Clicker training and agile software development
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Clicker training and agile software development

The overlapping mindset of my passions

About the Book

This book is work in progress and it will be continuously updated with new thoughts. Maybe as a result of your feedback?

The book is about agile and dog training. It is more precisely about agile software development and clicker training for dogs. And where these two areas intersect, because the way I see it they do in many ways. Both opt for very different ways of working than was common earlier, and in this they are interesting to study together. They are also two passions for me. It's also about making the world a better place to live and work in.

The book starts with a chapter that covers some of my background in respective areas and also a little about my motivation for writing this book. After this follows the thank-you and "This book in tweets" chapters.

The first real chapter is about "Agile software development". Here I try to give the reader my view of what are the important parts of agile and also some about why it might be a step on the way towards better software.

Next follows a chapter focusing on dog training and "Clicker training" in particular. We will here go through a few basic things about clicker method training and also my own view on many parts of it.

In the chapters "Differences" and "Similarities" we finally try to connect (or disconnect) the dots between the two domains. For a reader that is familiar with both areas this could be a good starting point, skipping the rest.

Wanting to read the book and not sure if you want to pay for it? Just read it for free and pay for it if you find it interesting and would like it to further evolve or maybe come in another form. All the money coming from the book sales will go to either some kind of charity (WWF maybe) or towards a free printed book.

(The book has not yet been edited by a professional editor.)

About the Author

Björn Tikkanen
Björn Tikkanen

Björn Tikkanen is a self-employed software contractor with two main interests. To create value for his clients and dog training. Clients (or stakeholders) means everyone involved in creating something that someone wants. With this definition, also the team members in the software development team is an important client to take care of. He believes that the value creation in most cases can be greatly supported by adopting an agile approach. Likewise, to effectively and ethically train dogs you use a method without threats, control or force.

Having invested 10-15 years in respective area, Björn now see more and more things common in his passions (agile software development and clicker dog training). To write about this was a big, but fun, and challenging step to take. As he puts it : "This is a book pretty much without an audience. It is mostly for me and my learning".

Table of Contents

  • Background
  • Thank you. I would not have written this book without you
  • This book in tweets
  • Agile software development
  • Cornerstones of agile
  • Mindset
  • Value focused
  • Self organizing team
  • Don’t hide the problems
  • Metrics
  • Do it in bite size chunks
  • Why use this approach?
  • Clicker training
  • The old way of training dogs
  • Softer methods
  • Clicker training and clicker method
  • It’s a situation problem
  • Criteria
  • Basic skills
  • Shaping
  • Different kind of helps
  • Use metrics instead of gut feeling
  • What does it take to succeed?
  • Clicker manifesto
  • Strength and weaknesses of clicker training
  • My way of using clicker method in our training
  • Differences
  • Knowing what to do
  • The use of the clicker
  • Throw away stuff
  • Similarities
  • Inspect and adapt
  • Short feedback loops
  • Focus on quality
  • Learning to solve problems, not just hiding them
  • The power of self organizing
  • Progressing with baby steps
  • Don’t call us, we’ll call you
  • Working software / behaviour
  • Coaching, not managing
  • Communication
  • To the masses
  • Mindset
  • Not tools
  • Focus on the end result
  • Marine corps and Ninjas
  • Finding the balance
  • Positive reinforcement and use of the clicker
  • Summary
  • Further reading
  • References

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