Ian Berry IT Blog

This blog post was inspired by a recent work rant: /Rant It may be worth having a conversation around what a delivery plan is (and isn’t). Once the delivery-plan has been communicated, it will likely be out of date as we’re working in a unpredictable complex system (not an ordered predictable system). I hope we […]

Ryan Singer has documented Basecamp product development and delivery methodology in the ebook Shape Up – Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters. Shape Up describes Basecamps process of taking raw ideas, working through a shaping process to narrow to a core problem, remove any unknowns / risks / deep rabbit holes, add […]

Graham focuses on Value Investing. According to Warren Buffet it’s “the best book ever written about investing”. Book review (by Swedish Investor): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npoyc_X5zO8 Book Review (by Financial Freedom): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18r2RCVtqTg Speculation vs. Investment Thorough fundamental analysis in the companies in which you are investing in to promise safety of the principle and adequate return. Protect your assets via […]

I have used slightly differing versions of the below to outline what should be included in an estimate, please consider each business environment, team and delivery process will have differing contexts (i.e know your context – KYC). For an overview of different estimation methods and templates please my Software Development & Delivery Estimation article. Depending on […]

I come from a different background than most, growing up on a dairy farm and managing the business for the last 15 years, being very aware of each years weather patterns; drought, normal years, high rainfall years, seasonal weather patterns (and seemly unseasonal weather patterns / cycles) with water, fodder and grain shortages & surpluses […]

Jez Humble, Joanne Moleksy & Barry O’Reilly have teamed up to deliver an excellent book on applying lean and agile practices to enterprise business. The book focus on how to maximise product discovery, product development, validated learning through experimentation, prioritisation through cost of delay, lean governance principles and modern funding practices to maximise value delivered […]

Please see my study notes for the AWS Associate Solutions Architect exam, to help me prepare and pass the exam I used the following services: ACloudGuru AWS Associate Solutions Architect course Whizlabs AWS Associate Solutions Architect practice exams ACloudGuru forum study and exam tip posts for AWS Associate Solutions Architect AWS Training & Certification AWS […]

Tony’s passion to bring the complex, often unknown area of finance, investment, wealth generation and make available so the ordinary person can consume shines through in Money Master The Game. A fantastic book filled with knowledge, wisdom and insight into the financial industry, what it takes to generate wealth, earn from assets, key financial instrument […]

We’re always in the search to develop and maintain high performing teams, reduce risk, improve quality and increase speed to market. The below books have helped in the journey to become a better information technology / software professional and technical leader. The books discuss productivity, leading / managing knowledge workers in creative work, growing technical […]

A set of guiding principles for software development, applying rule of thumb over strict governance. P1:    Build in the simplest way possible (KIS). P2:    Prefer working in smaller increments, build for fast feedback, refactor as necessary. Apply the rule of 3. P3:    Be a commercial developer (consider build cost, support cost & total cost of […]

Agile documentation should: Keep it simple (KIS), keep it lean (KIL). Clear and unambiguous. Lightweight, dot points, single sentences, to the point. Consistent presentation with whitespace. Well designed, organized, structured. Prefer diagrams over words. Easily searched and navigated. Easily updateable. Just in time (JIT). Stable (dont document rapidly changing work). Ideally documentation should convey information […]