabled.

On the weekend, I bought a new ADSL2+ standalone modem, and swapped the two WLANs around, removing the old D-Link in the process.

Here is an illustration of the new configuration:

There’s a very good chance that I’ll consider upgrading the Powerline LAN to 500+mb over the coming weekend, to work around signal interference we’re seeing with the WiFi.

Still, a nice, cleaner solution – and if the ADSL modem gets fried in the future, it only cost $70, so not that expensive to replace.

Have you met……… BizTalk?

BizTalk Server, Projects, Technology No Responses »

Dec 292011

Hi Everyone,

Well, it’s nearly the end of the year 2011, and hasn’t it been a doozy? I don’t know about you, but my year has been haywire, to say the least. I started the year living in China, moved back to Australia, set up in Sydney and then finished the year in Canberra (the capital of Australia).

With all that going on, you’d think I’d be hard pressed to find time to write anything substantiative. Of course, you’d be right. Therefore, I’m aiming to write at least one more article of value before the year is out. Since the bulk of the work I did this month was BizTalk related, I’m going to write a little bit about some problems I had to solve with BizTalk 2010.

I realise that I had previous written about a few other topics I wanted to cover off.. and I will.. but for now, BizTalk is the most convenient topic, so please bear with me Smile

There’s also quite a lot to look forward to in 2012. For one thing, we’re expecting the next version of SQL Server (codename Denali) to drop – that should be a biggie – and there are the usual soft spots (WCF, Web Services, IIS) and so on.

Hopefully, you’ll see my BizTalk article before the new year, but in the meantime.. thanks for reading this year and all the best for 2012!

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