Archive of posts in category 'Methods'

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post icon Lean Startup

08/19/2022 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Lean Startup

Lean Startup is a methodology that focuses on successfully bringing product ideas to life. The main elements of the approach are an interactive product launch, very short development iterations and as the most important element, customers´ feedback.

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post icon Software Prototyping

03/04/2021 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Software Prototyping

Prototyping is a great way to get an impression of how a product or idea could look like. In manufacturing you can use e.g. 3D printers to create prototypes. In software development you still have to code but you can apply different principles compared to developing a "real" product. We want to give a short introduction into software prototyping, because it can help you to develop better software, faster.

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post icon Remote event storming with Miro – hands-on tips, techniques, and evaluation

01/27/2021 Axel Lütgering in Methods

Remote event storming with Miro – hands-on tips, techniques, and evaluation

Event storming is an interactive, group-based, dynamic brainstorming method based on the ideas of domain-driven design. The method calls for experts, developers, stakeholders, and customers to come together and jointly articulate a large picture of a business process and through the process of lively discussions arrive at a common language and common understanding.

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post icon Scrum vs. Kanban – How to select the best agile methodology for you

09/17/2020 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Scrum vs. Kanban – How to select the best agile methodology for you

During the last years it became common to use agile methods in software development. The most widespread ones are Scrum and Kanban. The 2020 "State of Agile" survey found that a vast majority of companies (~65%) uses Scrum or Scrum hybrids. The second place is held by Kanban and "Scrumban" with about 15%. That is why we want to compare those two methodologies. 

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post icon Remote Scrum: So close, and yet so far away

07/23/2020 Axel Lütgering in Methods

Remote Scrum: So close, and yet so far away

The general challenges of working from home and beyond seem to have been considered in detail from all perspectives. That's why in this post we will focus on how to use the Scrum method for remote work based on the example of our company’s experience. Thus, the article will be very concrete and hands-on: How does Cloudogu address the issue?

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post icon How to define software requirements in 2020

04/21/2020 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

How to define software requirements in 2020

Whenever you start a project, the first step is to find out the initial requirements. Sometimes there is already a detailed functional concept, sometimes just a vague idea. The important thing is that the requirements are explicit so that the final product will be able to meet them. If requriements are vague it is hard to be sure that they are being met.

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post icon Agile facilitation – The toolbox for making everyday work fun

12/19/2019 Axel Lütgering in Methods

Agile facilitation – The toolbox for making everyday work fun

Are you a scrum master, manager, or employee in the middle of a transformation process? Do you want to avoid uncertainties in the distribution of roles and responsibilities, for instance? Then this blog series is just the thing for everyday work facilitators!

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post icon Reality check for another agile approach

06/30/2017 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Reality check for another agile approach

Some time ago we introduced the lean methodology #NoEstimates. We showed the basic principles and how to get started with it. Now, after some time, we want to comment on how to use this approach in reality. The time has come to figure out whether #NoEstimates is applicable in the real world and with real projects and we want to share some tips what you should focus on.

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post icon What does a Scrum Master do all day?

06/08/2017 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

What does a Scrum Master do all day?

Scrum Masters… What do you need them for? Those guys don’t help to develop the product, they are redundant! Worst case, the Product Owner can do his job! That is what many people think when they learn about the Scrum Master role. The quick answer to that question is simple: The Scrum Master is the guardian of the Scrum process, he keeps everything together. But what does that really mean? That’s what we will find out in this post.

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post icon First Steps Towards Test Management

02/28/2017 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

First Steps Towards Test Management

If you develop software it is inevitable to test the code that was programmed and there are several different ways to do that. For instance you can automate your tests or execute them manually. No matter how you carry out your tests you have to ensure that you test the right thing and that you test everything that is relevant. That is where test cases and scenarios come into play.

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post icon Software Prototyping – Rapid Application Development

12/20/2016 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Software Prototyping – Rapid Application Development

Prototypes are a great way to get feedback on design ideas and the feasibility of technical solutions. RAD (Rapid Application Development) is a methodology that focuses on starting development asap instead of writing rigorous design specifications. In contrast to the advice from the first post on software prototyping, to never use a prototype in production, RAD does exactly that. That is why we want to take a closer look at it.

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post icon How about a new agile approach?

11/04/2016 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

How about a new agile approach?

#NoEstimates is a lean and agile methodology that focuses on the delivery of customer value. To reach this goal it tries to minimize non-value-creating actions like the estimation of implementation effort for User Stories. In the first part we introduced the basic ideas of the methodology. In this part we want to provide some tips on how you can get started with #NoEstimates.

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post icon Just Another Agile Methodology

11/04/2016 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Just Another Agile Methodology

In the »Lean way of thinking« effort to estimate the implementation time for tasks, user stories or features, is waste, because it doesn´t produce value to the customer, it just makes people feel better. Therefore time spent on such activities should be reduced as much as possible. #NoEstimates is an agile methodology that helps you to focus on creating customer value instead of spending time on things that don´t create value.

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post icon Requirements Engineering Part 2

09/09/2016 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Requirements Engineering Part 2

Finding out about all requirements of a product and ensuring their implementation is the key to a happy customer and to satisfied stakeholders. Therefore it is advisable to invest enough time into investigating and finding out about requirements. In the first post about requirements engineering we introduced the "Requirements Traceability Matrix" that allows you to keep track of your requirements. To fill this list with content we now want to take a closer look at possible sources and the classification of requirements.

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post icon Agile Contracts

08/31/2015 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Agile Contracts

Agile approaches and methodologies are being used more and more, because the benefits of using them can be huge, e.g. improved quality of products. But often an issue arises that makes adopting agile in companies difficult: the contract with the customer. Clients often prefer fixed prices and demand a fixed set of requirements which is totally in contrast with the principles of agile approaches. This prevents that the development team can take advantage of the full potential. Lately, the awareness for this issue rose and efforts for creating contracts that support agile working are undertaken.

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post icon Code Conventions

02/03/2015 Daniel Huchthausen in Methods

Code Conventions

80% of lifetime costs goes to maintenance and hardly any software is maintained for its whole life by the original author. Therefore it is crucial that code is written in a comprehensible manner. Code conventions help to achieve this.

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