1. 06 | Feedback loops
Steven Borg | Co-Founder & Strategist, Northwest Cadence
Andrew Clear | ALM Consultant, Northwest Cadence

2. Finding and exploiting feedback loops is at the heart of everything.

3. It’s behind almost every modern software practice
Test automation (ATDD, TDD, UI, performance, load, etc.)
CI/CD
User stories
Storyboards
Iterations
Batch sizes
ALM
Debugging tools
Peer code reviews
WIP limits
Lean startups

4. Slow feedback sucks

5. Economics of feedback
Feedback loops generate information, which reduces uncertainty
Tightening feedback loops costs money
This cost typically increases non-linearly after a point

6. The problems with Extreme Programming

7. The bottom line
Feedback loops, like everything else, are optimization problems
Balance the cost of shortening the feedback loop with the value of the information gained

8. Culture flag
Understanding feedback loops will allow you to build a culture of experimentation and retrospection.