Backstory
Why go agile? The usual reasons: cumbersome process, missed dates because functional changes weren't addressed early, lack of transparency between management and development. That's the short version.
The longer version starts with an organization in transition. Several applications of dubious quality have shipped, causing endless havoc for our customers. Predictably, people have been making noise about "quality." New products are being introduced and there is strong market demand, so the organization is attempting to scale up for the future.
The head of development has been trying to be hands on with managing the projects - not micromanaging, but also not freeing developers to understand the broader product and become self-directed. As a result, development grinds to a halt every time he is in meetings or out of town (quite often). In the past this was semi-adequate, but with greater demands all development efforts have suffered and the process vaccuum cannot be overcome by simple brute force development.
He is PMI (Project Management Institute) certified and holds SDLC and defined process as the holy grail, even while we continue to fail to meet requirements or full process work products. The saving grace is that there are few direct competitors to the product and the timeframe has been able to slip without business repercussions. When one is overloaded there is a human tendency to try to execute the simplist path. Critical or difficult decisions have been put off until later while immediate concerns are addressed. This has resulted in a group that is eternally treading water, unable to take control or direction.
My moment of clarity that I needed to drive Agile development into the organization came back in December. We were 2/3 thru the test cycle, thinking we would ship end of Jan/Feb. The boss was out for a two or three week vacation and the BIG BOSS wanted to meet for a full status update. About the second question out of his mouth was "Where is Feature X?". We (dev and test) looked at each other, dumbfounded, because this was the first we had ever heard of Feature X.
"Well, we've know about this since August. HOD (head of development) has known that this product won't ship without Feature X."
Waiting to let things like this to blind side us and reacting was no longer an option. HOD had know of this for three months and pretended it didn't exist. Now I ship software. That's what I do. I'm a shipper. If software doesn't ship, I don't feel good about quitting my job and going on vacation for two months. I hate working. Working longer than I had planned makes me angry. It makes me very, very angry. You won't like me when I'm angry.
This was completely unacceptable. And this is when I launched my campaign.
The longer version starts with an organization in transition. Several applications of dubious quality have shipped, causing endless havoc for our customers. Predictably, people have been making noise about "quality." New products are being introduced and there is strong market demand, so the organization is attempting to scale up for the future.
The head of development has been trying to be hands on with managing the projects - not micromanaging, but also not freeing developers to understand the broader product and become self-directed. As a result, development grinds to a halt every time he is in meetings or out of town (quite often). In the past this was semi-adequate, but with greater demands all development efforts have suffered and the process vaccuum cannot be overcome by simple brute force development.
He is PMI (Project Management Institute) certified and holds SDLC and defined process as the holy grail, even while we continue to fail to meet requirements or full process work products. The saving grace is that there are few direct competitors to the product and the timeframe has been able to slip without business repercussions. When one is overloaded there is a human tendency to try to execute the simplist path. Critical or difficult decisions have been put off until later while immediate concerns are addressed. This has resulted in a group that is eternally treading water, unable to take control or direction.
My moment of clarity that I needed to drive Agile development into the organization came back in December. We were 2/3 thru the test cycle, thinking we would ship end of Jan/Feb. The boss was out for a two or three week vacation and the BIG BOSS wanted to meet for a full status update. About the second question out of his mouth was "Where is Feature X?". We (dev and test) looked at each other, dumbfounded, because this was the first we had ever heard of Feature X.
"Well, we've know about this since August. HOD (head of development) has known that this product won't ship without Feature X."
Waiting to let things like this to blind side us and reacting was no longer an option. HOD had know of this for three months and pretended it didn't exist. Now I ship software. That's what I do. I'm a shipper. If software doesn't ship, I don't feel good about quitting my job and going on vacation for two months. I hate working. Working longer than I had planned makes me angry. It makes me very, very angry. You won't like me when I'm angry.
This was completely unacceptable. And this is when I launched my campaign.
posted by nitpickable at
2:59 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home