Think, Make

Autor: denkmalpflege

  • Sandwiches

    Introduction

    The idea behind this recipe collection is simple: I really miss good sandwiches in German golf clubs. 

    Let me explain why by giving you a ranking of the most probable fast food you will find at German golf clubs:

    1. Nothing. 
    2. Mars bars. Bad. Just fat & sugar.
    3. Peanuts. Not so bad. Jack Niklaus’ way to stay focused.
    4. Brötchen (Roll) with cheap ham & cheese and the notorious soggy & tasteless tomato. Typically made to order. So it well set you back at least 10 min.
    5. Currywurst mit Pommes (curry saussage with chips). > 20 min. Not a halfway option.
    6. Burger. > 20 min. Not a halfway option.
    7. Sometimes you get baguette (which is a tasteless ready to bake monster, anyway), which are just scaled up rolls, they take longer to make then a roll and cannot be eaten without havoc to your polo and/or trousers.

    We all know this disaster is only partly due to the managers of the club restaurants. German golf is expensive. So it is played by the not so poor people. But funny enough I know some cases where the German golfer takes much more care of his titanium electro trolly (we are talking about the 3000 € price bracket…), then his/her playing pace, proper golf balls and good food.

    It seems nobody is actually taking care of the articles in the magazines, which explain how important it is to take care of drinks & food during your round of golf.

    Strange, especially since the food we need has already been invented. And it is used by professional golfers around the globe: The sandwich. Actually, it has specifically been invented to serve the busy punter (John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich was) from being distracted from his vice (casino games). So what would be better then to give the German golf restaurant owners a gentle push towards this British cultural cornerstone?Give it a try. Meaning: Eat better and play better golf.

    BTW: Our intention is not to serve as a guide for any afternoon tea or even high tea, but for sure you can use these recipes to your liking.

    Remarks on the Bread

    The bread may be either

    1. left as it is
    2. toasted
    3. grilled (oil/butter it to your liking)
    4. fried in a pan (oil/butter it to your liking)

    Whole grain bread is healthier then white bread. The spongy toast bread could be replaced by any bread you like, some ingredients may not go well with sourdough (rye, etc.). But beef, pork, etc. will go very well. Try it.

    Remarks on Mayonnaise

    Some people love mayonnaise, some hate it, others will only accept their own freshly made one. Do whatever suits you. You may replace the mayo with some lighter off-the-shelf variant, or replace it with butter. Be aware that mayonnaise will add salt, some sharpness and acidity to your meal, so if you leave this out, replace it with other ingredients. But one warning: If you don’t put butter, mayonnaise or cream cheese on your bread, you risk soggy bread, which is just awful.

    The One Minute Mayo

    Remarks on Spices

    Never buy ground pepper. It quickly starts to stink and taste bland. Much better is a good pepper mill. Much better is a mortar. And please crush just the amount you need. Experiment with different kinds of pepper, but black pepper would be the standard. 

    Remarks on Variations

    Feel free to change the recipes. At least some will benefit from garlic (rub the clove to the toasted bread).

    Remarks on Presenting a Sandwich

    You may get some sandwich boxes which can hold up to two diagonally cut slices of bread. Perfect for a halfway hut. The plastic version can be yours at less then 10 ct., a carton version is twice as expensive, but looks much nicer and may calm someone’s conscience.

    If you want to present the sandwich for a single person, consider combining the sandwich with some salad and/or crisps.

    Fingerlings are best presented on a rectangular platter which fits the size of the sandwiches.

    You may arrange the quarter triangles in an irregular, fancy way. If you want to be very posh, get yourself a sandwich étagère (AKA cake stand).

    A club sandwich is held together with a toothpick. Maybe you use one for other sandwiches as well. Plus, a club sandwich has a slice of bread in the middle.

    Remarks on Cutting a Sandwich

    • You may leave the crust on the sandwich if you do not want to bin edibles. Perfectly comprehensible. Consider drying the crusts and grind them for a later use as a bread crumb coating.
    • You may cut the sandwich into three or four fingerlings.
    • You may cut the sandwich into four squares.
    • If you cut the sandwich diagonally, you may repeat this procedure ending up at four pieces which could be very nicely dressed on a serving platter.

    Remarks on Chutneys, and other Toppings

    Just try to make one by yourself.

    Start with an easy onion chutney as a start. It is worth it.

    For the complete list of recipes check The Sandwich Menu.

    Onion Chutney

    Ingedrients

    • 8 red onions
    • 1 red chili, de-seeded
    • 2 bay leaves
    • 25 ml olive oil
    • 200 g brown sugar
    • 2 teaspoons of mustard seeds
    • 150 ml balsamic vinegar
    • 150 ml red wine vinegar

    Preparation

    • Cut the onions in quarters and slice
    • Cut the chilli into thin slices
    • Simmer the onions, the chills, the bay leaf in the oil for 20 mins
    • When dark, add sugar, vinegars, mustard seeds, simmer for 30 mins
    • Stir from time to time
    • Pour the chutney into jars (jars should be sterilized already) and seal
    • Put the jars into a roasting tray, add some 2 cm of boiling water, put into a 140 C oven
    • Sterilize jars for 30 mins

    Cucumber – Cream Cheese

    OVOLACTO EASY

    PREP: 5 min.

    COOK: 0 min.

    This is not “the” classic afternoon tea cucumber sandwich. The classic is rather bland and leaves out the dill, and the cream cheese, thus it is toast & butter & cucumber. Well…

    Some cover the cucumber slices with salt and leave them for some minutes to extract some water (like in good quality tzatziki). I don’t believe it is needed if you eat the sandwiches almost immediately.

    But the tzatziki thing leads us to the simple alternative to just put freshly made tzatziki between your bread slices. Wow – another sandwich is born…

    Ingredients

    • 2 slices of whole wheat bread
    • 1/3 Cucumber peeled (serves two, four slices)
    • Cream Cheese, softened
    • Butter, softened or olive oil
    • 1 teaspoon of minced dill, alternatives: mint, 1 crushed garlic clove
    • freshly ground white pepper & salt

    Preparation

    • Mix cream cheese, butter and dill together until soft and can be spread easily
    • Cut cucumbers into 4 mm planks
    • Spread mixture on both slices of bread covering the entire slice
    • Lay cucumbers on one slice not overlapping
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Cut & present to your liking

    References

    English Afternoon Tea Sandwiches Cucumber & Dill finger Sandwich Recipe: https://youtu.be/GpiXV_Q1n1o

    LearnToCook: https://youtu.be/0tgvma5gh-I

    Chicken Salad (Prawn Mayonnaise)

    POULTRY EASY

    PREP: 2 min.

    COOK: 0 min.

    Chicken salad is like prawn salad basically diced meat plus mayonnaise (plus pepper, plus salt). Betty Crocker adds a reasonable stalk celery and a minced onion to the mix.

    Ingredients

    • 1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey
    • 1 medium stalk celery, chopped (1/2 cup)
    • 1 small onion, finely chopped (1/3 cup)
    • 1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
    • 8 slices bread

    Preparation

    • In medium bowl, mix all ingredients except bread. 
    • Spread mixture on 4 bread slices. 
    • Top with remaining bread.
    • Cut & present to your liking 

    References

    Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato AKA BLT

    PORC EASY

    PREP: 5 min.

    COOK: 10 min.

    The bacon should be raw bacon. Could be replaced by English breakfast bacon, which is bigger and from the cutlet, not the belly, but this meat would go better with the infamous bacon bap (bacon, bap, brown sauce).

    Ingredients

    • Two rashers of bacon
    • Some Lettuce
    • 1/2 Tomato
    • (Avocado)
    • 2 slices of toast bread
    • 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise

    Preparation

    • bake the bacon with just a bit of oil in a frying pan until crispy to your liking, dry it with a kitchen towel
    • toast the bread 
    • spread the mayo on both slices
    • place the lettuce onto one slice
    • add the bacon
    • add the tomato
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Cut & present to your liking

    Club

    PORC EASY

    PREP: 5 min.

    COOK: 10 min.

    Actually, the club is a BLT plus some poultry meat. 

    It always should come as a three-decker of well toasted bread, thus with a slice in the middle.

    You should cut four triangles.

    Ingredients

    • Three rashers of bacon
    • Some 3-4 slices of roast chicken breast
    • Some Lettuce
    • 1/2 Tomato
    • (Avocado)
    • 3 slices of toast bread
    • 4 tablespoons of mayonnaise

    Preparation

    • bake the bacon with just a bit of oil in a frying pan until crispy to your liking, dry it with a kitchen towel
    • toast the bread 
    • spread the mayo on both outer slices, and one side of the inner slice
    • place the lettuce onto one slice
    • add half of the bacon
    • add the tomato
    • Lay middle slice on and press down
    • spread the mayo on top
    • add the second half of the bacon 
    • add the chicken breast
    • add the tomato
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Place four toothpicks in the sandwich to help it stay together
    • Cut & present to your liking 

    Tuna Melt

    FISH EASY

    PREP: 5 min.

    COOK: 0 min.

    Tuna Melt is a gorgeous treat. Food wishes has a nice open sandwich variant you should try for lunch.

    Ingredients

    • 2 slices of whole wheat bread
    • 1 can of tuna (MSC certified, please)
    • 1 slice of lemon
    • Mayo (see introduction)
    • 200 g grated Gouda
    • freshly ground black pepper & salt
    • optionally: 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley
    • optionally: 1 tablespoon of chopped green onions

    The tuna melt topping will at least serve two.

    Preparation

    • Mix mayo, tuna and cheese, using a fork
    • add pepper and salt to your liking
    • refrigerate until ready to make sandwich
    • Lay around four table spoons on first slice
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Cut & present to your liking

    If you connect “tuna melt” with molten cheese, go ahead. Just butter the sandwich on the outside, put the sandwich on a steak skillet and cover it. Brown for 3-5 min. per side and check for melting.

    References

    The Best Tuna Melt Sandwich On Sourdough Bread: https://youtu.be/JhUOA1m4J_M

    Egg and Watercress

    OVOLACTO EASY

    PREP: 2 min.

    COOK: 10 min.

    Ingredients

    • 1 eggs
    • 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
    • 1 good handful of watercress
    • 2 slices of toast bread

    Preparation

    • Hard-boil eggs for 10 mins, then drain and cool
    • Peel, roughly chop and put in a bowl.
    • Roughly chop the watercress
    • Stir watercress, salt, pepper and mayo into the eggs
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Cut & present to your liking

    References

    Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese

    FISH EASY

    PREP: 5 min.

    COOK: 0 min.

    Please use wild salmon, at least “bio” salmon. Farmed fish does not any good to the environment. Alternatively use horseradish instead of capers.

    Ingredients

    • 50 g packs smoked salmon
    • 1 spring onion, chopped
    • 1 tbsp of capers 
    • 50 g pot cream cheese
    • 1 lemon wedge

    Preparation

    • Mix cream cheese, capers, onion
    • Cut salmon to stripes
    • Lay cream cheese onto both slices of bread
    • Lay salmon stripes on this slice
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Cut & present to your liking

    References

    Reuben Sandwich

    BEEF MEDIUM

    PREP: 20 min.

    COOK: 180 min.

    Ingredients

    Corned Beef

    • 3 lb corned beef brisket
    • Water (enough to cover brisket)
    • 2 cups beef stock
    • 6 cloves
    • 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
    • 1 tablespoon dried cinnamon
    • 1 tablespoon dill weed
    • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
    • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
    • 3 cloves garlic (skins off)

    Dressing

    • 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
    • 1 tablespoon ketchup
    • 1 tablespoon sweet relish
    • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
    • 1/2 tablespoon hot sauce
    • 1 tablespoon shallots (finely diced)
    • 1 tablespoon celery (finely diced)
    • Small handful chopped fresh Italian flat leaf parsley 
    • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

    Other Ingredients

    • Melted butter (unsalted)
    • Rye bread
    • Sauerkraut
    • Swiss cheese
    • Serve with coleslaw

    Preparation

    If you use pastrami, you don’t need the step “Corned Beef”. The bread slices should be toasted.

    • Mix the dressing
    • Lay 2-3 tablespoons onto the bread slices
    • Heat the sauerkraut in a skillet
    • cover with corned beef
    • cover with cheese
    • melt everything in the pan
    • place it on one bread slice 
    • Lay top slice on this and press down
    • Cut & present to your liking

    Zubereitung des Corned Beef

    • Put beef into a casserole
    • Cover with water, broth and other ingredients
    • Cook 1 hour per pound
    • Cool and cut into thin slices.

    Links

    Steve’s Cooking: https://youtu.be/9WmsYbZl1pw

    Grilled Brie and Pear

    OVOLACTO EASY

    PREP: 5 min.

    COOK: 10 min.

    For some the only acceptable brie is “lait cru” brie, meaning made from raw milk. This could be impossible to find in your country, since it may be considered risky. The French do not. 

    Well, if “grilled” is already in the title, my guess is: not to grill is not an option.

    Ingredients

    • 2 slices of toast bread
    • 2 tablespoons of softened butter
    • 3 slices of brie
    • halve of a very ripe pear (or dried canned pear)
    • thyme leaves, black pepper and salt to taste

    Preparation

    • butter both slices from one side
    • lay brie, thyme and pear slices on one non-buttered side
    • a pinch of salt and a good amount of freshly ground black pepper
    • Lay top slice on and press down
    • Grill 3-4 min. per side, cover in between, and check to avoid burning
    • Cut & present to your liking

    References

    Food Wishes, Chef John: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/237472/grilled-brie-and-pear-sandwich/

    TEMPLATE

    OVOLACTO BEEF PORK FISH VEGAN EASY MEDIUM DIFFICULT

    PREP: 2 min.

    COOK: 10 min.

    Ingredients

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    Preparation

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    References

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    Backlog

    http://www.afternoontea.co.uk/blog/the-afternoonteacouk-team/top-10-afternoon-tea-sandwiches-revealed/

    Marks & Spencer: http://www.marksandspencer.com/classic-selection-30-sandwich-quarters-/p/p21105185?mfPartNumber=00179690&carousel=FUNV_RR

    1. Cheese and onion, e.g. https://youtu.be/aTeQY8mFDo8
    2. Poached salmon and cucumber
    3. Cheese and carrot chutney
    4. Roast beef and horseraddish 
    5. Coronation Chicken Sandwich

    Top 10 Greatest Sandwiches of All Time: https://youtu.be/iqUtvtK9JzQ

    1. Ham and Cheese, Croque Monsieur (i.e. H&C with béchamel)
    2. Breakfast Sandwich: e.g. egg with pork patty
    3. Cuban Sandwich
    4. pulled pork
    5. Philly Cheese Steak
    6. Grilled Cheese
    7. Honorable mentions
      1. Lobster Roll
      2. Sloppy Joe
    8. Peanut Butter Jelly

  • Remarks on PRINCE2’s „Product-Based Planning“

    What is Product-Based Planning?

    Product-Based Planning is a longtime hallmark of PRINCE2. It consists of four steps:

    1. Write a Project Product Description, which is a high-level description of customer expectations.
    2. Write a Product Breakdown Structure (PBS), which is a logical hierarchy of the project’s deliverables.
    3. Write a Product Description (PD), which is a concise but complete verbal definition of what has to be delivered by the project.
    4. Create a Product Flow Diagram (PFD), which identifies the order of precedence of products and their components or constituents.

    BTW, the PMI PMBoK knows something called a “Work Breakdown Structure” which comes quite close to the PBS idea, in fact, there should be a 1:1 relation between the details, i.e., for every item in the PBS there should be (at least) one task to deliver it.

    How do I implement Product-Based Planning?

    I implement PBP by implementing the four steps from above, where step 1 and step 3 effectively are boiling down to writing a word document. I know you can do it!

    How to write a Project Product Description?

    Well, write a word document. Some templates can be found on the web.

    How do I do a Product Breakdown Structure?

    By learning from examples. Well, here comes the example:  We want to move a shed from place A to place B. What would be a good PBS?

    Before we start we should define different node shapes for different classes of products (or deliverables):

    • Logical groups are shown as parallelograms.
    • External products (delivered not by the project but consumed by it) are shown as ellipsoids.
    • Management products are not filled, all other products are filled (with non-white).

    We see that our total outcome consists of three logical products groups (the parallelograms). For the sake of simplicity, we divide the complete hut into just two entities: the shed shell and its content. And we omit the management products (plans, reports, documentation, etc.)

    Moving the shed is a bit more complex, since we foresee the need of a permission to build the hut at the new location, and we do not have a truck, thus an external mover will be involved. These are thus marked with an ellipse.

    How on earth how did I create it? Well, I started my favorite text editor (sublime) and entered this:

    digraph pbs { 
    splines=ortho
    rankdir="LR"
    node [margin=0.1 fontcolor=black fontsize=12 
      shape=rect style=filled           
      arrowhead="vee" fontname="Arial" fixedsize=true 
      width=2.5 shape="rect" 
      fillcolor=deepskyblue1  ]
    edge[arrowhead="vee"]  
      
    p [label="move shed"]
    o [label="old shed removal" shape="parallelogram"]
      o1 [label="disassembled shed"]
      o2 [label="packed content"]
    m [label="move" shape="parallelogram"]
      m1 [label="loaded shed"]
      m2 [label="building permission" shape="ellipse"]
      m3 [label="moved shed" shape="ellipse"]
      m4 [label="unloaded shed"]
    n [label="new shed build" shape="parallelogram"]
      n1 [label="new home, assembled shed"]
      n2 [label="new home, goods in place"]
    p -> {o m n} 
    o -> {o1 o2}
    n -> {n1 n2}
    m -> {m1 m2 m3 m4}
}

    …and pasted this into this: https://dreampuf.github.io/GraphvizOnline/ (or http://magjac.com/graphviz-visual-editor/)

    In fact, the data seen above is written in a graph language called DOT (https://graphviz.org) and with this or a command line tool you can generate wonderful scalable vector graphics (SVGs), which can be viewed in any modern browser or may be imported into word.

    How to write a Product Description?

    Well, write a word document with a table with two columns: “product name” and “product description”, and you should be fine.

    How could I write a Product Flow Diagram?

    Easy:

    digraph pfd { 
    splines=ortho
    rankdir="TD"
    node [margin=0.1 fontcolor=black fontsize=12 
      shape=rect style=filled           
      arrowhead="vee" fontname="Arial" fixedsize=true 
      width=2.5 shape="rect" 
      fillcolor=deepskyblue1] 
    edge[arrowhead="vee"]  
     
    p [label="move shed"] 
    o [label="old shed removal" shape="parallelogram"]
    o1 [label="disassembled shed"]
    o2 [label="packed content"]
    m [label="move" shape="parallelogram"]
    m1 [label="loaded shed"]
    m2 [label="building permission" shape="ellipse"]
    m3 [label="moved shed" shape="ellipse"]
    m4 [label="unloaded shed"]
    n [label="new shed build" shape="parallelogram"]
    n1 [label="new home, assembled shed"]
    n2 [label="new home, goods in place"]

    o -> m -> n -> p
    o1 -> m3 -> m4
    o2 -> m3
    o1 -> o2 -> o 
    m1 -> m3 -> m4 -> m
    m2 -> m
    m2 -> n1 -> n2 -> n -> p
}

    What should you learn to understand the DOT language? Here is my concise list:

    1. Start with PBS digraph <NAME> {}. This will generate an empty directed graph.
    2. Insert your products into the braces, one per line. The format is 
        <PRODUCT NAME> [label = “<TEXT”]. In graph theory these products are called nodes.
    3. Insert tree relationships, e. g., product-> component 1, one per line. In graph theory these relationships are called edges. Since we have a directed graph, these edges have start and an end, marked by an arrow or the like.
    4. If you like to manipulate certain attributes, you either change them in the nodes, or you insert a node item to change the default behavior of all nodes. The same holds true for edges.
    5. RTFM.

  • Agile Anti-Pattern: Strangle the roadmap by over-commitment

    Pattern Description

    The backlog contains committed stories (features, capabilities, epics) for the next N iterations (sprints, program increments, etc.).

    Issue, Problem, Risk

    Any sprint (iteration) should have a clear sprint goal plus a set of user stories paying into this sprint goal. This is the commitment we need.

    When we now think about scaled agile we need to have a product backlog containing features. The top-trio features will go into the product increment planning (PIP) and will be regarded as being set for the next PI (typically: next quarter).

    When we are talking mid-term or long-term product development, one of the charms of agile development (actually: one of the key advantages) is the possibility to change our path towards maximum customer value of the product under development. 

    In Scrum this is done by sprint retrospectives/reviews and re-proritized product backlogs. 

    In SAFe, thus in a scaled agile environment, this is done on the next higher level: the PI Inspect & Adapt stage (https://www.scaledagileframework.com/inspect-and-adapt). 

    The Concept of „Roadmap“

    SAFe planning horizons, © Scaled Agile, Inc.

    „The PI roadmap consists of a committed plan for the current PI and offers a forecast of the deliverables and milestones for the next two to three PIs. For the outlying PIs, these may may be indicated as Features or Epics and even Milestones.“ (cf. https://www.scaledagileframework.com/roadmap/). 

    Root Cause

    You are part of a non-agile organization

    If an agile team (agile release train) is part of a non-agile organization, the non-agile management has it’s own ideas about mid-term targets. If the ART has to commit to these targets the product roadmap will be committed for more than one PI as well.

    Your have non-agile past

    … to be continued.

    Mitigation, Remedy, How to avoid

    • Commit to one PI.
    • Be clear the next PI feature sets are forcasts, nothing less, nothing more.

  • Agile Anti-Pattern: What happens in a silo stays in a silo: no E2E view

    Pattern Description

    A silo organization introduces SAFe in the IT silo. And gets the proof that SAFe is no good.

    Issue, Problem, Risk

    A silo organization starts to implement Agile in one or more silos, instead of breaking the barriers and thinking of the whole organization as one system. 

    No end-to-end view, starting and ending at the real customer.

    This approach leaves a very high risk for failing in implementing SAFe, because the implementation starts with an anti-SAFe assumption (a violation of principle #2: Apply systems thinking).

    Root Cause

    Big organizations tend to split their organization into more manageable entities. Quite often these entities are legal entities. And regularly the heads of these entities (or: „principalities“ AKA silos) have to negotiate with the group about their annual budgets, deliverables, etc. 

    Supposed we have a big telecoms operator with a group HQ, including group ICT, operational/national companies responsible for the local markets, all national companies have their own ICT organizations.

    When this organization now wishes to implement SAFe, it is very tempting to start with let’s say replacing the Customer Care & Billing vendor in France, and involve (and only involve) the french IT department.

    If you do this, the customer triggering your operational value stream is an internal customer, e.g. the french marketing and/or sales department. 

    In this case the national ICT organization is treated as an external supplier, the operational value stream of this supplier is „deliver CC&B services“, the development value stream would be called „develop a ‚much better‘ CC&B service“.

    Bad luck. Because you stick to the silos thinking which is part of your problem, not your solution.

    Mitigation, Remedy, How to avoid

    We should look at the Lean-agile principles #2: Apply systems thinking. There we find the third aspect „Optimize the full value stream“ (https://www.scaledagileframework.com/apply-systems-thinking/). 

    If you concentrate on ICT, you don’t look at the full value stream. If you concentrate on the ICT of one country this is even more true.

    So, first your operational value streams should be triggered by a real customer and ended by having the real customer paying money for the „value“ he/she got from you.

    In the example from above, e.g. a real customer is a student entering a shop in Toulouse, wanting to get a new mobile subscription, including a new phone. That’s SAFe’s „Trigger“ of an operational value stream called „new contract“.

    This operational value stream ends, when the customer has signed the contract, his/her credit scoring is good enough, and the first payment has been successfully transferred to the organization’s bank account (SAFe lingo: „$“).

    In this end-to-end view on the operational value stream quite a lot of departments, teams, etc. are involved, typically you even involve group functions, because credit scoring may be centralized, handsets may be managed group wide, etc. From the top of my head I see:

    • Product marketing responsible for the current commercial offers.
    • Marketing for advertising material (TV ads, shop looks, etc.)
    • Partner management/shop management for shops, shop staff, POS.
    • Customer management for validating the customer’s master data.
    • Finance for credit scoring, verification of bank data and cash flow.
    • Logistics for managing handsets.
    • IT operations for delivering POS, CRM, billing, ERP systems.
    • External partners for printing & mailing services.
    • External partners for quality management and customer satisfaction surveys.

    If you now compare this to the „root cause“ example, you might say: I cannot start with this full systems view. Well, if you want to optimize your system, you should do, and actually: you have to. Why?

    If you look at the E2E operational value stream, 

    • You are able to identify the biggest pain points along the whole process chain.
    • You get every involved organizational unit on board.
    • You talk about real E2E customer value, not about the details of the requirements specification handed over – sink or swim – from budget authority (e.g. sales & marketing department).

  • Agile Anti-Pattern: The project manager is now called „Scrum Master“.

    Pattern Description

    Scrum Master does (has to do) the one or more of the following:

    • SM plans sprints, including management approval.
    • One-on-one talks including setting personal goals (AKA: KPIs) for the next quarter.
    • Short and mid-term task management („who does what?“).
    • Task tracking, including task oriented timesheets.
    • Commanding the user story implementation.
    • Issue analysis and issue resolution dispatching.

    Issue, Problem, Risk

    If the Scrum Master behaves like this, you don’t do Scrum at all.

    You then don’t get the benefits from Scrum, but you may blame Scrum for exactly this: not doing any good.

    Root Cause

    Root cause #1: Inadequate knowledge on both management and Scrum Master level. 

    Root cause #2: Lip service. If you don’t want to do Scrum, just don’t do it. Full stop.

    Root cause #3: Your problem may not be fit for Scrum.

    Mitigation, Remedy, How to avoid

    Root cause #1: Lack of knowledge: 

    Root cause #2: Lip service

    • Get proper Scrum coaching. Change needs time. But if you wish to change you’ll change.

    Root cause #3: Inadequacy of Scrum

    • Get acquainted to something like the PRINCE2 Agile Agilometer, a scrum/agile health radar or the like.

    Don’t accept any major deviation from the concepts found in  https://www.scrumguides.org/scrum-guide.html. And according to this Scrum Guide a Scrum Master has to be busy with:

    • Ensure the Scrum Guide is brought to life.
    • Working as a servant leader.
    • A helping hand to the Product Owner.
    • Removing impediments.
    • Facilitating progress.
    • Coaching the Scrum team 
    • Working with other Scrum Masters to improve the organization.

    If you do deviate from the Scrum Guide, well: be aware you are on your own and must not call it a best practice until you have your numbers straight („In God we trust, all others bring data“ – W.E. Deming).

  • Agile Anti-Patterns

  • Anti-Pattern: Water-Scrum

    Pattern Description

    This anti-pattern could be also seen as „phased agile“:

    • You set up a e.g. three months stage plan for stage 1, stage 2, etc.
    • You expect every stage will deliver at the end of the stage, but the delivery method during the phase is somewhat agile.
    • Sometimes you even see an „Analysis Stage“, a „Design Stage“, and an „Implementation Stage“.
    • This anti-pattern likes to comes along with the User Story = Requirement anti-pattern.

    Issue, Problem, Risk

    The customer isn’t getting things early. But to get customer feedback (or product owner feedback, or business owner feedback) is one of the key reasons we want to go agile.

    The cadence and rhythm of Agile (e.g. sprints) are not being used. Thus the boost in efficiency coming from working in cadence and in sync is lost.

    Root Cause

    The organization either does not know enough about Agile or does not want to become agile. Or both. 

    Mitigation, Remedy, How to avoid

    Get management buy-in to start a small project which is suitable for agile approaches. Continue to record your lessons, try to learn from the sprint and project retrospectives and try to extend this to more complex projects.

    In case of Scrum: get trained Scrum Masters who have the power to assure Scrum is properly implemented.

    Get Agile Coaches to help the organization to move towards the Lean-Agile mindset.

  • Arduino photo resistor with potentiometer++

    If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research. 

    Albert Einstein

    In https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp_gSye8ke4 Dom’s MOBa channel the author wants to improve a simple photo resistor sketch/circuit by throwing a potentiometer into the game. His primary idea seems to be: with a separate potentiometer he could adjust the threshold of the circuit without changing the program. So far so good.

    Sadly, he connects the potentiometer to a second Arduino input, gauges this port and uses this as an input threshold value for the other port. 

    This seems to be a waste of resources, because actually you do not need the second port. And I am very stingy, when it comes to Arduino ports. 

    So, if the photo resistor has a total reading range of let’s say 0..1023 and a useful threshold somewhere between 20 and 800, all you need is a ~ 20 Ω potentiometer, set in series with the photo resistor pin connected with A0. And here comes my sketch:

    const int photoPort = A0;   // the port
const int threshold = 800;  // adjust for correct value
const int DELAY = 100;      // adjust delay between measurements

const char *message[] = {"DARKNESS", "ENLIGHTENMENT"}; // the const messages

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  if (analogRead(photoPort) < threshold)
    action(0);
  else
    action(1);
  delay(DELAY);
}

// do something dependent on the photoPort value
void action(int msg) {
  Serial.println(message[msg]);
}

  • SAFe Anti-Pattern: Hundreds of stories instead of dozens of business value focussed features.

    Pattern Description

    You now have hundreds of stories, all copied from each of your team’s backlogs and have no clue what your forthcoming Product Increment (PI) is going to deliver.

    Your stories somehow have vague headlines, you declare as „features“, but they are rather what they are: headlines of groups of team stories.

    The team’s stories are quite detailed, but lack a consistent view or perspective on the definition of ‚Done‘ (or something similar).

    Thus it is very likely that these „features“ do not have a single trustworthy benefit hypothesis and that the feature acceptance criteria are empty.

    Issue, Problem, Risk

    • Since the headlines called ‚features‘ are team dependent, the features are not oriented on generating high level (and team over-arching) customer value, but on realizing something in a team, driven by the team’s product owner.
    • Since you don’t have features focussing on generating customer value, the mandatory benefit hypothesis is either weak or non-existent.
    • Since the feature is generated from team stories, there is a high risk the acceptance criteria are not focussing on the ART level customer’s perspective, but on a team level perspective.
    • Since this is de-facto a bottom-up approach business owners and product managers will have serious problems with the product roadmap and the product vision. 

    Root Cause

    We see the root cause somewhere in between the following:

    • a weak product manager, maybe not very experienced nor trained: he/she is dependent on the input of the teams‘ product owners, but is not able to turn these low level items into high level items the stakeholders really need.
    • missing communication between customer (representatives), stakeholders, business owners and product manager(s) – and systems architects (typically responsible of creating enabler features).
    • lack of time to successfully groom the feature backlog, complete the feature and benefit matrix (FAB) and the acceptance criteria, and prioritize the features using the WSJF method.

    Mitigation, Remedy, How to avoid

    Don’t write features as stories

    • If you write features using the „As…, I need…, to get…“ templates, you lose the high level perspective and maybe you lose your stakeholders too.
    • As SAFe expresses it: A feature is ‚a short phrase giving a name and context.‘

    Prioritize using the WSJF method

    SAFe makes it clear: ‚The WSJF prioritization model is used to sequence jobs (e.g. features, capabilities) based on the economics of product development flow.‘

    So, use it!

    Write proper acceptance criteria

    Acceptance criteria as founding SAFe are looking like this:

    See: https://www.scaledagileframework.com/features-and-capabilities/

    Product Management is using these acceptance criteria to define and determine if the product features are properly implemented and if the nonfunctional requirements are met.

    Lean UX

    What if we found ourselves building something that nobody wanted? In that case, what did it matter if we did it on time and on budget?

    Eric Ries
    The Lean UX model of SAFe, also found in Gothelf, Jeff and Josh Seiden. Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams. O’Reilly Media. 2016.

    If you start using Lean UX concepts including the minimum viable product (MVP) or the minimum marketable feature (MMF) on the feature program level or above, you make sure high level requirements and necessities are met, customer’s expectations are understood and communicated, and short & fast feedback loops lead to ‚elimination of waste‘.

  • Model Railroad Block Detection with Arduino.

    Here we show how to secure a certain track section by signaling in which direction a train enters the section is occupied and if the block has been left again. 

    Our model railroad block detection scenario.

    In pseudo code the system works like this:

    // enter the section from the left
if isFree(BC) then {
  if sensor(A) then {
    preOccupy(BC);
  }
  
} 
  enterSection("BC");
IF sectionStatusIsEntered("BC") AND enterTimeout("BC")
  releaseSection("BC");
IF readSensor(B) AND sectionStatusIsEntered("BC") THEN
    blockSection("BC");