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The Jazz Process: Maintain Momentum

Jun 29, 2010

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Jazz Process, The: Collaboration, Innovation, and Agility

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Groove

The groove is a function of the pulse; therefore, it’s also a function of the tempo. Musically, a bassist can play a song with a variety of grooves, such as Latin, bluegrass, and funk, with each groove based on a two-beat pulse. Abstractly, a groove is a specific set of essential, fundamental activities that are repeated with respect to the pulse. As an example, the Rational Team Concert development team typically operates with a tempo and form that dictate four-week iterations. The pulse is weekly, with the groove as follows:

Monday	Integration build (a.m.)
	Meeting of Project Management Committee (90 minutes)
	Teams deliver new functionality and fixes for defects
	Integration build (p.m.)
Tuesday	Integration build (a.m.)
	Meeting of all team leads and interested stakeholders (60 minutes)
	Teams deliver new functionality and fixes for defects
	Integration build (p.m.)
Wednesday	Integration build (a.m.)
	All-hands testing
Thursday	Integration build (a.m.)
	Meeting of all team leads and interested stakeholders (30 minutes)
	Teams deliver new functionality and fixes for defects
	Integration build (p.m.)
Friday	Integration build (a.m.)
	Teams deliver critical fixes if Thursday p.m. build is not usable (stable)
	Optional integration build (p.m. or earlier) to incorporate critical fixes
	Distribute build

In the last (fourth) week of an iteration, which is called a milestone week, the groove varies slightly, with the addition of team leader meetings on Wednesday and Friday. The additional meetings are needed because there is a specific focus on delivering new functionality for the milestone while ensuring a stable build that interested consumers can adopt and the development team can use for self-hosting. Self-hosting is synonymous with dogfooding, a term used in the software industry that comes from the phrase “eating one’s own dog food” and refers to the practice of using the products that you build. Dogfooding is especially effective if you use early builds of your own products as valuable feedback on functionality and defects can be given as new features evolve. Looking at this set of activities in our groove with a little less detail, we have this:

	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3	Milestone Week
Monday	Build	Build	Build	Build
	Code	Code	Code	Code
	90-minute PMC meeting	90-minute PMC meeting	90-minute PMC meeting	90-minute PMC meeting
	Build	Build	Build	Build
Tuesday	Build	Build	Build	Build
	Code	Code	Code	Code
	60-minute TL meeting	60-minute TL meeting	60-minute TL meeting	60-minute TL meeting
	Build	Build	Build	Build
Wednesday	Build	Build	Build	Build
	Test	Test	Test	30-minute TL meeting
				Test
Thursday	Build	Build	Build	Build
	Fix	Fix	Fix	Fix
	30-minute TL meeting	30-minute TL meeting	30-minute TL meeting	30-minute TL meeting
	Build	Build	Build	Build
Friday	Build	Build	Build	Build
	Fix	Fix	Fix	30-minute TL meeting
	Optional build	Optional build	Optional build	Fix
	Distribute build	Distribute build	Distribute build	Optional build
				Distribute build
				Self-host on build

Can you see the groove in this table? Let’s try a rhythmic exercise. With your fist or open hand, lightly hit the desk or your thigh, as if you’re simulating a drumbeat. Hit the “drum” at a rate of approximately once per second, and keep it going continuously. Each beat of the “drum” represents a weekly pulse. Now with each pulse, say “BE-bop,” giving equal time to each of the two syllables and stress the first syllable as you hit the drum. Repeat that three times, and then on the fourth pulse, say “BE-bop-bop-bop,” but say that twice as fast to keep in time with the pulse. “BE” corresponds to a 60-minute meeting, and “bop” corresponds to a 30-minute meeting. So you’ve got this:

Lyrics:	BE-bop	BE-bop	BE-bop	BE-bop-bop-bop
Pulse:	Beat	Beat	Beat	Beat

Repeat the four-week sequence a number of times, and you’ll be feeling the groove of a software development team!

When you listen to music with a pulsating beat and an infectious groove, you enjoy it and feel like joining in. You may find yourself repeating elements of the groove to yourself or improvising little rhythmic or melodic elements that complement the existing parts of the groove while fitting right in alongside them. A groove invites everyone to participate and align their contributions with it. A groove is most effective when it is simple and clear to everyone.

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