Software Delivery in Small Batches

In this episode, Adam reads book two in The Zen of Programming (1988) by Geoffrey James. This book is unlike any programming book you've encountered. So, let's try something new for the podcast to showcase this poignant, accurate, and funny book. This episode features folktales from the fabled zen Master Noa-Op.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 The Zen of Programming by Geoffrey James☕️ Small Batches #84 - DemingChapters(00:00) - The Zen of Programming: Book Two (00:21) - Introducing the Zen of Programming (01:09) - Support the Show (01:35) - Master Noa-Op (01:56) - Folktale One (02:46) - Folktale Two (04:46) - Folktale Three (06:29) - Folktale Four (07:26) - Folktale Five (08:11) - Folktalk Six (08:47) - Folktale Seven (09:50) - Folktale Seven (10:06) - Folktale Eight (11:16) - Folktale Nine (12:05) - The Small Batches Way ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, Adam reads book two in The Zen of Programming (1988) by Geoffrey James. This book is unlike any programming book you've encountered. So, let's try something new for the podcast to showcase this poignant, accurate, and funny book. This episode features chronicles from the fabled zen Master Ninjei.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 The Zen of Programming by Geoffrey JamesChapters(00:00) - Intro (00:22) - The Zen of Programming (01:06) - Support the Show (01:31) - Master Ninjei (02:06) - Chronicle One (02:31) - Chronicle Two (03:14) - Chronicle Three (03:50) - Chronicle Four (04:36) - Chronicle Five (05:18) - Chronicle Six (05:35) - Chronicle Seven (06:07) - Chronicle Eight (06:41) - Chronicle Nine (08:42) - The Small Batches Way ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, Adam reads the preface, forward, and introduction to The Zen of Programming (1988) by Geoffrey James. This book is unlike any programming book you've encountered. So, let's try something new for the podcast to showcase this poignant, accurate, and funny book. Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Release It!"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 The Zen of Programming by Geoffrey JamesChapters(00:00) - The Zen of Programming - Intro (00:23) - The Book (01:50) - Foreword by Dr. C.P. Yu (03:59) - Introduction by Charlie (Chuck) Babbage (15:19) - Preface (18:05) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode, Adam welcomes Dan Slimmon, an experienced Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) to discuss aspects of incident response and troubleshooting in software engineering. Dan explains his methodology for clinical troubleshooting, the importance of maintaining a common mental model, and techniques for leading effective incident response efforts. They also delve into the value of continuous ops reviews and ongoing mental model updates to prevent issues, emphasizing the need for structured processes and effective communication.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Release It!"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership🧑‍🎓 Dan's course on leading incidents (Code SMALLBATCHES24 for 24% off!)Chapters(00:00) - Incidents & Operations (01:14) - Guest Welcome (01:40) - Dan's Career Journey (02:33) - Evolution of Tech Stacks (04:59) - Clinical Troubleshooting Explained (11:53) - Incident Response Fundamentals (17:41) - Effective Communication in Incidents (26:09) - Training for Incident Response (33:22) - The Essence of Incident Response (33:53) - Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Fixes (35:01) - The Firefighting Analogy in Software Incidents (37:11) - Postmortems: Learning from Incidents (42:14) - Building a Shared Mental Model (42:41) - Looking for Trouble: Proactive System Monitoring (47:59) - Ops Reviews: Continuous Improvement (54:37) - The Importance of Closing the Feedback Loop (59:40) - Final Thoughts and Resources ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

In this episode of Small Batches, host Adam Hawkins welcomes Alex Nesbitt, a strategy expert and member of the Flow Collective, to delve into the nuances of strategic thinking. The discussion covers different types of strategies, pro-tips on strategic thinking, and how strategy relates to the concept of flight levels. Nesbitt shares insights from his extensive consulting career, touching on topics like identifying leverage points, the relationship between strategy and tactics, and why being strategic is often more critical than having a strategy. The episode also stresses the importance of having a clear vision, enabling organizational constraints, and the roles of resilience and maintenance in strategic planning. Alex mentions practical examples, resources, and tips to help software and business leaders enhance their strategic approach.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Playing to Win"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 Playing to Win by Lafely & Martin📘 Good Strategy, Bad Strategy by Rumelt📘 The Effective Executive by Drucker🧠 Effectuation TheoryChapters(00:00) - Intro (01:17) - Alex's Background (04:52) - What is Strategy? (08:10) - The Shadow Strategy (12:56) - How to Practice Strategy (22:03) - Software Architecture & Strategy (25:33) - Strategy & Being Strategic (29:50) - Five Pillars of Strategic Thinking (34:46) - Pain of Bad Strategy (37:22) - Alex's Tip for Surviving Ambiquitous Strategy (38:38) - Strategy Deployment & Hoshin Kanri (42:47) - Tip of Software Development (48:03) - Alex's Recommend Resources (52:47) - Adam's Takeaway & Segue into AI (55:19) - Alex's Links (57:19) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam discusses strategy in preparation for the next episode.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Playing to Win"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 Playing to Win by Lafely & MartinChapters(00:00) - Playing to Win (00:46) - Flight Levels (01:53) - What is strategy? (03:45) - Strategy for SRE at Skillshare (05:16) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam discusses three (new-ish) ideas from time on a new gemba. Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Modern Software Engineering"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 Flight Levels by Klaus LeopoldChapters(00:00) - On the Gemba (00:22) - What's new (00:44) - Sequencing over Prioritization (03:44) - Flight Levels (05:11) - Thought Experiment (06:50) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam describes using Hexagonal Architecture, also known as Ports and Adapters, for software delivery excellence.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Modern Software Engineering"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering Leadership📘 Hexagonal Architecture by Alistair Cockburn☕️ Small Batches #17 with Dave FarleyChapters(00:00) - Hexagonal Architecture (00:23) - Reflections on Ruby and Rails (01:41) - What is Hexagonal Architecture? (02:45) - The Repository Pattern (04:32) - Dependency Injection (06:43) - Thinking in Pipelines (08:03) - Development Environments (09:09) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam welcomes Steve Pereira and Andrew Davis to discuss their new book, Flow Engineering. They discuss the book's origin story and the use of cybernetics to drive effective action.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Modern Software Engineering"🧭 Get the Small Batches Way guide to software delivery excellence 📘 Buy Flow Engineering: from value stream mapping to effective action🧠 Join the Flow Collective🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering LeadershipChapters(00:00) - Flow Engineering (00:23) - Intro (00:59) - Free June Giveaway (01:38) - Andrew's Intro (02:38) - Steve's Intro (03:46) - Book's Origin Story (06:49) - Adam's Thoughts on the Book (13:03) - The Five Maps (19:16) - Value, Clarity Flow (23:46) - What is Essential? (27:12) - Cybernetics & Effective Action (39:51) - The Principles & Visual Management (53:21) - Wrap up (56:53) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam presents the mental model behind T1 and T2 signals, a necessary lexicon for understanding production operations.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Flow Engineering"🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence☕️ Small Batches #103 - Understanding Production Operations (The MMIVM episode)☕️ Small Batches #90 - As Measured By☕️ Small Batches #88 - Golden Signals☕️ Small Batches #26 - SLOs with Alex Hidalgo (Google SRE and author of the SLO book)🥋 Software Kaizen: My One-on-One System for Engineering LeadershipChapters(00:00) - T1 & T2 Signals (00:23) - Can you answer this question? (01:27) - Flow Engineering Giveaway (02:30) - Tier 1 & Tier 1 Signals (03:49) - Example: Datadog Spending (06:13) - Example: a Web Service (08:23) - Example: Video Transcription (09:26) - PROTIP One (09:57) - PROTIP Two (10:27) - PROTIP Three (11:07) - PROTIP Four (11:43) - PROTIP Five (12:38) - PROTIP 6 (13:22) - PROTIP Seven (14:24) - Study Guide Announcement (15:07) - Announcing more Paid Perks (17:25) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam answers a listener's request of advice on succeeding in high-level company or project environments with seven tips.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE giveaway for a copy of "Flow Engineering"🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence📘 Buy "Goldratt's Rules of Flow"📘 Buy "Playing to Win" (my favorite book on strategy)☕️ Small Batches #99: Wiring the Winning Organization☕️ Small Batches #82: Leadership is LanguageChapters(00:00) - Rules of Flow (00:23) - Listener Request (00:48) - May Giveaway: Flow Engineering (01:30) - Rules of Flow (04:15) - Goldratt's Rule of Flow (04:52) - Tip One: Control WIP (05:16) - Tip Two: Full-Kits (06:02) - Tip Three: Set a Cadence (06:51) - Tip Four: Right-Size (07:42) - Tip Five: Buffers (08:39) - Tip Six: Visual Management (10:11) - Tip Seven: Language (10:49) - Bonus Tip: Information Diet (11:12) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam presents TDD as skill zero, the one that unlocks all the others.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 April 2024 Giveaway instructions🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence☕️ Small Batches #65: Systems Thinking☕️ Dave Farley on Small Batches📘 Tidy First? by Kent BeckChapters(00:00) - Skill Zero: Test Driven Development (00:25) - Intro (01:32) - Free April Giveaway (02:27) - Skill Zero (04:06) - Learning from Management (05:11) - TDD in Teams (06:03) - Systems Thinking (06:39) - Balancing Feedback Loops (08:00) - Reinforcing Feedback Loops (09:13) - Batch-Size Controls (13:04) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam presents a catch-all episode on ops reviews, visual management, call-to-actions, and SLOs.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 April 2024 Giveaway instructions🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence☕️ Small Batches #104: Blue-Yellow-Black Visual Management☕️ Small Batches #26: Service Level Objectives with Alex Hidalgo☕️ Small Batches #103: Understanding Production Operations🥋 How to Find your Initial SLOs on Software KaizenChapters(00:00) - Intro (00:35) - This Month's Free Giveaway! (01:17) - On Ops Reviews (09:13) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Dave Mangot returns to discuss his new book "DevOps Patterns for Private Equity". Don't let the title fool you, this is best introduction to DevOps and many related software delivery topics. Buy this book for anyone in leadership.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 Enter the FREE March 2024 book giveaway🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence📘 DevOps Patterns for Private Equity (Dave's Book)☕️ Small Batches #37: The Five Dysfunctions of a Team with Dave MangotChapters(00:00) - Intro (00:48) - FREE Giveaway (01:38) - Dave's Introduction (02:28) - Why this book? (05:14) - How Private Equity wins with Software Delivery (08:13) - Communicating these ideas (11:43) - A common entry point? (16:21) - Quaterly Roadmaps? (21:48) - Drift into Kanban (31:54) - On Monitoring & Operations (39:59) - Wrap Up ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam presents visual management using simple blue, yellow, and black color grading. This is an essential episode.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🎁 March 2024 Giveaway instructions🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence📘 Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn (Katie's Book)☕️ Small Batches #102: Chain of Learning with Katie Anderson🥋 The Toyota Way on Software KaizenChapters(00:00) - Blue, Yellow, Black (00:22) - Background (01:20) - March Giveaway (01:55) - Origin Story (05:49) - Blue-Yellow-Black In Ops Reviews (08:11) - Blue-Yellow-Black In 1:1s (11:55) - Blue-Yellow-Black In A3s (14:40) - Wrap-up (15:45) - Farewell Alex (16:14) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam presents a series of questions to understand production operations, plus a method to practice: MMIVM. That's Model-Measure-Instrument-Visualize-Monitor.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence🎁 Enter the February 2024 Book Giveaway!☕️ Small Batches #90: As Measured By☕️ Small Batches #88: Golden SignalsChapters(00:00) - Understanding Production Operations (00:23) - You Build it, You Run it (01:27) - Feburary Giveaway (01:59) - To What Aim? By What Method? (02:19) - Question One (02:45) - Question Two (03:30) - Question Three (04:13) - Question Four (05:24) - Question Five (06:14) - The Exercise (06:24) - Model (06:45) - Measure (07:11) - Instrument (07:40) - Visualize (08:28) - Monitor (09:03) - Recap (10:31) - Outro   ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam's welcomes Katie Anderson to the show to discuss her book Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn, lean thinking, and the powerful growth mindset.Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence📘 Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn (Katie's Book)🎧 Chain of Learning (Katie's Podcast)☕️ Small Batches #77: Managing to LearnChapters(00:00) - Chain of Learning with Katie Anderson (00:23) - Today's Episode (01:13) - Feburary Giveaway! (01:40) - Katie's Background (03:06) - Katie's Origin Story (13:59) - The Toyota Boat? (25:47) - Katie's Japan Study Trips (29:26) - The Impact of Culture (36:31) - Growth Mindset (49:32) - Katie & Adam's self Kaizen (54:59) - Connect with Katie (56:11) - Outro   ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam's two most common words (verbal ticks even) from 2023. Is it a party foul to bring lean thinking into a New Year's Eve party?Want more?🚀 New listener? Start with the introduction.🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence☕️ Small Batches #77: Managing to Learn☕️ Small Batches #87: Set-Based Concurrent Engineering📘 Managing to Learn📘 Lean Product & Process DevelopmentChapters(00:00) - Intro (00:47) - News: Website Updates (01:10) - News: Free Giveaways (01:35) - Viable (05:29) - Go and See (07:55) - Outro   ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam welcomes John Willis to discuss his new book, Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge. We discuss why John wrote the book, Deming's career arc, and how we put Deming's ideas into action. The print edition is available now. Listen through to the end for announcements from Adam and John.Learn More🚀 New listener? Start here.🧭 Get your FREE guide to software delivery excellence📘 Buy Deming's Journey to Profound Knowledge🎁 Enter my FREE giveaway from a copy of Wiring the Winning Organization☕️ Small Batches #84 - DemingChapters(00:00) - 100 - John's Book (00:00) - Intro (01:47) - John's Bio (04:00) - John on Why this Boo (10:44) - Deming's Arc (18:24) - SPok & Software (24:04) - Deming in Japan & Humanism (30:15) - Problem Solving (33:49) - Learning from Failure (38:09) - John's Advice (47:13) - By what method? (56:40) - What's next for John? (59:12) - Wrap Up (01:03:05) - Outro ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Adam presents the ideas in Wiring the Winning Organization with a vignette from his time on gemba. Plus, a giveaway!Here's how to win a FREE copy of Wiring the Winning Organization. First, follow me on LinkedIn. Second, post a link to Small Batches podcast episode with what you learned using the #SmallBatchesGiveaway hashtag. The giveaway runs through January 2024. The winner will be announced on February 1st. You can enter as many times as you like.Want more? ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★ 🚀 New listener? Start here.🧭 Get your FREE Guide to software delivery excellence📘 Buy Wiring the Winning OrganizationChapters(00:00) - Intro (01:21) - Giveaway! (01:52) - Vignette: Rejigging Pagerduty & Datadog (11:38) - My Thoughts (12:30) - Lexicon (12:46) - Slowification (12:59) - Simplification (13:13) - Incrementalization (13:33) - Modularization (13:50) - Coherence (14:10) - Linearization (14:51) - Amplification (15:04) - Outro