Maximise the quality and value of your product

The latest post in Boost big cheese Nathan Donaldson’s series on project risk is up on the blog. Nathan's looking at how Agile transparency reduces risks to the quality and value of your product.

Because you focus on delivering working software, Agile makes risks to the quality and value visible by the end of your first Sprint. Compare this to traditional Waterfall approaches, which only surface these risks when you start testing towards the end of the project. This visibility is vital because the stakes are high. As Nathan says, “the cost of low quality in dollars, reputation and brand damage is huge. The cost of 'achieving failure' — delivering something that the customer neither wants or needs — is devastating.”

The post shows how to put the Agile toolbox to work to reduce the risk you’ll release a low-quality, no-value product.

Find out how Agile transparency reduces project risk

Click the graph to learn how Agile transparency reduces project risk. The graph compares risk in Agile and Waterfall projects. In Waterfall risk drops most after Testing and with Deployment. In Agile, risk dropped earlier.

Do you enjoy Boost News?

We want to encourage people to sign up to Boost News, and the best way we can do this is by sharing what our lovely readers like about the thing.

So if you’re interested in sharing a testimonial, we’d love to hear about the benefits you get from the newsletter.

Email me what you like about Boost News

New year’s Agile Professional Foundation dates confirmed

Start the new year with new tools in your professional toolkit. The dates for our popular two-day ICAgile-certified course are out now.

Interactive and fun, the Agile Professional Foundation is a great way to energise yourself for the year ahead. You’ll get a comprehensive introduction to the ways you can put Agile values, principles and practices into action in the real world.

Find dates and book

Check out the course on YouTube

Helping kids find trustworthy information online

We recently finished a short project to make Many Answers easier to use. Many Answers is part of the free AnyQuestions schoolwork help service. AnyQuestions lets kids chat online to librarians who show them how to find reliable sources of information, and Many Answers collects information sources for many of the common questions.

The service is dear to our hearts because information literacy is obviously such a vital skill if kids are going to thrive in the digital age.

AnyQuestions manager Rob Baigent details the upgrade in this post. It’s a nice example of the benefits of getting a working product in front of users. Rob hasn’t had to guess what features his customers want, he’s been able to collect feedback from actual users and use this to guide the changes we’ve made.

Free homework help for school kids with AnyQuestions

Click the photo of a girl using AnyQuestions on a tablet to go to the AnyQuestions website.

When computers decide

Every day computers make decisions that affect our lives. The rise of AI is expanding the range and impact of these decisions, while also highlighting issues around transparency and fairness.

The New Zealand government has released a report on the algorithms behind decisions made by government agencies. It aims to make sure the public can have confidence in how the government uses algorithms, and it offers guidance to those of us who commission and code these algorithms.

Government algorithm assessment report

Boost News back issues

The Boost News archive is full of tools and tips to help you make a bigger impact at work. Plus, if you’re not yet a subscriber, you can sign yourself up to get future issues.

Browse the Boost News archive