Reply to: What is going on out there folks?

[ShandyDrinker]

The complete bollocks we now have to contend with not just in software development but agile has now gone mainstream, where every team and process tries to be agile.

Michael O Church (MOC) wrote some great articles on this in the past, before he appeared to descend into paranoia that everyone was out to get him. An example of such an article is https://michaelochurch.wordpress.com...-are-terrible/. An interesting rebuttal article is https://const.fr/blog/agile/why-agil...-not-terrible/. What is so funny is the second article tells us what scrum and agile in particular should be, but corporate dark agile never works that way and is as MOC suggests. Whether during my contracting career or when agile and scrum were exploding onto the scene pre 2008, the snake oil salesmen and scrum masters have always used it as a way to define as little as possible, do little work themselves, and then do precisely as MOC suggests and beat developers over the head for not delivering in a timely manner.

Then let us get to the immaturity that is rubbish such as t-shirt sizing. What are you, 2 years old? Whether t-shirt sizing, planning poker, Fibonacci or any other pseudo estimation bs, it always comes down to developers being under the kosh for delivery.

Whether sc(r)um masters, product owners or anyone else in the whole ecosystem, we all know that the buck usually stops with the developers.

As a final rant on the topic, a special place in hell should be reserved for ex-developers turned scrum masters. They are like ex-smokers who suddenly find religion and chastise anyone who smokes. As Billy Connolly might say, oh do f*** off!

[vetran]

I guess Agile was only just really gathering momentum when I left IT to work on more commercial stuff, strategy and dealmaking.
From the sounds of a few posts, for me it was probably for the best that I left when I did.
It sounds like IT is not the place to work it once was.
For those talking about retirement. My own is 9 months in. Wish I was still working but not in IT!

Like all things Agile is a wonderful thing if you actually do it right. If you spend the scrums deciding which pigeonhole a task goes in you really are missing the point. Agile seems to be used for - "we don't want to do any planning"

[vetran]

No idea - as said, this was from an initial client meeting, not an existing gig. At that point I decided not to pursue it any further

Good plan - Run... Run.....

[Dark Black]

What crisis stage is the project in if you are doing twice daily status checks.

No idea - as said, this was from an initial client meeting, not an existing gig. At that point I decided not to pursue it any further

[eek]

One did sneak past and I had a video meeting with client. Turned out they did use agile and had twice-daily standups .

I terminated that meeting pretty quickly.

What crisis stage is the project in if you are doing twice daily status checks.

[Dark Black]

I've been gigging for nearly thirty years now and I'm pretty sure a lot of the problem is everyone is doing "agile". It's working to the slavemaster's drumbeat of deliverables every sprint leading developers to rush out changes whilst cutting corners to deliver, thus creating technical debt & leading to yet more bugs.

It's a mess-making machine.

This.

I recently binned a 6m contract, halfway through. Not only was the client using "agile" with daily "stand-ups" and fortnightly sprints (sprint meeting last thing on a Friday FFS) they were also totally unable to define the work packages within the sprints. Hence most of the time was spent trying to find out what actually needed doing.

It nearly drove me mad. Tension headaches, increased heart rate etc. Not something I've ever suffered with before. Left the contact a month ago and still not feeling right.

If I get called about contracts now, the first question I ask is does the client use agile. If they do, it goes no further.

One did sneak past and I had a video meeting with client. Turned out they did use agile and had twice-daily standups .

I terminated that meeting pretty quickly.

[SueEllen]

I guess Agile was only just really gathering momentum when I left IT to work on more commercial stuff, strategy and dealmaking.
From the sounds of a few posts, for me it was probably for the best that I left when I did.
It sounds like IT is not the place to work it once was.
For those talking about retirement. My own is 9 months in. Wish I was still working but not in IT!

You will work until you die or are too decrepit for it, whether that work is paid or not!

[courtg9000]

I guess Agile was only just really gathering momentum when I left IT to work on more commercial stuff, strategy and dealmaking.
From the sounds of a few posts, for me it was probably for the best that I left when I did.
It sounds like IT is not the place to work it once was.
For those talking about retirement. My own is 9 months in. Wish I was still working but not in IT!

[cojak]

“Business Analysts? We don’t need no stinking Business Analysts!”

[NowPermOutsideUK]

The shift to frAgile in most companies has driven me to despair. One of the main reason for my plans on semi-retirement this year followed by full retirement in the next 12 to 24 months. Sick to death of no joined up thinking, a two-week treadmill of badly thought through deliverables that cause chaos and mayhem.

what age are you going to retire and what will you do all day?! Easy to say gym and coffee but reality is that gets boring quickly

[_V_]

The shift to frAgile in most companies has driven me to despair. One of the main reason for my plans on semi-retirement this year followed by full retirement in the next 12 to 24 months. Sick to death of no joined up thinking, a two-week treadmill of badly thought through deliverables that cause chaos and mayhem.

[TwoWolves]

I've been gigging for nearly thirty years now and I'm pretty sure a lot of the problem is everyone is doing "agile". It's working to the slavemaster's drumbeat of deliverables every sprint leading developers to rush out changes whilst cutting corners to deliver, thus creating technical debt & leading to yet more bugs.

It's a mess-making machine.

[DoctorStrangelove]

And what's that thing called where one posts something which it registers with other people so they are more likey to then post about it where they might not have before?

https://www.healthline.com/health/ba...hof-phenomenon

Apparently it has nothing to do with making bombs in your cellar.

[northernladuk]

'Tis odd isn't it. There are a whole host of possible reasons. In all three non of them interviewed the client and I'm pretty sure if they had they wouldn't be where they are. I do think remote interviews are partly to blame. All this chatting over Teams doesn't always beat a good face to face with someone.
Other aspects of it I think are part of the new WFH remote world i.e. the delays. Could be we are hearing only one side of the story from all three but the reality could make all the situations be much different?
It could also be the same client.

And what's that thing called where one posts something which it registers with other people so they are more likey to then post about it where they might not have before? Not #metoo or their time of the month syncing up. I thought there was some word for it.
We've seen it the past where someone has an issue and for some obscure reason the next week or two appears to have the same questions popping up.

But all three aren't the disasters the OP's are making out so think there is a bit of soul searching by all three posters to be fair.

[northernladuk]

As Gen Z and whatever the late 20's are called come in to the industry and the culture of snowflakeness and wokery grows I am sure you will see more

When aaah were't lad I'da chopped me reet testicle off fot' gigs thems chunterin bout. Did 6 hours in't pit afore starin werk at cushy gigs likes them.