Rob Smith Managing Director
User experience of agile project: I have never known a project to develop at such a rate."
- Job Title
- Managing Director
- Bio
Joint founder in July 2002. Formerly Vice President of Engineering for Sila Technology Limited (a Reuters' company) and Project Delivery Director for Synamic Limited. Rob has over 20 years experience in IT and continues to provide strategic management consultancy to IndigoBlue customers.
- Short bio
Having jointly formed IndigoBlue with James Yoxall in 2002 I've been an advocate of incremental change for many years. When I'm not extolling the virtues of Agile, I like to spend weekends away in my campervan and my weekdays debating football.
- LinkedIn profile
- http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/rob-smith/1/314/946
- Twitter account
- https://twitter.com/IndigoBlueMD
My Most Recent Posts
1 Comment I recently had a debate with Simon Annicchiarico of Appius regarding the meaning of the W in MoSCoW, and whilst it had its origins in my petty pedantry, there was an important issue to be considered.
Agile Development Survey Results
10 JUN 2013 | Posted in enterprise agile, scrum | Author Rob SmithThe 7th Annual Agile Development Survey from Version One holds few surprises, with the general view that Agile is a good thing. My interest was however drawn by a couple of results.
Stating the Obvious
16 APR 2013 | Posted in agile governance, agile governance framework | Author Rob SmithFormer American President Calvin Coolidge once remarked, “They criticize me for harping on the obvious; if all the folks would do the few simple things they know they ought to do, most of our problems would take care of themselves.”
Following my recent blog regarding contract negotiations and the retention or otherwise of IP, I thought I'd share some further thoughts.
I'm regularly involved in contract negotiations on behalf of my clients and invariably find myself facing the same issue. Why is it that suppliers who are being handsomely paid for bespoke development think it reasonable that they retain the IP?
This can range from the outrageous, "all title and IP will vest with Supplier" to the more benign, "IP will pass to the Client on payment for the full system". The latter may appear reasonable, but the word "full" is the crux. Assuming stage payments, the client will have paid a substantial amount before IP is transferred.
Organisations for Social Impact
15 FEB 2013 | Posted in Matthew Taylor, membership organisation, MemberWise, NFP, RSA | Author Rob SmithThe presentation of the MemberWise survey results at Tuesday's seminar, A Convenient Truth, provided plenty of food for thought. The report has now been sent to MemberWise members and others can download it at Survey Results. Importantly it provides a benchmark against which organisations can measure themselves, and it highlights a number of significant constraining factors that we can hopefully work together to address. More on this will follow in later blog posts.
A Convenient Truth - MemberWise Survey Results
25 JAN 2013 | Posted in business value, CMS, CRM, membership organisation, membership system, website | Author Rob SmithIn 2012 MemberWise, the independent professional networking group, consulted with over 3,000 membership organisations and associations to understand how the sector harnesses the power of the web to drive membership value and growth. It is the biggest survey of this type that I am aware of.
The results contained within the survey make for compelling reading. I was amazed at a number of the findings and intrigued about the wider implications. When the results are published later this month you can expect a number of blogs from me.
In the meantime, IndigoBlue is delighted to be sponsors of the report and is partnering with MemberWise to host a launch event at the RSA on 12th February. Demand for this event has been extremely high and only a few places remain.
A couple of years ago I wrote a whimsical blog that suggested we find a new name to replace the Backlog, the argument being that the standard phrase has very negative connotations, “I’ve been snowed under and have a massive backlog to get through before I can move forward”.
This question again surfaced yesterday during an SMT meeting at the YHA. When presenting the exciting portfolio of work to be undertaken in 2013 as a “Backlog” I was immediately challenged regarding the negativity.
Last week I was chatting to an organisation keen to adopt Agile. I was told, “We’re aiming to have 60% of our projects running as Agile by 2015”. This struck me as an odd target, and potentially counter-productive.
Let’s Cherish the Unpredictable
26 NOV 2012 | Posted in Agile, Taleb, Uncertainty | Author Rob SmithHaving been a fan of Nicholas Taleb’s previous books, The Black Swan and The Power of Randomness, I was interested to read an article in this morning’s Metro regarding his latest offering, Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder .
MY RECENT VIDEOS
Preview from Rob Smith, IndigoBlue MD, of the Agile Business Conference 2012.
Interview with Rob Smith by Agile Business Conference's Mary Henson [2:32]:
MY RECENT BLOG POSTS
I recently had a debate with Simon Annicchiarico of Appius regarding the meaning of the W in MoSCoW, and whilst it had its origins in my petty pedantry, there was an important issue to be considered.
MY RECENT ARTICLES
IndigoBlue is delighted to announce its inclusion on the UK Government’s G-Cloud ii Framework, making it easier for public sector bodies to purchase consultancy services from us. All our services are now listed on the CloudStore (gcloud.civilservice.gov.uk/cloudstore/)
