Frank Ray

I’m Frank, a former C# .Net software developer and owner of Frank Ray Consulting, a consultancy that specialises in software requirements for agile development teams.

Remote, outsourced and offshore development is difficult to do well, and my time in software development teams, firstly as a hands-on developer and then as a business analyst, clearly showed me this.

I’ve shared my own personal experiences in many articles, the following ones being the most popular. I discovered that I am autistic in my mid-40’s and learnt that it’s not uncommon for engineers, which is why I write about it from time to time.

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Large enterprises organisations are unable to achieve much of what conventional agile coaching espouses.

Some organisations don’t want agile
The manager too busy for agile
Imagine being an offshore developer

Agile development teams working in less-than-fully agile settings behave in some rather unhelpful ways.

Gnarly behaviours of Scrum teams
Patterns of enterprise agile dysfunction
Offshore developers that want every detail

Software requirements is a powerful enabler for teams struggling to thrive under an agile framework or approach.

When business analysis really would help
Blocked tickets during development
Clear and effective user stories

Developers want to work in a way that maximises their effectiveness; avoiding blockers and frequent, unwanted interruptions/context-switching.

Developers decide the implementation
Developers don’t start with a blank sheet of paper
Developers don’t want constant conversations

Tailoring the agile framework to accomodate organisational limitations is a pragmatic and highly effective approach.

Becoming less agile to be agile
Moving beyond sprint planning
One of the best agile experiences

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More extensive writing on software requirements, business analysis, product management, agile development, organisational change can be found here.