6 ms·

True: it is framework not a methodology.My mistake.

moe 18y ago
It's okay to totally screw-up. Coincidentally the two times I have seen SCRUM at work so far it was deployed precisely to serve as excuse for the constant screw-up. Neither of the companies seems to have improved over that year of colored post-it notes either. But the CTO and product managers since then have new buzzwords they can use to justify why they still miss milestone after milestone... YMMV.
- DanielBMarkham 18y ago
  It's okay to screw up if you're continuing to improve. Sounds like these guys weren't. I tell my PMs that I train that no, I do not want them to be the CSM. I want them to work strategically, to work on all of those organizational obstacles that get in the team's way. You can't change the world, but good agile teams are going to be constantly reminding the CTO and everybody else that certain constraints are killing team performance. You can treat it like a fad if you want -- just throw new labels on old crap. But whether it's Scrum, Agile, or Bob's New Process, at the end of the day the teams must communicate back to the organization frequently about what's screwed up. And the organization must listen. Or you can just keep throwing money and fads at problems you won't acknowledge. Reality is reality. The reason you end up with poor understanding at the CTO level is because nobody has the balls to tell him what's really going on. That conversation is the toughest part of adapting in a nutshell (pun not intended).
  - moe 18y ago
    Well, I sure hope someone uses these processes as they are meant and as you describe. This was not aimed at you personally, I just have never witnessed it. In fact the words "Agile", "XP" and "SCRUM" have pretty much turned into red flags for me. My immediate reflex whenever someone feels a need to mention those to me is to bill by the hour - because anything else would probably come back and haunt me iteratively ...
    - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
      I'd be careful of overgeneralizing. Even in true management fads, there's usually a grain of truth in there somewhere. Just don't be the guy who never picks up any new skills because 1) people usually misapply them, or 2) you had a bad experience. Everything is a tool in your toolbox. Lots of tools means lots of options. I've found that even with "heavy" process overhead, like CMM or CMMI, if you talk to the developers they're supposed to be practical and make sense. It's the way people in companies apply these things that are usually at the heart of why they don't work. At the end of the day, it all gets back to people.

moe 18y ago

It's okay to totally screw-up. Coincidentally the two times I have seen SCRUM at work so far it was deployed precisely to serve as excuse for the constant screw-up. Neither of the companies seems to have improved over that year of colored post-it notes either. But the CTO and product managers since then have new buzzwords they can use to justify why they still miss milestone after milestone... YMMV.

DanielBMarkham 18y ago
It's okay to screw up if you're continuing to improve. Sounds like these guys weren't. I tell my PMs that I train that no, I do not want them to be the CSM. I want them to work strategically, to work on all of those organizational obstacles that get in the team's way. You can't change the world, but good agile teams are going to be constantly reminding the CTO and everybody else that certain constraints are killing team performance. You can treat it like a fad if you want -- just throw new labels on old crap. But whether it's Scrum, Agile, or Bob's New Process, at the end of the day the teams must communicate back to the organization frequently about what's screwed up. And the organization must listen. Or you can just keep throwing money and fads at problems you won't acknowledge. Reality is reality. The reason you end up with poor understanding at the CTO level is because nobody has the balls to tell him what's really going on. That conversation is the toughest part of adapting in a nutshell (pun not intended).
- moe 18y ago
  Well, I sure hope someone uses these processes as they are meant and as you describe. This was not aimed at you personally, I just have never witnessed it. In fact the words "Agile", "XP" and "SCRUM" have pretty much turned into red flags for me. My immediate reflex whenever someone feels a need to mention those to me is to bill by the hour - because anything else would probably come back and haunt me iteratively ...
  - DanielBMarkham 18y ago
    I'd be careful of overgeneralizing. Even in true management fads, there's usually a grain of truth in there somewhere. Just don't be the guy who never picks up any new skills because 1) people usually misapply them, or 2) you had a bad experience. Everything is a tool in your toolbox. Lots of tools means lots of options. I've found that even with "heavy" process overhead, like CMM or CMMI, if you talk to the developers they're supposed to be practical and make sense. It's the way people in companies apply these things that are usually at the heart of why they don't work. At the end of the day, it all gets back to people.