Ron Lichty
@ronlichty.bsky.social
Software Engineering Management, untangling organizational knots, creating roadmaps, delivering great products. Author, Programmer, Service, Integrity. Co-author, Managing the Unmanageable: Rules, Tools, and Insights for Managing Software People and Teams.
Think about the best team you’ve ever been on. What characterized it? Think about the best manager you’ve ever worked for. What characterized her or him? That’s our topic Thursday night. Join us. www.meetup.com/enterprise-a...
November 11, 2025 at 7:45 AM
Think about the best team you’ve ever been on. What characterized it? Think about the best manager you’ve ever worked for. What characterized her or him? That’s our topic Thursday night. Join us. www.meetup.com/enterprise-a...
Managing programmers, why programming management is hard, what makes a good programming manager, the attitude change required to pivot to managing, self-organizing teams, team dynamics and motivation, and performance. Enduring advice: Software Engineering Radio: se-radio.net/2017/10/se-r...
November 10, 2025 at 4:50 AM
Managing programmers, why programming management is hard, what makes a good programming manager, the attitude change required to pivot to managing, self-organizing teams, team dynamics and motivation, and performance. Enduring advice: Software Engineering Radio: se-radio.net/2017/10/se-r...
Agile doesn’t make managers go away. But agile - effective software development - requires a surprisingly different managerial mindset. Next week, Nov. 13, 5:30pm. www.meetup.com/enterprise-a...
November 7, 2025 at 6:12 AM
Agile doesn’t make managers go away. But agile - effective software development - requires a surprisingly different managerial mindset. Next week, Nov. 13, 5:30pm. www.meetup.com/enterprise-a...
Thought about how critical managers are in agile transformations succeeding? Probably not deeply enough! Let’s! Nov. 13, 5:30pm. www.meetup.com/enterprise-a...
November 3, 2025 at 7:04 AM
Thought about how critical managers are in agile transformations succeeding? Probably not deeply enough! Let’s! Nov. 13, 5:30pm. www.meetup.com/enterprise-a...
And if you really want to know about books (and authoring books), read Michael Castleman's fascinating book, The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing, amzn.to/48Yn4FM
November 1, 2025 at 5:40 PM
And if you really want to know about books (and authoring books), read Michael Castleman's fascinating book, The Untold Story of Books: A Writer’s History of Book Publishing, amzn.to/48Yn4FM
I can claim a certain amount of prescience.
At Agile Open CA I proposed - and facilitated - a session on training distributed teams.
In 2015.
At Agile Open CA I proposed - and facilitated - a session on training distributed teams.
In 2015.
October 10, 2025 at 3:54 AM
I can claim a certain amount of prescience.
At Agile Open CA I proposed - and facilitated - a session on training distributed teams.
In 2015.
At Agile Open CA I proposed - and facilitated - a session on training distributed teams.
In 2015.
A serpent emerged from the pool below Rainbow Falls in Golden Gate Park while we were in Seattle!
August 12, 2025 at 12:12 AM
A serpent emerged from the pool below Rainbow Falls in Golden Gate Park while we were in Seattle!
Never, ever let story points or velocity be used as a performance metric. Story points can be useful to derive predictability, & for PdMs to understand of story difficulty. But don’t share points & velocity outside the team. They’re not a performance measure!
ronlichty.blogspot.com/2020/09/agil...
ronlichty.blogspot.com/2020/09/agil...
August 3, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Never, ever let story points or velocity be used as a performance metric. Story points can be useful to derive predictability, & for PdMs to understand of story difficulty. But don’t share points & velocity outside the team. They’re not a performance measure!
ronlichty.blogspot.com/2020/09/agil...
ronlichty.blogspot.com/2020/09/agil...
16 years ago today I delivered my first agile training. I aspired to be as good as my own trainers: Chris Sims, Mike Cohn, Kent Beck, Steve Bockman, Tobias Mayer, as well as share a decade of implementing scrum, XP, kanban with my own teams. I’ve delivered almost 200 trainings since.
July 21, 2025 at 11:38 PM
16 years ago today I delivered my first agile training. I aspired to be as good as my own trainers: Chris Sims, Mike Cohn, Kent Beck, Steve Bockman, Tobias Mayer, as well as share a decade of implementing scrum, XP, kanban with my own teams. I’ve delivered almost 200 trainings since.
Agile swapped out PRDs - often hundreds-of-pages-long product requirements documents - for ordered backlogs - things we might want to do, ordered by what will deliver the most value to our customers. Brilliant leap forward, agile.
The full episode here... www.talkingroadmaps.com/episodes/sho...
The full episode here... www.talkingroadmaps.com/episodes/sho...
June 24, 2025 at 8:26 PM
Agile swapped out PRDs - often hundreds-of-pages-long product requirements documents - for ordered backlogs - things we might want to do, ordered by what will deliver the most value to our customers. Brilliant leap forward, agile.
The full episode here... www.talkingroadmaps.com/episodes/sho...
The full episode here... www.talkingroadmaps.com/episodes/sho...
The 1894 statue across from the DeYoung in Golden Gate Park commemorates making grape juice (or more likely wine). Presented by the executive committee of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894.
June 23, 2025 at 5:12 AM
The 1894 statue across from the DeYoung in Golden Gate Park commemorates making grape juice (or more likely wine). Presented by the executive committee of the California Midwinter International Exposition of 1894.
How many of you:
Managers?
(Hands up)
At least 1 day of training in managing?
(1/2 of hands come down)
At least 1 day of training before becoming a manager?
(Almost no hands)
How is it we expect programmers to have so much training in programming, and managers so little training in managing?
Managers?
(Hands up)
At least 1 day of training in managing?
(1/2 of hands come down)
At least 1 day of training before becoming a manager?
(Almost no hands)
How is it we expect programmers to have so much training in programming, and managers so little training in managing?
June 21, 2025 at 11:49 PM
How many of you:
Managers?
(Hands up)
At least 1 day of training in managing?
(1/2 of hands come down)
At least 1 day of training before becoming a manager?
(Almost no hands)
How is it we expect programmers to have so much training in programming, and managers so little training in managing?
Managers?
(Hands up)
At least 1 day of training in managing?
(1/2 of hands come down)
At least 1 day of training before becoming a manager?
(Almost no hands)
How is it we expect programmers to have so much training in programming, and managers so little training in managing?
Why are developers unique, and why is managing software people and teams different from managing other roles? - the 1st two chapters of Managing the Unmanageable. Pick your language: English, Polish, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional. www.managingtheunmanageable.net
June 19, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Why are developers unique, and why is managing software people and teams different from managing other roles? - the 1st two chapters of Managing the Unmanageable. Pick your language: English, Polish, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional. www.managingtheunmanageable.net
25 years ago, our Java Object Services team won Schwab the Java Technical Achievement Award at Sun’s JavaOne 2000 conference. Awesome team during an amazing era!
June 8, 2025 at 3:21 AM
25 years ago, our Java Object Services team won Schwab the Java Technical Achievement Award at Sun’s JavaOne 2000 conference. Awesome team during an amazing era!
Yay! It's lychee season!
June 6, 2025 at 6:18 AM
Yay! It's lychee season!
31 miles on the Bay Trail this afternoon / 3 hours, Bayside Park in Burlingame almost to SFO, to Radio Point in Redwood Shores out beyond Oracle. I stopped about midway at the Belmont baseball field for a little-league hotdog.
June 2, 2025 at 6:56 AM
31 miles on the Bay Trail this afternoon / 3 hours, Bayside Park in Burlingame almost to SFO, to Radio Point in Redwood Shores out beyond Oracle. I stopped about midway at the Belmont baseball field for a little-league hotdog.
Just back from cycling - 19 miles, zoo/Great Highway now Sunset Dunes Park, to / thru GG Park to Stanyan, with a 2nd loop thru GGP from 45th Ave to Stanyan. Realized I’d forgot my suitcase when I passed these two, though.
May 31, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Just back from cycling - 19 miles, zoo/Great Highway now Sunset Dunes Park, to / thru GG Park to Stanyan, with a 2nd loop thru GGP from 45th Ave to Stanyan. Realized I’d forgot my suitcase when I passed these two, though.
The most powerful practice in Agile? My candidate: a team-crafted, team-owned definition of done. The Study of Product Team Performance correlated team-crafted Definitions of Done with the highest performance teams. Part of my CTO Summit talk, Critical Practices, Nuanced Techniques, pre-pandemic.
May 29, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The most powerful practice in Agile? My candidate: a team-crafted, team-owned definition of done. The Study of Product Team Performance correlated team-crafted Definitions of Done with the highest performance teams. Part of my CTO Summit talk, Critical Practices, Nuanced Techniques, pre-pandemic.
44 years ago, I pivoted from journalism to programming, at Softwest, refactoring Tom Crosley's popular word processor, PIE Writer, from 6502 assembly (which I'd never seen before) to SPL/M (a "small" "close to the metal" P/LM, also a language I'd never seen before). Thrilling times.
May 26, 2025 at 4:23 PM
44 years ago, I pivoted from journalism to programming, at Softwest, refactoring Tom Crosley's popular word processor, PIE Writer, from 6502 assembly (which I'd never seen before) to SPL/M (a "small" "close to the metal" P/LM, also a language I'd never seen before). Thrilling times.
Upped my mileage post-ski-season from 18 miles Wed to 26 today, Burlingame to Oracle & back. Just south of the Bay Trail's northern trailhead - Burlingame's Bayside Fields - they've placed an outdoor workout area with equipment free for the using, with a second about a quarter mile further south.
May 25, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Upped my mileage post-ski-season from 18 miles Wed to 26 today, Burlingame to Oracle & back. Just south of the Bay Trail's northern trailhead - Burlingame's Bayside Fields - they've placed an outdoor workout area with equipment free for the using, with a second about a quarter mile further south.
My northernmost trailhead to the Bay Trail, in Burlingame. Lots of parking. But windy today! Happy I started 5 miles south of here! I cycled 5 miles into the wind. 5 miles with the wind at my back.
May 19, 2025 at 6:46 AM
My northernmost trailhead to the Bay Trail, in Burlingame. Lots of parking. But windy today! Happy I started 5 miles south of here! I cycled 5 miles into the wind. 5 miles with the wind at my back.
Today’s JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park photo - on the east edge of the Conservatory of Flowers lawn. Windy. May be able to put off my next dental cleaning - got ‘em sandblasted along the beach, riding the Great Highway from the zoo to GG Park.
May 17, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Today’s JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park photo - on the east edge of the Conservatory of Flowers lawn. Windy. May be able to put off my next dental cleaning - got ‘em sandblasted along the beach, riding the Great Highway from the zoo to GG Park.
15 years ago today: Greg Cohen and I delivered an AIPMM* webinar on product management and engineering collaborating on prioritizing the backlog’s items!
(* The Association of International Product Marketing and Management)
(* The Association of International Product Marketing and Management)
May 14, 2025 at 7:11 PM
15 years ago today: Greg Cohen and I delivered an AIPMM* webinar on product management and engineering collaborating on prioritizing the backlog’s items!
(* The Association of International Product Marketing and Management)
(* The Association of International Product Marketing and Management)
Yesterday’s cycling photo. Rainbow Falls, JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park.
May 8, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Yesterday’s cycling photo. Rainbow Falls, JFK Drive, Golden Gate Park.
Time to share the wealth a bit better to make America great again?
May 3, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Time to share the wealth a bit better to make America great again?