Tag: agile software development

University Classes

We’re Looking for Partners for UW-Madison’s CS Capstone — Could That Be You?

Photo courtesy of UW-Madison

One of the things I’m most proud of during my career is creating and running UW-Madison’s Computer Sciences Capstone course (CS 620). Every semester, hundreds of computer science Seniors work in teams of four to six on real software projects for real organizations, using agile development practices. And every semester, I need great partner organizations to make it happen. Last year, we had 27 amazing partners and we’re looking to grow quite a bit to accommodate 40% more students for the 2026-2027 school year.

Product Discovery

AI Is Changing What Your Engineering Team Should Be Doing: Are You Taking Advantage of It?

Photo by Igor Omilaev on Unsplash

AI is giving engineers the gift of time. And most organizations are squandering it. Figuring out what to do with your organization’s newfound time is one of the most important strategic questions that engineering leaders and product teams need to be wrestling with right now. The answer, I’d argue, is discovery. Real, rigorous, customer-focused product discovery. And most teams are not doing nearly enough of it.

Book Review

Popsicle Sticks and Retros: The Surprising Parallels Between Pixar and Agile Software Development

Creativity, Inc book cover by Ed Catmull

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration by Ed Catmull has been on my reading list for an embarrassingly long time. It’s one of those books that everyone in both the creative and tech worlds raves about, and I finally made time to read it. Despite its length and age, it is a refreshing view of management and the parallels between how Pixar works and how software is built are uncanny.