Why do developers at Google consider Agile development to be nonsense? (2016)

Post by tootie » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 6:42 PM UTC

theworld572 wrote: post #31

mmcnl wrote: post #17

I feel like people who are opposed to agile and scrum often make out things of it that are in no way prescribed by these methodologies. For example, I see people mentioning the idea that with scrum, you should release working software every sprint. This is not the case. The idea is to deliver a _potentially_ shippable product increment - a.k.a. not building 10 bridges in parallel if there's no need for it. Some might…

My biggest criticism of Agile and Scrum is that it assumes that you can just plan out how a feature will work by sitting in a meeting and talking about it. Then spend the next two weeks implementing that plan. Software development almost never works out so neatly. What really happens is that you have a set of requirements and an idea of how you are going to implement the feature. You start working on it, maybe you di…

Post by tootie » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 6:49 PM UTC

taneq wrote: post #39

theworld572 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My biggest criticism of Agile and Scrum is that it assumes that you can just plan out how a feature will work by sitting in a meeting and talking about it. Then spend the next two weeks implementing that plan. Software development almost never works out so neatly. What really happens is that you have a set of requirements and an idea of how you are going to implement the feature. You start working on it, maybe you di…

> What really happens is that you have a set of requirements and an idea of how you are going to implement the feature. The thing is, your story cards or whatever are meant to be a live document. You have the big meeting, the next day you realise that what you came up with doesn't work, you grab a coffee with your stakeholder and talk it through, come up with a new plan, and you change the card you're working on. Pro…

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 6:58 PM UTC

solidasparagus wrote: post #59

caconym_ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is "the masses" offensive?

It's a phrase that tends to be used by people who consider themselves superior to 'the masses'. The phrase refers specifically to the lower-classes or those outside of elite circles[1]. Combined with Google's reputation of quiet arrogance[2], it's a phrase that I would have avoided. [1] Pick a dictionary and you will find references to lower-classes, the not-elite or the common people. https://www.merriam-webster.com…

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 7:04 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #134

js2 wrote: post #29

> This type of innovation takes significant up-front design time, and working on components over longer than one week iterations. Because the projects have such simple external interfaces, and so much internal complexity, much of the work is not even visible to “customers”, so there is no way to write customer visible stories about it. This type of software takes 8–20 months to deliver the first working version to th…

Huh, as much as I've heard, good luck ever getting a promotion at Google with a track record of MEs and a single EE. People with SEE regularly get their promotions denied.

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Aug 03, 2019, 7:12 PM UTC

taftster wrote: post #123

jpalawaga wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is 100% caused by stack ranking, and the problem you identify is a very real one. Chopping off the bottom 5% of employees works if you have a LOT of dead weight, but realistically you can't really do it continuously or you start removing legitimate talent and, just as worse, fostering a toxic community that values playing politics over delivering value.

Not only that, but chopping off the bottom 5% typically makes room for more hiring; these emptied jobs are likely to be filled with less-than-stellar candidates. It take the new hires a few years before they too are dropped down into that lower 5% rank. Stack ranking ensures that you have churn in your workforce, and not in a good way. You wonder why workers in the tech industry move around so much? Look at stack ran…