Read this excellent post of Jesse Fewelll, a leader of the PMI-Agile Community of Practice. In the article, he discusses a presentation by Don Johnson, entitled “IT Acquisition Centered on Agile Processes.”

In normal English, that means the United States is working on a law to reform procurement from the cold-war big-bang approach to an iterative incremental approach…Furthermore, the DSB has a relationship with the council of Federal CIOs, allowing the new procurement approach to be socialized among officials from all parts of the entire United States government.

Jesse identifies a team of 4 Agile Project Leadership network (APLN) DC [ link ] leaders working to create Agility in government procurement. There are some excellent materials on the APLN DC website, so go take a look!

I look forward to bringing samples of contracts that come out of this process! While the focus is on IT, it won’t take long before other procurement agencies and departments catch on.

Who are the legal, business and IT minds involved in drafting these agreements?

[Thanks to @MCottmeyer for RT @darylkulak ]

I always feel a little guilty when I have a virulent reaction to something I read and write about on the Internet.

So, I decided to leave a frank comment on the EDENHub blog and hopefully we can get to some level of understanding.

I LOVE any business that’s trying to work in this space, and I don’t operate out of scarcity, so let’s engage!

Hi:

I’m sorry, but I really, really find this… troubling, so I thought I’d engage in the interest of helping me see your intentions more clearly.

My interest is the same as yours, I think: working to create better communication and inter-dependence between “The IT Crowd” and the lawyers who rely on them to get work done.

The difference is that I think, by and large, IT folks don’t need this kind of standard. I’m not at all clear on how this brings business value to the companies that agree to be bound by it,–or what happens when they do not uphold that agreement.

I can see most of the 10 points in a company charter or embodiment of values,–but I strongly suspect that most of the tech folks I know would find it insulting to be presented with this as a code of conduct.

Worse, they would wonder whether their evaluation and compensation were being tied to business requirements over which they have no control.

Of course, I will use this as an example on AgileAgreements (because I think there’s alot to discuss there), but I suspect it’s more of an “anti-pattern” for purposes of an “Agile” IT team.

Totally open to the idea of being wrong, so please help me to “get it”!

My objective is to figure out whether this sort of thing can be reconciled with core Agile principles of self-organization, prioritization, rhythm, empiricism and emergence (“SPREE“).

You are invited to a conversation about “Agile Agreements.org” in the form of a Project Advisory Panel.

#WOOHOO! …EH…WHAT IS IT?!

Vision: an interactive repository and community around the question of how to draft and negotiate legal contracts for Agile (iterative deliverables, emerging requirements, etc) projects.

#WOOHOO! …BUT, I MEANT ‘WHAT IS THE PANEL GOING TO DO’?!

The panel is going to help me make this a killer resource for the rest of the Agile community.

They will suggest places to grab content, submit content of their own, snark, praise, bury, do whatever it takes to make this thing work.

#WOOHOO! …DO PANEL MEMBERS GET FREE 125×125 BANNERS?

Who told you? Why, yes! Yes, they do.

Well have to figure out The Threshold for people who contribute content, but basically, people who contribute a lot, get to advertise for free.

They won’t be co-owners, because this is a Dialexica project, but, it WILL be creative commons-y, so that anyone who wants to build an API is welcome to do so once we’re rolling, so that the content is more fully accessible!

Executive decision : free banners include non-profit Agile organizations. Yeah, it’s like that.

Simple, like dot org sunshine!

#WOOHOO! …SO, WHERE’S THE MONEY?!

T’ain’t none. Think Twitter without the valuation. But, with lots of inherent value.

My company is the first sponsor, so my 125×125 logo will always be visible.

Like the voodoo that I do? Then, by all means hire my company for something…But, not for this.

If you just feel dirty using such a great resource without paying $10 or a pound, yen, ruble, peso or pfennig, then buy swag when the store goes live.

#JUST SOFTWARE?

Thank you for asking!

No, this effort is not limited to software development, although the most likely early content will focus there.

Think any project where deliverables are created iteratively, requirements emerge over time,–or your clients make you NUTS with change orders that could have been prevented.

No way is this site pushing religion OR putting one Agile aspect over another, but by way of example, The Sutherlands and James Higginbotham are already applying Agile to church, and The Starrs apply Agile to family dynamics, –so use your imagination!

#WHY YOU?

You found this site, but still need to ask…Hmmmm! OK, I’ll bite!

Because of your considerable

• expertise and commitment to the Agile community
• interest and/or expertise in the drafting, negotiating or implementation of Agile process contracts.

Regina Mullen cordially invites you to participate on the AgileAgreements.org Project Advisory Panel!

We definitely need you, if you suspect that you might be one of the 50 or so Agile and legal folks who will find a creepy level of fulfillment through an occasional “5 minute conversation” via mailing list.

If you’re in denial, or just have one-off type suggestions, feel free to send a note or forward this on. Pocket protectors welcome here!

Keep it clean and respectful, because the revolution WILL be televised.

#NOOOO! Not WHY ME, WHY YOU?

Oh. I thought you were having a Nancy Kerrigan moment. Sorry ’bout that!

Why me?

Because I’ve been gestating this type of project over in my head since working in Japan (1991-1993). It has germinated long enough and I need to get it out and lose some psychic weight.

Shut up about the implied parenthesis!

Anyway, back in 1991, I was negotiating software contract, employment agreements, wrangling with IP pirates, trying to make workable agreements for my firm’s Japanese clients, so they’d never have to see another American lawyer.

Unless they really, really wanted to.

Like any good horder, I put scores of contract provisions on my craptop (aka “The Brick”) to avoid having to lug the huge Japanese contract provision book around.

Given that Windows hadn’t been shipped to Japan yet, you won’t be surprised to learn that I didn’t have the vocabulary for conceptualizing this project back then.

Worse, I lost 2 years of work because the Japanese OS we used had no time of day for English DOS or Windows, and I wasn’t about to buy an unserviceable Japanese laptop OR print everything out.

#DO YOU NOW?

Oh yes! Thank you for asking!

But, more importantly, YOU have thevocabulary and the smarts and the drive to make this thing work.

#SUCCESS TEST

If I am successful in *my* work (and I intend to be!) the Agile community will soon include a LOT of lawyers and legal professionals who are committed to providing better service in their own professional practice through implementation of Agile technologies (methods, practices, principles, processes, patterns, etc).

If I am VERY successful in *my* work, the lawyers who join the Agile community will be really fun folks with lots of wisdom to contribute and we will learn a lot together.

#WHAT DOES ‘FAIL’ LOOK LIKE?

Puppies and kittens lined up at a methadone clinic, with unicorns in raincoats across the street trying to sell them pictures of  “Waterfall Week” and pin-ups of monkeys looking at blue screens of death.

It ain’t pretty. Do not take us there.

#FEED ME BACK!

I know you’re busy, so this note is just to find out whether you’re interested. Send an email with one of these in the header. Easy peasy: just click one!

• INTERESTED
• NOT INTERESTED
• HIT ME UP AGAIN WHEN IT”S LIVE
• LET ME LURK…HEH, HEH, HEH!

so my spaminator can only get rid of the wankers. This would be very helpful!

All the Best,

Regina Mullen