When to give up
As almost everyone knows by now, I work with Software Projects That Suck and make them not suck.
But then there are the projects that can’t be made to Not Suck.
As almost everyone knows by now, I work with Software Projects That Suck and make them not suck.
But then there are the projects that can’t be made to Not Suck.
Last night I had the pleasure of hearing Jon Stahl‘s introductory presentation on “Agile Explained” at a joint meeting of Cleveland IEEE and the Firmware Engineers of Northeast Ohio. The lighting was not so good for picture-taking on the LeanDog boat, so sadly there are no photos to share.
It was a nice crowd, although I’ve got to say one of the least diverse I’ve ever seen even at a technical event. Being mostly hardware and firmware engineers, they were skeptical about the idea of continuous deployment to production for obvious reasons; the guy sitting across from me used to design circuits for pacemakers! But they asked excellent questions, and in true Agile style Jon gave them The Simplest Answers That Could Possibly Work.
I’ve been thinking a lot about Victoria Brouhard’s recent blog post on “no-brainer” decisions. It’s a clever idea. When you’re trying to decide about accepting something like a job offer, ask yourself, “What would it take for me to say hell yeah?”
In other words, how would you change the offer–if you had the power–so it becomes something you couldn’t imagine rejecting?
I was quite interested in Peter DeYoe’s recent blog post comparing Agile development to the P90X fitness program he just started. Riffing off the slogan “Decide, Commit, and Succeed,” DeYoe winds up with
Decide if Agile is right for your organization. Commit to the principles of Agile and deny your urge to fall back on old habits. And if you make it to the third or fourth sprint, a new, healthier paradigm for software development fitness will emerge and lead you to Success.
I like it! But I have a different model for Agile adoption, which is highly influenced by the life example of my darling Drsweetie.