Working with Developers. How to Tell if Your Developer is Lying to You - with Duncan McGregor

Is your developer lying to you? If so, why? And how can you tell? Software engineer, Duncan McGregor, spills the beans and shares his take on Agile, from the point of view of an experienced developer.
Duncan McGregor
Although like all the best people, Duncan was trained as a physicist, he discovered a talent and love for writing software from his teenage years.
He has been a professional developer for 35 years, writing code and running projects for clients including the UK Ministry of Defence, Siemens, Sony, Sky, LVMH, NatWest, and most recently The Met Office.
That’s why I wanted to speak with him about how and why your software team is lying to you.
We discussed:
1. What does the development team care about?
2. What might cause a developer to mislead you?
3. How can you tell when they are lying to you?
4. How should you manage the development team, to avoid them feeling the need to lie to you?
YOU CAN GET IN TOUCH WITH DUNCAN:
YouTube: @PairingWithDuncan
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/duncan-mcgregor-a3038b6/
Twitter: @DuncanMcG
Recommended Videos
Carefully curated video recommendations for you:
How to do a Basic Agile Project
https://youtu.be/6PqmHhJFXp4
Introduction to Agile Scrum Project Management - with Alexis Allen
https://youtu.be/a6vyQEZipno
Neuroscience for Project Managers with Carole Osterweil (author of Neuroscience for Project Success)
https://youtu.be/ssE7lOH6u-8
Our IT Project Management Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?listPLsz8d8r2a997sN8hNC5K041-YaCXqSHOf
A while back, I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list.
https://kit.co/MikeClayton/what-a-project-manager-needs
Note that the links are affiliated.
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Chapter Markers.
00:00 - Duncan McGregor
01:00 - What’s important to a development team?
03:20 - Lying: why might developers lie to their Project Manager?
04:14 - Reasons 1 - 3
05:00 - Reasons 4 - 6
05:58 - Reasons 7 & 8
06:59 - How can you tell if your team are lying to you?
08:59 - Validating the evidence
10:41 - Can velocity measures produce useful data?
11:04 - Estimates or No estimates? #NoEstimates
16:58 - How to get the best from your Development Team
18:18 - ‘Psychological Safety’
20:38 - Continuous Delivery
21:15 - How to lead a Development Team
21:42 - Distinguish between Managerial and Leadership behaviors - Agile from a developer PoV
25:41 - Software engineering and construction engineering
28:10 - Stock control system as an analog of software development
32:48 - Do people understand Agile?
33:53 - Last thoughts from Duncan
37:21 - Getting in touch with Duncan McGregor
38:16 - Close
#AgileDevelopment #ProjectManagement #ITProject