Reply to: Agile... is the bubble bursting?

[suityou01]

at current clientco Agile means they have flex desks

We may well be at the same place.

[LondonManc]

The only banned word I’ve encountered at a client was “hopefully”. When giving dates for delivery, it worked a treat as you committed to a certain date you knew you could deliver for rather than trying too hard to please.

[Eirikur]

at current clientco Agile means they have flex desks

[cojak]

Banning certain words seem to be somewhat Orwellian in nature.

Which jumped up belled in that company thought they had a right to tell people what words they can and cannot use - unbelievable - you need to name the client...

He’s rebellious but not that stupid...

[original PM]

Always the way with bulltulipting management shysters. Makes their job sound complex and important so they can't easily be replaced.

Part of the reason I prefer contracting to permiedom. If the client is infested with such nonsense I can easily move on.

My favourite management bulltulip at current client is the banning of certain words that may have negative connotations. I use them every opportunity I get in emails just to take the piss as I didn't go to the permie indoctrination lessons on this new staff behaviour policy.

Banning certain words seem to be somewhat Orwellian in nature.

Which jumped up belled in that company thought they had a right to tell people what words they can and cannot use - unbelievable - you need to name the client...

[Hobosapien]

I read the original manifesto and all good common sense.

Looks like it’s been hijacked and made into something complex.

Always the way with bulltulipting management shysters. Makes their job sound complex and important so they can't easily be replaced.

Part of the reason I prefer contracting to permiedom. If the client is infested with such nonsense I can easily move on.

My favourite management bulltulip at current client is the banning of certain words that may have negative connotations. I use them every opportunity I get in emails just to take the piss as I didn't go to the permie indoctrination lessons on this new staff behaviour policy.

[woohoo]

I remember in the days before Agile, when doing a project we would reduce it down to the smallest thing that was a deliverable and incrementally add the rest.
We set up a ticket (change request) system where changes could be added on demand. Virtually all software projects were organised on these lines. Some projects had design documents others didn't. If you had a design document then changing the document to add whatever change you were doing took up very little time. There is no difference between incrementally adding changes to a design document than changing the software.

All in all Agile is just hype. The myth is not agile, the myth is their description of life before Agile that only young developers will believe, who never knew what it used to be like,

I read the original manifesto and all good common sense.

Looks like it’s been hijacked and made into something complex.

[LondonManc]

Is Kanban simply a list of items to do represented as cards. You then move them through various stages, todo, doing, test, done etc?

Yes. I think Kanban is Japanese for Structured JFDI.

Not sure how good it is for IR35 for contractors who are part of the collective - you have to pick the next available item to work (D&C) rather than having a set of deliverables for you personally. Happy with it from a permie point of view and would be happy if I was a contractor and all participants were contractors but not sure it lends itself well to IR35 happiness.

[BlasterBates]

I remember in the days before Agile, when doing a project we would reduce it down to the smallest thing that was a deliverable and incrementally add the rest.
We set up a ticket (change request) system where changes could be added on demand. Virtually all software projects were organised on these lines. Some projects had design documents others didn't. If you had a design document then changing the document to add whatever change you were doing took up very little time. There is no difference between incrementally adding changes to a design document than changing the software.

All in all Agile is just hype. The myth is not agile, the myth is their description of life before Agile that only young developers will believe, who never knew what it used to be like,

[original PM]

Reading this thread kind of gives me the impression that we should get rid of all these methodologies along with all the staff based around them, PMs and whatever silly little names these people give themselves

the PM does not stand for Project Manager....

[darmstadt]

Reading this thread kind of gives me the impression that we should get rid of all these methodologies along with all the staff based around them, PMs and whatever silly little names these people give themselves

[original PM]

kanban
/ˈkanban/
noun
a Japanese manufacturing system in which the supply of components is regulated through the use of an instruction card sent along the production line.

an instruction card used in a kanban system.

plural noun: kanbans

What is Kanban? | LeanKit

Quite interesting

Main problem for managers (pointy haired or otherwise) is that they cannot just drop in, switch tulip around and then moan because stuff they switched does not get done because it is clear what the priorities are and who made those decisions.

[suityou01]

Is Kanban simply a list of items to do represented as cards. You then move them through various stages, todo, doing, test, done etc?

Yep. But it was branded with a Japanese name as this sells better to the pointy haired managers.

[woohoo]

Horses for courses; no point in using agile if your company won't accept it and is too slow to care about it.

Now, Kanban is something I can work with, especially if you're involved in fixing stuff too. You pack an Agile spring with deliverables, tulip hits the fan day two, you spent two days fixing and testing a live issue and suddenly you've no chance of delivering what's in your sprint. At least with Kanban you can just crack on with whatever's next on the list.

Is Kanban simply a list of items to do represented as cards. You then move them through various stages, todo, doing, test, done etc?

[LondonManc]

Horses for courses; no point in using agile if your company won't accept it and is too slow to care about it.

Now, Kanban is something I can work with, especially if you're involved in fixing stuff too. You pack an Agile spring with deliverables, tulip hits the fan day two, you spent two days fixing and testing a live issue and suddenly you've no chance of delivering what's in your sprint. At least with Kanban you can just crack on with whatever's next on the list.