Ivar Jacobson International

19/09/2024

Despite having 50 years of experience in helping teams and organizations find better ways to develop software and systems, a familiar pattern almost always emerges - the transformation shows great promise at first, but the process often ends up stalling.

This constant cycle has led us to learning an important truth: transformation often fails not because of the method, but because it’s impossible for any single method to evolve with the constantly evolving landscape of ideas, practices, and techniques.

So why should you start evolving, and how?

Read Ivar's recent article here for more information: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/stop-transforming-start-evolving-ivar-jacobson-8w6xe

Why should you stop transforming? For over 50 years, we’ve helped teams and organizations find better ways to develop software and systems. Throughout this time, we’ve guided organizations in adopting renowned methodologies—first RUP, and for the last 15 years, SAFe.

17/09/2024

For over 20 years, the software industry has thrived using Agile practices. Thanks to Lean and the Scaled Agile Framework, the software industry has become more collaborative and transparent, leading to better decision-making and improved communication.

But can Agile practices be applied to physical product development?

While it may seem challenging at first, Agile Hardware Transformation is just as relevant and achievable as it is in software development.

In our latest post, "Organize Around Value in Agile Hardware Transformation", we break down the process into clear, actionable steps to make this transformation approachable and manageable.

Read now: https://www.ivarjacobson.com/publications/blog/organize-around-value-agile-hardware-transformation

Author(s):  Marika Zep Table of Contents Value Stream Mapping in Agile Hardware Transformation Preparations Identify Operational Value Streams Identify Your Solutions Identify the Activities Necessary to Develop your Solution Identify the People Who Develop and Support the Solutions Identify the De...

16/07/2024

The replay of last week's webinar, "Writing Better Epics in SAFe" is now available!

If you weren't able to attend or had to leave before the end, or if you just want to recap on the huge wealth of knowledge imparted by Brian, the full recording is now on our website: https://www.ivarjacobson.com/publications/articles/free-scaled-agile-framework-webinar-series

During this webinar, we took a look at how you can get started faster and build agility into your ex*****on. We also identified some common organisational traps you can sidestep in order to delight your customers and business stakeholders.

A free upcoming webinar series to help guide you on writing better Epics, Features, and User Stories in SAFe.

05/07/2024

Our previous post on the subject of Epics took a look at "What Makes a Good Epic?" - one of the defining characteristics here is Choice.

That choice is made at the Strategic Portfolio Review (Epic Approval). The Strategic Portfolio Review has been described in the blog posting on Portfolio Events but, whilst it stated that decisions need to be made about which Epics are approved and in-play, it didn’t discuss how that decision is made and the factors that influence the decision.

Therefore, this blog post, "What to Consider when Approving Epics" is going to examine Epic Approval and the thinking that goes into it. The Epic needs to be considered within the context of the Portfolio rather than in isolation. What is that wider portfolio context?

https://www.ivarjacobson.com/approving-epics

Author(s):  Brian Tucker Table of Contents Epic Approval     -Business Case     -Available Capacity     -Balance Of Risk What Are You Approving? Anti-Patterns Conclusions Next Steps What to consider when approving Epics? “Always show your working out!” was the mantra of my maths tea...

03/07/2024

Two of the most recognized and popular practices with agile teams are Use Cases and User Story Mapping. They both allow a system-wide scope to be quickly visualized and presented, before being split into more manageable sizes to be delivered incrementally and iteratively. They allow requirements to be managed in a holistic manner and take a user perspective rather than a technical one.

With so much in common, how should teams decide which one to use – or is there a way that they complement one another and you should consider using both?

Who better to help discuss this topic than the inventors and leading experts in both practices!

We are thrilled to have hosted the creator of User Story Mapping, one of the leading names in agile development today, and author of the bestselling O’Reilly book User Story Mapping, Jeff Patton. Jeff is joined on the panel by Dr. Ivar Jacobson, the original creator of use-cases and nicknamed “a Father in Software Engineering”, and Ian Spence, co-author of the bestselling book Use Case Modelling and co-creator of both Use Case 2.0 and the upcoming Use Case 3.0.

This was an insightful, interesting and useful event that anyone who is interested in solution development or product management should watch:

Two of the most recognized and popular practices with agile teams are Use Cases and User Story Mapping. They both allow a system-wide scope to be quickly vis...

03/07/2024

Use Cases and User Stories are two well-known ways to describe what a system is going to do or does, and who it is providing value to. But when should you use both, and how would you integrate them together?

In this webinar, Ivar Jacobson (the inventor of Use Cases) and Mike Cohn (prime authority on user stories) take a look at:
- How a use case can be used to create a backlog of user stories
- When and why an agile team might want to work with both use cases and user stories

Ivar and Mike are joined by Ian Spence - a key industry contributor to the application of use cases.

Watch the replay here:

Use Cases and User Stories are two well-known ways to describe what a system is going to do, and who it is providing value to. But when should you use both, ...

28/06/2024

Why does Essence make popular methods better? Find out here!

25/06/2024

Keeping in the theme of our recent posts about Epics in SAFe, today we’re taking a look at: “what makes a good Epic?”.

Obviously, definitions of “good” are going to vary, but if you’re going to define it, then you need to examine the characteristics of an Epic to then be able to characterise “good”.

What are those characteristics, and why are these the attributes that make an Epic "good"? Read more here: https://www.ivarjacobson.com/publications/blog/what-makes-good-epic

A blog article focussing on Epics in SAFe, what makes an Epic Good? Part of a three part blog series on Epics, Features and User Stories

24/06/2024

There's just over 24 hours until this takes place - register now to join us for this undoubtedly fascinating discussion!

Use Cases and User Stories are two well-known ways to describe what a system is going to do, and who it is providing value to. But when should you use both, and how would you integrate them seamlessly together?

In this webinar we will discuss how a use case can be used to create a backlog of user stories. We will also discover when and why an agile team might want to work with both use cases and user stories. We will consider another common pattern - where a user story may evolve into a use case.

Join us in our discussion with Ivar Jacobson, the inventor of use cases, and Mike Cohn, prime mover in the agile community and the authority on user stories. They will be joined by Ian Spence – a key industry contributor to the application of use cases. This discussion will be facilitated by Keith de Mendonca.

Date: Tuesday 25th June 2024
Time: 4pm BST / 5pm CET

Register here: https://www.ivarjacobson.com/use-cases-user-stories-webinar-signup

Use Cases and User Stories are two well-known ways to describe what a system is going to do, and who it is providing value to. But when should you use both, and how would you integrate them seamlessly together? In this webinar we will discuss how a use case can be used to create a backlog of user st...

20/06/2024

Two of the most recognized and popular practices with agile teams are Use Cases and User Story Mapping. They both allow a system-wide scope to be quickly visualized and presented, before being split into more manageable sizes to be delivered incrementally and iteratively. They allow requirements to be managed in a holistic manner and take a user perspective rather than a technical one.

With so much in common, how should teams decide which one to use – or is there a way that they complement one another and you should consider using both?

Who better to help discuss this topic than the inventors and leading experts in both practices!

We are thrilled to host the creator of User Story Mapping, one of the leading names in agile development today, and author of the bestselling O’Reilly book User Story Mapping, Jeff Patton. Jeff will be joined on the panel by Dr. Ivar Jacobson, the creator of use-cases and nicknamed “a Father in Software Engineering”, and Ian Spence, co-author of the bestselling book Use Case Modelling and co-creator of both Use Case 2.0 and the upcoming Use Case 3.0.

This promises an insightful, interesting and useful event that anyone who is interested in solution development or product management should attend.

Date: Thursday 27th June 2024
Time: 6pm BST / 7pm CET

Register here: https://www.meetup.com/essence-for-agility/events/301466474/

Two of the most recognized and popular practices with agile teams are Use Cases and User Story Mapping. They both allow a system-wide scope to be quickly visualized and pre

17/06/2024

In this podcast ‘The Evolution of Use Cases in Modern Software Engineering’, the inventor of Use Cases, Ivar Jacobson, is interviewed by Shane Hastie from .

This episode takes us from the birth of Use Cases to its different levels of maturity, all the way to the present day, where many parties are working on integrating them with user stories, user story mapping, behavior driven development, and more.

He also talks about his work with Alistair Cockburn on what's known as the Use-Case Foundation.

With many spontaneous laughs, this lighthearted but incredibly informative podcast isn't one to miss:

In this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods spoke to Ivar Jacobson about the evolution of use cases in modern software engineering.

14/06/2024

We’re excited to announce a new, completely free upcoming webinar series to help guide you on writing better Epics, Features, and User Stories in SAFe.

The first webinar, titled “Writing Better Epics in SAFe”, takes place on Thursday 11th July at 4pm BST (5pm CET / 11am ET).

In this webinar we’ll be taking a look at how you can get started faster and build agility into your ex*****on. We will also identify some common organisational traps you can side-step in order to delight your customers and business stakeholders.

We expect this series to be incredibly popular, so be sure to secure your spot now: https://www.ivarjacobson.com/publications/articles/free-scaled-agile-framework-webinar-series

Date: Thursday 11th July 2024
Time: 4pm BST / 5pm CET / 11am ET

Any thoughts or questions? Just comment on this post and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!

A free upcoming webinar series to help guide you on writing better Epics, Features, and User Stories in SAFe.