thekua.com@rest – Page 70

Devolving to Waterfall (Part 1)

December 4, 2006 Patrick Agile, Coaching, Work Related

Context: A multi-part entry about how fast, responsive teams devolve into slower teams as a result of what seems like reasonable and completely rational decisions. I hope to understand when the turning points are and think about what other options existed, so I can either prevent them or turn them around in the teams and organisations I work with. I’m keen for some feedback so please email me (emailpat@[thisdomain]) or leave me a comment!

Imagine that one day, a business had a fantastic new idea to do something revolutionary. They manage to get a team of people together, develop some software for it and get it deployed. It’s a huge success, and the customers and business are happy. They work hard to get features out as soon they are ready (developed, tested and passing Quality Assurance) so that customers can use it as soon as possible. Daily deployments into production are the norm.

Things get bigger over time and the team starts to grow larger. The team can no longer keep up with the pace of requests and deploy the software as well, so they hire a “Release Engineer” who can deploy it instead. The team is ecstatic as they can focus on producing workable software, but then a manager turns around to see the Release Engineer sitting around. He says, ‘Hey, there’s someone who’s doesn’t appear to be working full time. Let’s get him involved on another project.’ To maintain order, the Release Engineer is only available to the team one day a week to do anything. Any new features that the team develops now take a week to appear instead of when the features are ready.

Lesson: Over-optimising locally affects your ability to respond quickly and effectively by adding waiting time to the cycle time.

Solution: Understand the system as a whole and don’t over-optimise. Generate solutions that might have been more effective (i.e. The Release Engineer works half a day on each project and can shift days about when needed).

Notes: I see this all the time at client projects when teams are split into their “functional” areas and need to juggle simultaneous projects about. Context switching constantly over email, IM, telephone and a person sitting there waiting for something to be done prevents them actually getting any work done.

C&R Restaurant

December 3, 2006 Patrick Bayswater, Food, Restaurants, UK Life

Prawn Crackers London has a huge number of Chinese restaurants, many that are quite good, and others that are easily avoidable. In contrast, Singaporean and Malaysian restaurants are a little harder to come by. I’ve been meaning to visit one that is really close to me on Westbourne Grove, the C&R Restaurant, and last night was a good a time as any. C&R is strangely decorated for an Asian restaurant, with plain white walls and dim lighting giving a little bit of a sterile feel.

Tables are moved about to form smaller groups, though I found it slightly discomforting with our table moved to a mere 4cm away from the next one. It wasn’t a problem for us last night, but it could be if you were sitting next to some really loud people. The menu arrived with a small bowl of complementary prawn crackers, and I was impressed with the variety stretching from Chinese, Malaysian, Singaporean and Indonesian dishes. Even the drinks include a number of more classic Asian drinks including sugar cane juice and warm Milo! We decided to have the Mee Goreng, and the Singapore Noodles and a side of vegetables. The dishes took a long time to arrive, and I was surprised that they didn’t even ask us if we wanted more drinks throughout our waiting.

Out of the three dishes, I most enjoyed the Mee Goreng noodles since it seemed to have, what I thought of as, the right level of smokiness, sweetness and heat. The vegetables with garlic were the next bet, though very greasy and with an obvious touch too much sherry added. I was most disappointed with the Singapore Noodles that were both excessively soupy and lacked heat of any kind. I ended up having to ask for some chilli to add to it to give it some semblance of proper Singapore Noodles.

I don’t normally have desserts when I eat Asian food, but seeing as they had some dishes you don’t see anywhere, we decided to try the Ice Kachang. An ice kachang is designed perfectly and is a must have dish if you end up in the food courts of Singapore or Malaysia to take the edge of the ridiculous heat and humidity. The dish is typically made of heapings of sweetcorn, grass jelly, red beans (amongst many other subtle variations), topped with shaved ice followed by drizzlings of evaporated milk and a variety of sweet syrups. I think it’s nice that C&R attempts to provide it, and though it certainly serves the purpose of refreshing the palette is definitely not worth the £4 it costs.

C&R has a lot of going for it if you a reminiscent of some more regional Asian dishes, but I think it falls short of anything really authentic, especially if you consider the lack of Asians eating in the place. Their food is rather average and I’m sure there are places that serve better Malaysian, Singapore or Indonesian food, but is okay if you happen to be in the area.

Details: C&R Restaurant
Found on: 52 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5SH
Contactable on: 0871 0757874
Highlights: Good variety of regional Asian dishes, not easily found in London. Most food is priced quite reasonably still and you get free prawn crackers.
Room for improvement: Half the dishes fell short of average quality, tables were really too close together and the setting seemed a little sterile for my liking.
The Kua Rating: 6 out of 10

Ice Skating at Greenwich

December 3, 2006 Patrick London To Do, UK Life

Like most cities that are cold enough to have outdoor ice skating rinks (unlike Brisbane), every year London sets up ten or so different ice rinks in various locations with the most popular including the Tower of London, Somerset House and the one situated in front of the Natural History Museum. Each session is limited to an hour, and even though they operate from early in the morning until 10 at night, with the sheer amount of people in London it can be quite hard getting tickets the week you want to go. Yesterday I ended up going ice skating at the rink situated in Greenwich, a perfect location smack bang in the middle of the Royal Navy Academy.

Everyone’s ice skating boots are blue, shiny and look extremely new and even have a little bit more of an edge than other places I’ve been to, but like most hard shelled boots can still cause a little discomfort. The ice skating rinks are not the biggest in the world, so really the most dangerous things you have to be aware of are the other ice skaters.

Our session was not as packed out as it could have been, but you certainly had the regular types of skaters in attendance including The Moving Wall (a series of people linked by the hands ready to take anyone out in their way), The Centipede (a line of people behind one another with one person who can actually skate dragging everyone else along), The Indestructible Child ( that kid that keeps falling over but just gets back up over and over again, this time even equipped with a helmet), and The Ice Walkers (those people that don’t go anywhere fast but there’s plenty of leg movement).

Outdoor ice skating rinks are fantastic when its cold and Christmas music pipes through the air. It is a completely different experience and even if you can’t skate, it’s quite something to stand amongst everyone and just take in your surroundings (while having a good laugh at yourself). I think I wouldn’t mind trying one of the other ice skating rinks if I can manage to get a ticket.

Phantom of the Opera

December 2, 2006 Patrick Theatre, UK Life

It has been a while since I attended a real proper theatre event, so on Tuesday I saw the famous Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre. The story is well known – a masked man inspires a young opera singer while at the same time haunting the Opera Theatre they perform at, giving her an opportunity for fame and glory. The songs are just as well known, with the most popular probably being The Music of the Night.

The settings for this performance were fantastic, with the stage transformed numerous times into completely different locations, and the transitions between them very fluid. A chandelier is even drawn up into the stage, to later scare everyone as it hurtles towards the audience before veering into the stage. My most favourite transition was probably when the stage turned into a river, and candle-like lights floated up through the stage floor, before changing the scene into the dungeon lair of the Phantom.

I could not find fault with the actors, singers or dancers and each played their part extremely well with the exception of perhaps two of the opera singers who tended to overpower many others when singing in a group. It’s a great show that I found actually slightly creepy in its own gothic and mysterious manner, and one that I can recommend anyone else to see.

TheKua.com Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Sushi Hiroba

November 30, 2006 Patrick Food, Restaurants, UK Life

Before heading out to the theatre on Tuesday, I went for dinner at a new Japanese place that had recently opened near Holborn. Prices appeared comparable to Yo Sushi but the range appeared much larger and appeared a little bit more authentic than the other modernised chain. This store is part of a larger International chain (there’s other stores in Seoul, Hollywood and Paris as well), and it appeared to be run by Koreans, so expect a few twists on your typical Japanese dishes.

The atmosphere is a little bit more traditional if you manage to ignore the pop music blasting away in the background. We sat at the sushi bar and with the number of staff that buzzed around us, it was not at all difficult getting service throughout our meal. The sushi was freshly made and tasted of quality ingredients, but it helps that we sat down just after their restaurant opened at 6pm. The best thing I liked about this restaurant was their wide variety of sushi, with many of your traditional rolls and sashimi in addition to some uniquely inspired combinations that could be ordered in hand roll, or your typically cut sushi roll style. One of the different twists we had included some soft shell crab rolls that admittedly was a little overpowered by the mayonnaise. My most favourite sushi of the night was the unagi sushi (eel sushi) since the eel was extremely tender and saucy, unlike the drier varieties I have had at other sushi places.

I’ve written before about how expensive Japanese food is in London and though Sushi Hiroba serves excellent quality sushi, I would still budget for a more expensive meal. I found it worth it though considering the quality of the ingredients and the greater variety of sushi available. Better yet is that they don’t charge for water at your table either.

Details: Sushi Hiroba
Found on: 50-54 Kingsway, Holborn, London, WC2B 6EP
Contactable on: 020 7430 1888
Highlights: Super attentive service, unique variety of sushi, delicious unagi sushi and service is still only 10%
Room for improvement: It’d be nice if the wasabi wasn’t the reconstituted powdered variety.
The Kua Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Earl’s Court Wagamama’s Opening

November 28, 2006 Patrick Food, Restaurants, UK Life

Last night I had dinner at the opening of a yet another location of Wagamama’s, with the new store opening at Earl’s Court. Openings to Wagamama’s are great if you can get invites to one, since you get a main, a side dish, two drinks, and as much mineral water as you want – all for free. The restaurant gets a lot out of this by testing their staff and seeing how they cope with a restaurant at full capacity. The only thing they ask of you is to fill out a simple questionnaire about your attendant and the things that you liked and disliked about your experience.

Since this was my first opening ever, I decided to try two dishes I’d never had before at Wag’s – the Chicken Yakitori and the Ebi Raisukaree. The yakitori sticks went down a treat, smothered in delicious yakitori sauce, while the Ebi Raisukaree was admittedly disappointing. Despite the rice being drowned in a Thai like curry sauce and surrounded with lots of vegetables and prawns, it seemed like I had been given someone else’s “extra” dish since it came along luke warm. At least I got mine though, with two of the people dining with us, not getting theirs until our waiter noticed it missing and followed it up. Other than that, the food was at least standard Wagamama’s quality and the service was typical over the top friendly.

There’s not too much different about this location compared to many other branches, other than perhaps a few smaller tables for your own instead of the large benches, and a staircase equipped with a motorised chair to help anyone who might have troubles with them. At least the food and service they offer is definitely consistent with their other outlets and you generally can’t go wrong eating here.

Details: Wagamama, Earl’s Court
Found on: 180-182 Earl’s Court Road, London, SW5 9QG
Contactable on: 020 7373 9660
Highlights: Openings mean clean bright new diggs, free food and generally over the top service.
Room for improvement: My main (Ebi Raisukaree) was disappointingly warm, considering they pride themselves on prompt delivery.
The Kua Rating: 7 out of 10

Being More Effective: Principles and Practices that Just Worked

November 27, 2006 Patrick Agile, Work Related

At the end of the day, the best thing I really enjoy about agile principles and practices, is that they help us be more effective. I’ve been spending some time reflecting on previous projects and though I didn’t necessarily live and breath agile principles and practices at my previous company, I think I used a few of them to overcome other less effective processes.

At my previous company, at least on the project I was on, we had a framework team developing generic services for other parts of the project to consume. At one point, my manager asked me to complete a review for a new framework service that had been in “Design” for about two months. Being one of the consumers of the service, I quickly pointed out a few scenarios where it would not work and ended up joining the project to make solution a viable one.

Here’s a list of things that I think made it so successful in the end:

Just Enough Design – I found white boarding a very effective technique with my manager, who had much more experience to draw upon. We would use real world models talking through the algorithm until we were both happy with it. I would then go, code it and try it out – we didn’t bother documenting anything until we knew our solution was going to work.
Iterations – We had several “hang on, that’s not going to work moments”, so each time we would return to the white board, tweak the solution and when happy with the result, I would go back and try it out. We met almost daily (depending on how long it took me to code) to handle each new scenario, slowly tweaking the algorithm into an extremely robust one. We never let ourselves fall into Analysis Paralysis, trying to think of all the possible “hang on” moments when we knew we could progress.
Automated Tests – For each scenario we came up with, I would write equivalent JUnit tests to make sure that new enhancements didn’t break our existing models. I found that it was also nice to have feedback that was always honest with me. I worked some long hours and some weekends to get it completed in just over a month, and when you’re tired and not thinking things through properly, I could at least try things out, and know when I had broken things.
Using It For Real – I believe the real strength of the tests was that it was based on using a real model of usage. It was the same model we used during the white board sessions, and the mapping from code back into our discussions was really easy for talking over.

The end result of these was a fully working solution developed in less than half the time of what it took to produce a flawed “Design Document”. I find it assuring that you can make the most of these without having to classify them under “XXX practice”, and have to call the entire process “Agile”.