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The age of agile must end

uxdesign.cc

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Re: The age of agile must end

#11

Post by Swizec »

Aeolun wrote: post #7
Swizec wrote: post #3

Here’s all you need to know about agile: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan Unfortunately in my 10+ years in the industry, I’ve seen few teams do it that way. More often it’s a top-down series of waterfalls masquerading as agile. Agile works. But you have to…

So far I’m at 3 out of 5. It’s a bit sad that all the good experiences were with companies <200 employees.

> all the good experiences were with companies My best experience has been at a hyper growth company that roughly 10x’d in 2 years. The extreme focus on keeping up with demand meant that all manner of bullshit just melted away because nobody had time for that.

Re: The age of agile must end

#12

Post by devmor »

I hate "agile".

Would love to try agile some day. Never worked anywhere that actually did agile though - lots of places with bits and pieces. So many scrum masters, standup meetings, T-shirt sizing, kanban boards... but never full agile.

Starting to think it's a myth.

Re: The age of agile must end

#13

Post by robertlagrant »

I feel like that journalist who wrote an article called "Stop making me defend Donald Trump". I don't particularly like Scrum, but articles like this just give not liking Scrum a bad name. I wouldn't trust anything it says, really.

Here's a sample:

> It has to be timeboxed into a Sprint to make sure software can be released into the market in an “iterative” cycle.

The key is "potentially shippable increment". You don't have to ship it. The point is that if you don't have that mentality then you start to forget all the 50 steps needed to actually release, and also that small changes are more reliable than big changes.

> Sprint Planning happens right before the sprint because that’s when you’ll have the latest insights on what to focus on, just in time.

Yes, true.

> There’s a Daily Standup to have on-the-fly “operational improvements.” (Only developers are allowed to speak and discussion is not allowed because that leaves the machinery idle.)

"Developers" being anyone in the team, including UX. It's not about "leaving the machinery idle" - working a bit of a silly metaphor from the article back into the "why" of Scrum seems pointless - it's about having quick meetings. You can have conversations elsewhere, and regular meetings elsewhere; they just aren't for the daily standup. Unless you have a retro and decide to change it.

> At the end of the sprint there’s a Review to view working software and to determine what was not completed or what needs improvement.

That's sort of right, but an odd emphasis. It's to get feedback from the people you're building for.

> There’s also supposed to be a Retrospective to discuss what went well and what didn’t go well, in the interest of increasing the quantity of output.

No, not necessarily. It could be spotting that quality is low, or the team is taking on too much and burning out, or that things external to the team are really slowing something down (e.g. Todd still doesn't have a new laptop and he can't run the latest XCode), or anything else that would be an improvement. Again, why try working the silly metaphor back into reality?

> The Backlog isn’t core to the Scrum practice, it’s an artifact of the collateral damage and detritus of everything jettisoned during the sprint.

I don't think the author knows what the backlog is (or backlogs are). They are part of Scrum[0].

[0] https://www.scrum.org/resources/what-is-a-product-backlog

Re: The age of agile must end

#14

Post by mvdwoord »

Aeolun wrote: post #5

Who is this guy, and what kind of credentials does he have to sprout such drivel? It seems that like whatever sector he’s in, he has a big beef with developers. If he’s a designer like I assume from the fact it’s published in something related to UX, I suppose he wants a few months to design a whole application up front (because it’s fun!), only to then throw away 80% of it because the requirements changed halfway th…

If 80% of your design is invalidated halfway through the first Sprint, perhaps you are not developing software but rather you are chasing some dynamic business logic (or chasing trends), disguised as software.

The fact that stints are being referred to as sprints, is also indicative of something being out of balance. By definition not everything can be a sprint, just like not everything can have the highest priority. (I have had to explain this to multiple managers.

Re: The age of agile must end

#15

Post by winddude »

> It has to be timeboxed into a Sprint to make sure software can be released into the market in an “iterative” cycle.

No it doesn't, you just want to be able to get feedback from stakeholders at each iteration.

There also exists the idea of spikes, where the whole purpose is you throw it away at the end.

Re: The age of agile must end

#16

Post by awb »

Aeolun wrote: post #10
awb wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These deliverables are usually tied to external events with lead times of their own like an ad campaign, new hire, funding, etc. Engineering teams that can more accurately estimate their delivery dates add tangible value to their company.

For once it would be nice if they figured out those things can adapt to engineering time too, instead of the other way around.

At good companies they do adapt to engineering timelines.

But marketing (reasonably) wants to know if an app launch is 4 weeks away or 8 weeks away and what features will be included so they can plan their campaign accordingly.

And then there are things that are immovable like a holiday or a legal deadline, where it’s helpful to know the progress and ETA as accurately as possible as early as possible.

Re: The age of agile must end

#17

Post by breckenedge »

mvdwoord wrote: post #14
Aeolun wrote: post #5

Who is this guy, and what kind of credentials does he have to sprout such drivel? It seems that like whatever sector he’s in, he has a big beef with developers. If he’s a designer like I assume from the fact it’s published in something related to UX, I suppose he wants a few months to design a whole application up front (because it’s fun!), only to then throw away 80% of it because the requirements changed halfway th…

If 80% of your design is invalidated halfway through the first Sprint, perhaps you are not developing software but rather you are chasing some dynamic business logic (or chasing trends), disguised as software. The fact that stints are being referred to as sprints, is also indicative of something being out of balance. By definition not everything can be a sprint, just like not everything can have the highest priority.…

A word can have more than one definition.

Re: The age of agile must end

#18

Post by mgbmtl »

There's valid criticism as always (no process is perfect), but I'm pretty uncomfortable with how the intro starts with a series of false assertions, as if no one ever has questioned agile.

The tl;dr is that, as a UX designer, this person is frustrated by corners being cut.

As a dev, I get frustrated if I need to develop something that I know won't be used. I like being in contact with the customer and I like receiving quick feedback.

Obviously, as anyone, I don't like having pressure to deliver and silly metrics. So I'm my own boss and I negotiate with the client. If the client doesn't like it, they can quickly realize that and they won't have lost a lot of money.

Re: The age of agile must end

#19

Post by keyle »

devmor wrote: post #12

I hate "agile". Would love to try agile some day. Never worked anywhere that actually did agile though - lots of places with bits and pieces. So many scrum masters, standup meetings, T-shirt sizing, kanban boards... but never full agile. Starting to think it's a myth.

It is not a myth but it is quite rare. Either you have incompetent management, or incompetent development, or both, which will make it impossible.

Agile only works with trust, trust that every level of the organisation is experienced, focused and aligned. Most organisations end up bastardising it because that's not the case.

Re: The age of agile must end

#20

Post by Swizec »

awb wrote: post #16
Aeolun wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For once it would be nice if they figured out those things can adapt to engineering time too, instead of the other way around.

At good companies they do adapt to engineering timelines. But marketing (reasonably) wants to know if an app launch is 4 weeks away or 8 weeks away and what features will be included so they can plan their campaign accordingly. And then there are things that are immovable like a holiday or a legal deadline, where it’s helpful to know the progress and ETA as accurately as possible as early as possible.

And in case of hard/real deadlines, there is usually opportunity to say “We can’t do X, but can Y be good enough?”. Those are important conversations to have.
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