I’m not trying to build a straw man, I’m trying to put a word to a real phenomenon that I’ve seen. It’s more of a common-ground thing that you might think.
In fact, I specifically meant not to label detractors as just people who don’t get it. I quote myself, about myself: “That dismissive idea is wrong, of course.” I would say as many, or more, so-called supporters don’t get it. In fact, I think it’s a fundamental problem with the way multiple ideas get compressed down to single words. It’s not just a software thing.
So for the detractors, I’ll be perfectly clear. 100% straw-man free.
To XP detractors: Hooray! You’re reasonable people. XP is almost by definition unreasonable (that’s what the “extreme” part means). It’s useful only as a thought experiment, and not as a real workable methodology. It’s also far too prescriptive for my tastes, I don’t want anyone to tell me exactly how to do my job.
Scrum detractors: You probably have a different working style and/or have seen Scrum implemented very poorly. I can respect that. I like working in small iterations and meeting every day. It works for me. If what you’re doing is working for you, great. If not, I suggest having more face-to-face communication and tighter feedback loops. You don’t have to use the funny words.
Agile detractors: The most cogent agile criticism I’ve heard is that people should think before they code. I totally agree. One just shouldn’t stop thinking just because they’ve started coding. Also, one shouldn’t have to think about *everything* just to get code *anything*. Up-front planning docs are great, they should just be limited to one layer of abstraction (analysis, design, etc.) at a time and isolated to one cohesive value-adding feature at a time. If you are writing monolithic 200-page functional/technical specs for years-long projects, you’re likely wasting your time nailing things down at a time when you have the least understanding.
By the way, Maestro, I know you’re *not* doing that, but it does happen, and that’s what Agile is largely a reaction to.
Lean detractors: Sorry, haven’t seen many people look at the seven principles of Lean Software Development and say that they are all just totally bad ideas. Maybe Maestro can write a “what’s wrong with the seven principles of Lean Software Development” for me. Be sure to use the definitions from the second Poppendieck lean book, as they are better than the first one.
While your diagrams are cute I think your vastly overstating the case as:
“People who don’t like Agile/Scrum/XP” just don’t get it.
In your case you are saying we just don’t get it because we decompress jargon unfavorably.
That isn’t the case.
Labelling all the opponents as “Detractors” that “Don’t get it” is something that has been tried for some 5-6 years now.
Time to build a new straw man
Software Maestro
@Maestro,
I’m not trying to build a straw man, I’m trying to put a word to a real phenomenon that I’ve seen. It’s more of a common-ground thing that you might think.
In fact, I specifically meant not to label detractors as just people who don’t get it. I quote myself, about myself: “That dismissive idea is wrong, of course.” I would say as many, or more, so-called supporters don’t get it. In fact, I think it’s a fundamental problem with the way multiple ideas get compressed down to single words. It’s not just a software thing.
So for the detractors, I’ll be perfectly clear. 100% straw-man free.
To XP detractors: Hooray! You’re reasonable people. XP is almost by definition unreasonable (that’s what the “extreme” part means). It’s useful only as a thought experiment, and not as a real workable methodology. It’s also far too prescriptive for my tastes, I don’t want anyone to tell me exactly how to do my job.
Scrum detractors: You probably have a different working style and/or have seen Scrum implemented very poorly. I can respect that. I like working in small iterations and meeting every day. It works for me. If what you’re doing is working for you, great. If not, I suggest having more face-to-face communication and tighter feedback loops. You don’t have to use the funny words.
Agile detractors: The most cogent agile criticism I’ve heard is that people should think before they code. I totally agree. One just shouldn’t stop thinking just because they’ve started coding. Also, one shouldn’t have to think about *everything* just to get code *anything*. Up-front planning docs are great, they should just be limited to one layer of abstraction (analysis, design, etc.) at a time and isolated to one cohesive value-adding feature at a time. If you are writing monolithic 200-page functional/technical specs for years-long projects, you’re likely wasting your time nailing things down at a time when you have the least understanding.
By the way, Maestro, I know you’re *not* doing that, but it does happen, and that’s what Agile is largely a reaction to.
Lean detractors: Sorry, haven’t seen many people look at the seven principles of Lean Software Development and say that they are all just totally bad ideas. Maybe Maestro can write a “what’s wrong with the seven principles of Lean Software Development” for me. Be sure to use the definitions from the second Poppendieck lean book, as they are better than the first one.
Did I leave anybody out?
[...] the style of my previous decompression artifacts, I’ve created one for [...]