insights-tools

  • service level agreement (SLA) templates
    Here are templates related to SLAs (service level agreements). One is a summary format, showing what various items or metrics might be for your service. SLA template The second is a contract addendum, for inclusion with more formal documents. SLA contract addendum The last is a simple spreadsheet calculating what it really means to have 99% uptime, 99.9% uptime, etc. uptime calculator
  • The Agile Community
    One of the most exciting and powerful aspects of Agile Software Development is the large and rich community of users that are driving its growth in so many diverse ways. To be honest, I was unaware of the size and breadth of the larger community, and the many smaller communities, until I became a member of the Agile Alliance Board...
  • whole product bill of materials
    “Whole Product” planning targets the broad customer experience. Typically, we miss parts of our products (services) that are outside the core software, so this checklist is designed to prompt thinking about the broader customer experience. Some parts will apply to your situation and others will not...
  • sample non-disclosure and beta agreements
    sample non-disclosure agreement You should always have standard NDAs reviewed and approved by your Legal staff, but these two samples can give you a flavor. The one way NDA is for when you are sharing confidential information but not getting information back from the other party; mutual NDAs are for reciprocal disclosures...
  • Do Agile Product Managers need to be experts in everything?
    At last month’s BarCampBlock , several folks asked if agile product managers needed to be experts in UX (user experience, aka UI or UED) in order to get great products shipped. This questions comes up periodically, so here’s a long-ish story in response: Many years ago, I was interviewing for the job of VP, Engineering & Product Management...
  • burning through Product Managers
    Agile software development methods are rapidly being adopted by companies across a wide variety of industries and company sizes because it’s a better way to build software. At several Enthiosys clients, however, we’re seeing product managers (“PMs”) struggle as the product management role becomes more intensely collaborative within an agile development process...
  • Do you you think your products are innovative?
    There is a strong correlation between innovation and the enthusiasm that drives successful product managers. Product managers who perceive their products to be innovative simply produce better results...
  • Business Goals Change — So Do Architectures
    This month’s issue of IEEE Computer has an article “How Business Goals Drive Architectural Design”. While the authors seem to have something useful to say about how one might align a business goal with architectural design, they fail to address what I consider to be (arguably) the most important aspect of a business or an architecture: evolution over time...
  • twitter
    I’m at www.twitter.com/lukehohmann. Check it out
  • Agile 2007 Conference “Business Value” Buzzword Bingo
    I’ve concluded (sadly) that the winning entry for buzzword bingo at the Agile 2007 conference is “Business Value”. In some way I really shouldn’t be saddened by this, as the alignment of development resources to business objectives is a hard, but attainable, goal, that is worth the effort...
  • Thoughts from the Agile 2007 conference
    Appreciations to the conference organizers. They work hard. I was very impressed with the breadth and quality of the experience reports. I attended several and found interesting observations and learnings from all of the speakers. We need more of this. www.ript.com looks promising...
  • grocers and chefs: software service models
    This is based on an April SVPMA talk. I’m talking with more and more with companies considering a shift from traditional licensing models to hosted software-as-a-service (SaaS). It’s important to recognize the radical changes such a move may force within your entire company...
  • VeriSign and Enthiosys present agile lessons in joint IEEE paper
    This IEEE-published paper by VeriSign’s Peter Hodgkins and Enthiosys’ Luke Hohmann describes how VeriSign’s Managed Security Services team (MSS) has successfully extended agile software development practices to deal with a complex, multi-product development organization; overcome team structuring challenges, and used a program management office for organizational “glue...
  • 08/05/07 - Luke Hohmann featured in Software Engineering Radio podcast
    This August 2007 podcast features “Luke Hohmann on Architecture and Business.” Building on his book Beyond Software Architecture, he discusses how branding, licensing and different deployment scenarios influence the technical architecture of a system
  • The METS Center — A great place to host events in Cincinnati
    Last week (4/26/07) I taught a two-day class on Innovation Games® at the METS Center in Erlanger, KY. Serving the greater Cincinnati area, I found the METS center one of the finest facilities I’ve ever used for a training and/or game. The staff was friendly—and helpful. The food was excellent. Most importantly, the facilities were tremendous...
  • service revenue and upsell marketing
    Much of my consulting lately involves on-demand services (aka software-as-a-service, or “SaaS”). I’m seeing ever-growing interest from business customers in subscription pricing and online services, especially since they pay much less “up front” versus software licensing...
  • OOP 2007 Conference Feedback
    OOP 2007 Conference Feedback – I gave a tutorial and a keynote at the SIGS-DATACOMM OOP Conference in January. I was really honored to be asked to speak at this conference, as it was my first ever invitation to speak in Europe. The trip was a bit challenging because of the terrible weather, but the German people were so warm and inviting that I felt right at home...
  • ONE MORE TIME: You’ve Got To Talk With Customers
    I was visiting a client of Enthiosys to discuss Agile Software Development practices and during the meeting my client mentioned that her company had recently created a New Product Development / Ideation group. I looked at the wall and noticed an ideation process map and asked if that map was how this group intended to work...
  • Weekly Project Tracking in Agile Projects
    One of the great virtues of agile methods is that they provide near real-time feedback into the status of the project. At the end of the iteration (or sprint) you know exactly where you stand, and you know which items from your iteration / release backlog have reached the “Done, Done” status of potentially releasable software...
  • QRCA 2006 Conference Feedback
    A few posts ago I advocated open evaluation of conference speakers. Since then, I’ve received more evaluation forms from conferences where I’ve been a speaker. Here is the first, from the QRCA Conference. I had a great time at this conference, and really do hope that I can attend and speak again in 2007. I received the evaluation in the mail and scanned the entire document here
  • The Zen of Agile Product Development
    One of the phrases that Enthiosys consultants use is “The Zen of Agile”. Although the meaning of Zen is associated with Buddhism, we don’t mean this to mean someone who has become a “religious” convert or zealot for Agile Product Development...
  • Burning Your Boats
    I spent 2006 consulting to small tech companies, including seven months as an interim executive. I also nearly co-founded a start-up. Come year-end, though, I find that I haven’t created a new company or joined a fledgling venture. This brings to mind discussions of commitment and “burning your boats...
  • Market Maturity and Business Model Choices
    The maturity of your target market is one of the strongest influences on the selection and management of a given business model. In the early phases of a given market, business models should be chosen so that they can be quickly and easily understood, primarily because you may not be certain of the best way to structure them...
  • Innovation Games at JavaRanch
    Innovation Games® is being discussed at in the Agile and Other Processes forum at JavaRanch. There are some interesting posts—come join the fun
  • Open Evaluation of Conference Speakers
    I speak at a lot of conferences. Part of my job. For quite some time I’ve been promoting the idea that conferences should provide open rating systems of the speakers. This way you could have the prior feedback of other conference participants to help you decide if you should listen to someone speak. Of course, the idea isn’t perfect or foolproof...
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