Slice the Problem Grow the Solution: A Practical Guide to Fine-Grained Incremental Development (The Simplifying Series)

Alistair Cockburn’s Slice the Problem Grow the Solution hits the pain point:The more decisions stacked up in your organization, the slower you move.Work smaller, faster, safer.Slice your initiative into smaller ones with fewer decisions. Get each batch out in the world where you will see how to correct what you already did and update your plans for the future. Learn, adjust, improve as you go.It’s unnerving when you first try it, but your results get so much better that once you start doing it, you’ll never go back.This comprehensive book from Dr. Alistair Cockburn, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, international expert on project management and software development, covers everything you need to apply the ideas in your situation. There are chapters for specific job roles:The Executive SponsorThe Business PersonThe Product ManagerThe Project ManagerThe ProgrammerThe author not only shows what to do, but also details exactly why this works, with illustrations and stories from art, architecture, software development, and real projects in different domains.Here, you’ll learn how to:Replace big-bang delivery with staged, value-earning releasesWork in tiny, end-to-end slices (“walking skeletons”) that expose risk earlyReduce rework by validating the smallest possible set of decisions at a timeDistinguish between:Incremental development (adding new working capability)Iterative development (revising and improving existing work)Apply the principle:Pay to learn, Grow business value, Trim the tail.Part of the author's Simplifying Series, the running theme, “Get more value from the same amount of work” tells you exactly how you will benefit from using these ideas: To get more value from the same amount of work, truly a magic wand. It’s no wonder that the most advanced companies in the world, Google, Apple, Amazon, Tesla all use these techniques to win.Even in an era when AI can generate large amounts of output in a few minutes, these techniques are useful. They help keep it on track and you in control. Different sized slices, same thinking. Read more