As a Software Engineer, I normally think of Agile in terms of software development. As someone who has rolled out Agile practices at several companies, I also think of it in terms of how Agile software development affects the rest of the company. The last company I worked for (yes, I’m still looking for work!) implemented full Scrum, including pair programming, TDD (as in, insufficient code coverage had a direct effect on your bonus), retrospectives, standups, etc.
I came across an interesting blog post, The Smart Entrepreneur’s Guide to Finishing What You Started, on Scott Ginsberg’s blog that suggests entrepreneurs learn lessons from Agile, too. Scott bills himself as “The Authority on Approachability”, but most of his blog posts seem to be aimed at high-level business and marketing people. He also claims to wear a nametag 24/7, with a tattoo of a nametag sufficing for certain occasions. Everyone needs a shtick, though, and this is what us geeks call “mostly harmless“.
This post proposes favoring action over inaction, moving at a sustainable rate, making sure you’re focused on the customer’s needs, limiting scope to enable completion of a phase/project, and [post="Done Means Done Done Done" text="making sure done means done done done"]. Sound familiar?
I also liked his post 6 Ways to Rally without Being Ready, reminding us that you’re never 100% ready, but that’s not actually required to start.
Today’s lesson for hardware people, software people, architects, and mad scientists is brought to you by Ray Bradbury in the form of a short story called There Will Come Soft Rains. I recommend you follow this link and read a copy of the story, as it’s only a few pages long, and well done (but I already said it was Ray Bradbury, didn’t I?). The story, written in 1950, takes place in 2026 in a very modern, fully automated house, with all sorts of computers keeping its occupants fed, cleaned, entertained, and on schedule for work, school, and play.
Only there are no more occupants. Because there was a nuclear war, and they’re all ashes. The house (the last house standing), in it’s quite-less-than-infinite wisdom, has not caught on to this. So it prepares eggs and pancakes for breakfast, and provides entertainment in the nursery, and defends itself from the few birds and animals that may approach it, and fleets of mechanical robots diligently clean up any dirt that gets in the house and dispose of the uneaten food. In short, this system has insufficient connection to the world it interfaces with, and too few checks on expected responses, to know that something is horribly wrong.
Read on…
I was just reading this article from Priyank Mohan’s Semantic Technology Blog. He draws parallels between it and the movement to automated online B2B transactions from years ago and linked data on the web, and what lessons we should learn from the (mostly) failure of B2B. Priyank focuses mostly on the similarities of the benefits, which is useful, but I think both movements didn’t have the impact they were supposed to have for the same basic reason; They both require incredible amounts of work that will only pay off if enough other companies follow suit. As much as I would love to see it happen in the near future, I don’t think it will
Read on…
First, a little fun. I found this survey asking just that question, but in a humorous way. Here are the results, which were presented at the Agile 2008 conference in Toronto. I also found (through LinkedIn) a post on Peter DeYoe’s blog with a humorous job posting for a Scrum Master.
Now for a real live case study. In my job hunting, I discovered this article by Damon Pool on Litle & Co. The reason I like this story so much is that not only did the push for Agile come from the top, but they started out that way. They didn’t adopt Agile, they were born with it. That eliminates a lot of problems that come along with trying to adopt Agile later on:
Read on…
Many problems have been caused throughout history due to lack of information flow from subordinates to superiors. This post discusses some examples. some reasons why this might be the case, and asks how we can move forward.
On 09/30, I was part of a layoff at my employer. I am on the hunt again.
I am looking for a full-time hands-on Team Lead/Manager, Architect, or Principal Software Engineer position in the Greater Boston area. I prefer to work in Java and other cross-platform technologies, but I’m fluent in many others. I would also prefer an Agile/Scrum environment, but that’s not a requirement.
If you hear of anything, my resume and portfolio are available here.