Reply to: I find Scrum stand up meetings humiliating

[mrv]

Is there anyone else on this forum who just "does stuff"?

Methodologies to me always look like a way of using the technical equivalent of management speak as a substitute for just doing things.

If the "stuff" you're doing takes more than a few man-hours, you need a methodology of some sort. Even the "give your variables names that are descriptive and meaningful" rule is a methodology already. Splitting tasks like "I can code, so I will code, you can talk to people, so go out and find what they want" is methodology, very rudimentary, but still methodology. Small tasks, one or two man bands could get away with things like these, but as the tasks get more complex one needs more complex rules to keep the lid on the thing.

Project management is absurdly simple when you look at it: find out what needs to be done, in what way or sequence, what is needed as materials etc, decide who will do it and when, and off you go. All those things like waterfall, scrum, lean etc are just different approaches to the same thing, like one team plays 4-4-2, and the other likes 4-1-4-1. The first one is not inherently better than the second, nor it is worse. Bad team could choose any and still lose, but not because the system is bad, but because they cannot do their tasks properly. So if one cannot plan, nothing will save him, but some things might help him fail less spectacularly.

[SpontaneousOrder]

Methodology means a set of defined rules and procedures for regulating a task or set of tasks. The opposite of working to a methodology would be something like working ad-hoc. I don't see "I don't work to a methodology" as a nonsensical statement. You can't do R&D by following a methodology.

There will be a methodology, even if it's not particularly well defined or rigorous. Without one you wouldn't even know what work to do in an ad-hoc fashion.

[tomtomagain]

You can't do R&D by following a methodology.

Of course you can. Do you think that DARPA, SpaceX, GSK, Google et al don't have some sort of methodology? They are all doing R&D.

A methodology ( or "processes" ) is just short-hand for "How we do stuff around here".

If you don't adhere to any processes or methodology you are effectively saying, I am going to work in a random, unstructured manner with no predictable results, no oversight and no control.

I am developing a product by myself. Even I have a practise a methodology. Otherwise stuff would never get done.

Of course in a large corporate environment you may feel the processes and methodology get in the way of you progressing.

[NotAllThere]

How do you know what stuff to just do, without any methodology? You must have one even if you aren;t particularly aware of it.

Methodology means a set of defined rules and procedures for regulating a task or set of tasks. The opposite of working to a methodology would be something like working ad-hoc. I don't see "I don't work to a methodology" as a nonsensical statement. You can't do R&D by following a methodology.

[CloudWalker]

[SpontaneousOrder]

Is there anyone else on this forum who just "does stuff"?

Methodologies to me always look like a way of using the technical equivalent of management speak as a substitute for just doing things.

How do you know what stuff to just do, without any methodology? You must have one even if you aren;t particularly aware of it.

[PerfectStorm]

Is there anyone else on this forum who just "does stuff"?

Methodologies to me always look like a way of using the technical equivalent of management speak as a substitute for just doing things.

[TykeMerc]

And make the market easier for the likes of you?

Hardly, I'm a Project and Programme Manager, I take the output of the meetings and manage the customer, I also make decisions on hiring and firing the likes of you.

If you don't like the standup meetings then don't put the rest of the team through your misery, they will be better off without a negative behaviour.

[tractor]

...

I don't get this type of response. Many people on here seems to suggest that no matter what the gripe is, the choices are suck it up or leave. Efforts to possible make the contract more appealing are dismissed as whingeing. Oh, I don't like the tea bags at ClientCo. Best terminate my contract.

Only the more ridiculous threads like "I want a holiday but I don't know how to approach it with my clients" or "I spent all my tax money, tell me how to get out of the tulip" and some of the more ridiculous (sockie) efforts.

People are supposed to be mature and experienced enough to be running a business for gawd sakes. And they don't know how to have a dialogue with their customer?

[heyya99]

When the OP is as absurd as the one on this thread what else do you expect?

If you don't like the way an increasingly large amount of IT business is done then get out or learn how to deal with it.

And make the market easier for the likes of you?

[SueEllen]

I randomly insert the phase "like a cat" into my summaries to see whether people are listening.

I think you should do a different theme every week

Someone else in your team might start playing along.

[TykeMerc]

I don't get this type of response. Many people on here seems to suggest that no matter what the gripe is, the choices are suck it up or leave. Efforts to possible make the contract more appealing are dismissed as whingeing. Oh, I don't like the tea bags at ClientCo. Best terminate my contract.

When the OP is as absurd as the one on this thread what else do you expect?

If you don't like the way an increasingly large amount of IT business is done then get out or learn how to deal with it.

[heyya99]

are you paid for your time?
Yes - Stop whingeing
No - Ask to be paid

I don't get this type of response. Many people on here seems to suggest that no matter what the gripe is, the choices are suck it up or leave. Efforts to possible make the contract more appealing are dismissed as whingeing. Oh, I don't like the tea bags at ClientCo. Best terminate my contract.

[AnthonyQuinn]

For years, I've found myself a bit grumpy at stand up times. It pains me to give an update and I now know why. It's because I find them degrading. They're never about 'geeing' the team up for the day and moving blockers etc. They're basically status meetings. I hate standing there, proving what I've done, watched by team leads, managers and BAs. They make me feel small and back in school.

Does anyone else hate this pointless concept?

are you paid for your time?
Yes - Stop whingeing
No - Ask to be paid

[SpontaneousOrder]

I find stand ups humiliating because most companies consider developers and testers to be the bottom rung of the ladder. Stand up meetings make me feel like I'm in school, having to prove I've done my homework.

Prove to whom? It should only really be your team there. If other people listen in, change the time around so they never know when it is.