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Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

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Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#1

Post by brackishman »

I'm a VP of Engineering with 20 years in the field. I've been thinking deeply on why AI is breaking every engineering practice, and it led me to the conclusion that the Agile Manifesto's values need updating.

The core argument: AI made producing software cheap, but understanding it is still expensive. The Manifesto optimizes for the former. This addendum shifts the emphasis toward the latter.

Four updated values, three refined principles, with reasoning for each. Happy to discuss and defend any of it.

Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era
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Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#3

Post by zufallsheld »

9rx wrote: post #2

> I'm a VP of Engineering ... Happy to discuss and defend any of it. The original Agile Manifesto abolishes VP roles. Are these amendments an effort to try and save your job?

I'm curious: where exactly does it abolish VP roles? I don't see it.

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#4

Post by 9rx »

zufallsheld wrote: post #3
9rx wrote: post #2

> I'm a VP of Engineering ... Happy to discuss and defend any of it. The original Agile Manifesto abolishes VP roles. Are these amendments an effort to try and save your job?

I'm curious: where exactly does it abolish VP roles? I don't see it.

The whole thing? That is what Agile Manifesto, and the associated 12 principles, is about: A thought experiment about flat organizational structures. Each of the 12 principles outline the things one needs to consider when they don't have a manager taking watch.

Where you find a VP, Agile isn't applicable. At least not in its entirety. It it is likely that you can still cherry-pick some ideas from it to apply to your non-Agile situation. "Do your manager's job for them" is often considered common wisdom after all.

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#5

Post by brackishman »

9rx wrote: post #2

> I'm a VP of Engineering ... Happy to discuss and defend any of it. The original Agile Manifesto abolishes VP roles. Are these amendments an effort to try and save your job?

Don't distract. I'm genuinely trying to help us figure out how to build quality software, using AI, while avoiding all the problems we're seeing on so many teams.

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#6

Post by smackeyacky »

It’s pretty obvious that Agile as practiced in most places is a failure, only highlighted by how fast coding has become. The problem it tries to solve was always the wrong one. It has become obvious that it isn’t the speed of iteration it’s the crappy requirements most organisations generate.

This is because your average BA or project manager have long gotten away with blaming programmers for missed deadlines. If you’ve worked both sides of the fence you know the users only vaguely know what they want, the BA role is essentially an incredibly lazy one (I made a wrong ticket but nobody knows it’s wrong until UAT so who gives a fuck about making them right). No matter how your sprint is organised or how many stupid ceremonies you insist on, if you can’t be arsed doing the hard work of specification the whole process is pointless.

I truly hope AI starts doing 100% of the coding so that the tide properly goes out on this farce.

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#7

Post by 9rx »

brackishman wrote: post #5
9rx wrote: post #2

> I'm a VP of Engineering ... Happy to discuss and defend any of it. The original Agile Manifesto abolishes VP roles. Are these amendments an effort to try and save your job?

Don't distract. I'm genuinely trying to help us figure out how to build quality software, using AI, while avoiding all the problems we're seeing on so many teams.

No distraction. Genuine question. The whole point of the Agile Manifesto is to encourage removal of VP and similar roles from an organization; turning to a flat organizational structure. What motivates you, a VP, to latch onto that? How do you think that will help (with or without amendments)? Do you, perhaps, think in the age of AI your org will be better off if you 'step down' into a development/AI steerer role?

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#8

Post by brackishman »

9rx wrote: post #4
zufallsheld wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious: where exactly does it abolish VP roles? I don't see it.

The whole thing? That is what Agile Manifesto, and the associated 12 principles, is about: A thought experiment about flat organizational structures. Each of the 12 principles outline the things one needs to consider when they don't have a manager taking watch. Where you find a VP, Agile isn't applicable. At least not in its entirety. It it is likely that you can still cherry-pick some ideas from it to apply to your…

You must have worked in some very unhealthy teams where psychological safety wasn't present. I'm sorry that happened. But don't confuse your experiences with that of everyone else's. There are lots of teams that are agile from the top down, including those that happen to hold a title with VP in the name.

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#9

Post by brackishman »

9rx wrote: post #7
brackishman wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't distract. I'm genuinely trying to help us figure out how to build quality software, using AI, while avoiding all the problems we're seeing on so many teams.

No distraction. Genuine question. The whole point of the Agile Manifesto is to encourage removal of VP and similar roles from an organization; turning to a flat organizational structure. What motivates you, a VP, to latch onto that? How do you think that will help (with or without amendments)? Do you, perhaps, think in the age of AI your org will be better off if you 'step down' into a development/AI steerer role?

I was around when the agile manifesto was drafted. It wasn't about eliminating hierarchy in organizations. That's something that started happening later, around and after 2010. The agile manifesto was singularly focused at helping people see how to deliver software without leaning on the old waterfall methodologies.

Re: Show HN: An addendum to the Agile Manifesto for the AI era

#10

Post by win311fwg »

brackishman wrote: post #9
9rx wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No distraction. Genuine question. The whole point of the Agile Manifesto is to encourage removal of VP and similar roles from an organization; turning to a flat organizational structure. What motivates you, a VP, to latch onto that? How do you think that will help (with or without amendments)? Do you, perhaps, think in the age of AI your org will be better off if you 'step down' into a development/AI steerer role?

I was around when the agile manifesto was drafted. It wasn't about eliminating hierarchy in organizations. That's something that started happening later, around and after 2010. The agile manifesto was singularly focused at helping people see how to deliver software without leaning on the old waterfall methodologies.

The Agile Manifesto was published in 2001. You asserted earlier your software career began in 2006. What brought you to the Wasatch Mountains at that time when you had no ties to the industry?

Winston Royce, in his book, invented the waterfall methodology as a hypothetical of what not to do in order to help explain his core thesis. It is not a real thing. Why do you suggest the Agile Manifesto was created to help avoid leaning on a strawman?

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