Agile, again....

[Jaws]

Had to put up with this at last ClientCo. They had a habit of terminating contractors, particularly those who voiced opinions different to their own. I have no idea why they believe a "sprint retrospective" is a worthwhile spend of a contractor's time. My first retrospective happened within an hour of me finding out the colleague I'd been sitting by had been let go early and they want honest opinions?

That said the project is over a year late and no-one appears to mind so it's quite possible to coin it if you can stomach the tongue biting.

[BrilloPad]

Do they provide biscuits?

[LondonManc]

Had to put up with this at last ClientCo. They had a habit of terminating contractors, particularly those who voiced opinions different to their own. I have no idea why they believe a "sprint retrospective" is a worthwhile spend of a contractor's time. My first retrospective happened within an hour of me finding out the colleague I'd been sitting by had been let go early and they want honest opinions?

That said the project is over a year late and no-one appears to mind so it's quite possible to coin it if you can stomach the tongue biting.

It's not always about delivering what you should, but also about what they want.

[VillageContractor]

It amazes me how many companies do agile wrong. A grooming session (never a good name) is very useful but shouldn't take 5.5 hours, it should only take 1-2 hours max.

Relative estimation is more effective than estimating in hours or days.

And never ever get the team lead to do the estimates as they will always extremely optimistic.

[tomtomagain]

You have a number of choices.

1. Suck it up and do your best to enjoy it.

2. Invoke your notice period and find another role.

OR if you really want to change it.

Become a permie, become the Team Leader and change the process so that it is done "right".

[Bee]

Had to put up with this at last ClientCo. They had a habit of terminating contractors, particularly those who voiced opinions different to their own. I have no idea why they believe a "sprint retrospective" is a worthwhile spend of a contractor's time. My first retrospective happened within an hour of me finding out the colleague I'd been sitting by had been let go early and they want honest opinions?

That said the project is over a year late and no-one appears to mind so it's quite possible to coin it if you can stomach the tongue biting.

The clients do not like contractors that are always moaning about the projects.
If you found a problem and you don’t give a solution involving less costs, doesn’t worth it.

[Bee]

Do they provide biscuits?

In this case, 13 hrs meeting, should be pizza and a lot of espresso to wake up.

[MrMarkyMark]

The clients do not like contractors that are always moaning about the projects.
If you found a problem and you don’t give a solution involving less costs, doesn’t worth it.

Depends on how much they value and want quality to be part of the delivery.

Certainly not always the case.

[gables]

It amazes me how many companies do agile wrong. A grooming session (never a good name) is very useful but shouldn't take 5.5 hours, it should only take 1-2 hours max.

Relative estimation is more effective than estimating in hours or days.

And never ever get the team lead to do the estimates as they will always extremely optimistic.

It amazes me how many contractors moan about their clients work practices. I get it if you 'do' agile you want to do it properly, but if the client isn't doing it as you would, don't you need to fit around that? Obviously offer up ideas for improvement but if it falls on deaf ears then look forward to a longer contract :-)

Here's another thought; one of the reasons I went contracting was to experience different organisations and different work practices, both good and bad. To me these just fit in as part of that experience that you can bring to the next client.

[MrMarkyMark]

It amazes me how many contractors moan about their clients work practices. I get it if you 'do' agile you want to do it properly, but if the client isn't doing it as you would, don't you need to fit around that? Obviously offer up ideas for improvement but if it falls on deaf ears then look forward to a longer contract :-)

Here's another thought; one of the reasons I went contracting was to experience different organisations and different work practices, both good and bad. To me these just fit in as part of that experience that you can bring to the next client.

Exactly, the ones that actually teach you the most are the bad ones.

You can then use those experiences to turn bad ones around in some cases, providing they listen, of course.