The Importance of Common Language

I had previously written about “binary clarity” and how gratifying it was to hear others using that language after I left a position where I had used it frequently. The reason this was so gratifying was I realized the others had internalized what it meant. In short, the group had developed common language Further, they had internalized the importance of the concept.

Today, while attending a daily standup (I am now an observer, not an active participant) I heard the use of more common language. When I heard term used, I could tell everyone knew what it meant and what actions would follow.

I have an older brother that is now retired. He frequently comments on how he enjoys having his kids quote him. He likes to add, “Others will carry on after me”.  Common language is critical. It’s even more gratifying when you are the originator of the language.  It confirms that you have had an impact on the group and that others will “carry on”. 

Agility, Demos, and Credibility with your Customer

Once I had the opportunity to present at my company's annual User Conference. The Product Manager for the session set a goal that in hindsight was a pretty aggressive demonstration. When he walked through the outline, I thought, "Yep, that can be done" and the synopsis went out to the conference attendees. As frequently happens, work and life got in the way of the preparation time. I was fortunate enough to get some fantastic assistance from my colleagues on the requisite slides and that helped to further focus "the story" that the demonstration. I entered the conference feeling reasonably prepared.

For some reason the day before the presentation, "the buzz" around what I was going to demonstrate began to build. There was a Field Services employee that read the session synopsis and said, "You are going to do *that* during a live demonstration-are you crazy?" Shortly before the presentation, I ran into a customer that had intended to come, but then had another commitment. He apologized by saying that he was going to have to miss my "high wire act".  I was suddenly nervous.

Agile Performance Testing

Two recent events had me thinking about the subject line. One was a Webinar given by CloudBees titled, “ Adding Performance Testing into the Continuous Integration Process “ (the link is the Webex recording), the other was reading a blogpost shared by a colleague, "Combining Agile with Load and Performance Testing: What am I in for?” In essence both of these presentations ask the same basic question -- with all the focus on Continuous Integration and rapid feedback, "Why hasn’t development embraced Performance Testing as part of their development cycles?" The short answer from both — “It’s Hard”

Why So Much on Evernote and What is DevOps?

You may have been wondering what my last three posts were all about with topics like Outlook, Evernote (EN), and Getting Things Done (GTD).   I recently took a new position at my company.   I had come from a position that had never allowed to get organized or feel productive -- in work or life in general.    I took some time to try use these tools in a very prescriptive to way to get organized.   The prescriptive nature of the approach would allow me to "live the GTD lifestyle while I was not under constant pressure to get things done.     Now 2 months into the new position and the GTD approach to work and life is helping -- stay tuned.

You may be wondering what the the position is.  I joined a newly formed organization focused on "DevOps".  If you are not familiar with this burgeoning discipline, here is an "is"/"is not" exercise.    The source of this comes from "Continuous Delivery and DevOps: A Quickstart Guide ", by Paul Swartout.

• DevOps is another way of working whereby developers and system operators work in harmony with little or no organizational barriers between them towards a common goal.
• DevOps is not a way to get developers doing operational tasks so they you can get rid of the operations team or vice versa.

If you took that Wikipedia link for DevOps above, you would also find the graphic shown below that should give you the sense that DevOps is the intersection of Development, Quality, and Operations.

You can expect to see much more from me on DevOps as well as an occasional post on on productivity tips for GTD using EN and Outlook.

Send to Evernote or Add to Evernote?

In my last two posts, I discussed:

• Using the Bcc field to send a message to the Evernote inbox and create a note.
• Using the "Add to Evernote" Outlook Addin to create a note.

Are you confused about when to use one and when to use another? I encourage you to use each to see how if feels for you, but here is how I am currently using *both*. (Editorial note, this usage came out of my desire to apply the GTD (Getting Things Done) and TSW (The Secret Weapon) approach to Outlook and Evernote--EN).

Add to Evernote Button -- I use this when:

1. I am not immediately responding to an e-mail, but I know that I will want to later. I use EN to prioritize and make sure I don't forget.
2. I will not be responding at all, but I want to save it in EN for archival.

Bcc to Evernote Inbox -- I use this when:
I am responding immediately, and I would like it in EN either because:

1. I think I will need to respond later.
2. I doubt I will be responding later, but I still would like to archive it in EN.

I should add that both are functionally equivalent when it comes to putting the note into any folder or adding any tags that you would like. Although sending to your Evernote Inbox requires that you add folders and tags to the subject line in the correct order, which I sometime struggle to remember.   You also might get questions about what the folder and tag items on are on the subject line.

Using the Outlook Addin for Evernote

My last post talked about how I frequently "Bcc" my Evernote mailbox. That doesn't mean I don't use the "Add To Evernote" Outlook Addin -- in fact I use it quite a bit as well. Don't have this addin? If you are running the Evernote Windows client, you already have the addin, all you need to do now is enable it. Here is the basic process for enabling the Evernote for Outlook addin.

1. File
2. Options
3. Addins
4. Manage "COM add-ins" turning the checkbox on
5. OK

At this point the Evernote button should appear.  Your mileage may vary as discussion forums on this topic seem to be extensive.

Once you have this successfully working, you have two basic configuration options:

• Do you want a the note creation dialog to appear?
• Do you want the created note to appear as a New window?

Both of these are set within Evernote:
Tools -> Clipping Options (shown below). I prefer to see the creation dialog, but not the created note. Choose what works for you.

In my next post, I write about when I use "Bcc" vs the Add to Evernote Command Button

Bcc Can Be Your New Best Friend

In a recent post I queried for ideas around tools to manage my calendar. Specifically, I was looking tips around Outlook, Evernote (EN), and "Getting things Done" (GTD). The most helpful sources I found focused on:

Evernote Discussion Forums -- Very helpful community of EN users
"The Secert Weapon" -- specific techniques around using EN for GTD

The most useful tip (that I had been using intermittently) was the use of Bcc to get e-mail into Evernote. I found that I was doing this so frequently that I was willing to give the screen real estate in Outlook by having the bcc field visible all the time. Like most things in Outlook, you have to dig to find it. Here are those instructions in a nutshell for Outlook 2010:

1. Open a new New E-Mail message
2. Click Options menu to display the Options ribbon
3. Click "Bcc" on the "Show Fields" section of the Options Ribbon

Here is the link to the Microsoft KB article for various version of Outlook.

Calendar Before the Inbox

If you have worked with me or followed me on Twitter, you have frequently seen the #inboxero hashtag. While I used this mantra in my approach to my daily e-mail, I was not all that successful in practice (see www.inboxzero.com for some practical ideas). I recently took a different job within my organization and it has dramatically reduced the volume of mail that I get (thankfully). This change allows me to successfully apply the Inbox Zero concepts to my inbox, but I now have a different problem -- managing my calendar.

Previously, I had to give little to no thought on how I spent my day. I only had to sift through my inbox to find the most important crisis. So the "change cycle" that I am currently in is that my in box no longer "fills my day". To have some focus for the day, I now need to write down some goals and then put them on my calendar. Other than turning an e-mail into a meeting on my calendar, I have been wondering why there aren't there more tools to put tasks on your calendar.  Additionally, many of the "task managers" are good with "due dates", but not "doing dates".

Does anyone have any good recommendations for tools to help in this manner? I would be especially interested if they integrated with Evernote, Outlook, and GTD philosophy. If you do, please send me an e-mail or DM me at @AnAgileMindset.

Binary Clarity Defined

A phrase often heard at my workplace is "binary clarity". While it is often heard (mostly from my lips), it is less understood, and even less frequently internalized. Starting with the dictionary can help us:

Binary -- consisting of, indicating, or involving two.
Clarity -- clearness or lucidity as to perception or understanding; freedom from indistinctness or ambiguity.

I especially like the last phrase in the clarity definition -- "freedom from ambiguity". Software and our language about the software we produce is filled with ambiguity, how can we ever be completely free from it? My answer has always to been to use language that is binary. By doing so we can dramatically reduce our ambiguity. Credit for this concept goes back over a decade to a Project Management Seminar that I took where the instructor used the phrase -- "Binary Completion Criteria".  Again, using the dictionary again, we find:

Criteria-- a standard of judgment or criticism; a rule or principle for evaluating or testing something.

I note the last phrase again -- "testing something".  When we put these three words together, it's clear that it is very relevant in our current agile/lean age. Our best criteria are tests. Tests can be expressed in binary fashion and their results increase our understanding. Anthony Boobier, writes in "Splitting a User Story",  If User Story A has completion that is binary; it is either 'Done' or ‘Not done’. He defines binary completion to mean mean the acceptance criteria must be met.   The best acceptance criteria is testable. Testing allows you to get to pass/fail == "binary"

Beyond the software itself, this can also be applied to our language. At a Webinar on Scrum and Kanban, Kent Beck made the statement, "Never underestimate the time you will spend defining 'done' ". I agree and add as a corollary, it is time well spent if it removes ambiguity. (See recent post with reference to "Done", "Done, Done" , and "Done, Done, Done").   For any task, we can decrease our ambiguity if our common language is binary: yes/no, black/white, etc.

Bottom line when I use the phrase -- "binary clarity", it is just a means to an end -- "Freedom from Ambiguity". In our daily work lives, what could be better than that?