No More Scrum

I liked the Scrum framework.  Once I found The Scrum Guide and digested it, I saw the beauty of the design and intent.  I've spent a lot of time and energy attempting to correct misconceptions and spread information of its benefits.  However I continue to see traditional, command-and-control, top-down, hierarchical, micromanagement everywhere: blogs, comments, articles, conversations, etc.

The more I call out ignorance the more I see in replies and likes.  Certified Scrum Masters (or ScrumMaster as they say) from Scrum Alliance were known issues.  I see it also comes from industry "experts" such as Mike Cohn.  Professional Scrum Trainers are also problematic.

I think I am done with this battle.  The agile philosophy has had over 20 years to become the norm.  People would rather remain in the comfort of repeating failure than actually learn a new way.

Scrum Guide Revisions 2017

The Scrum Guide revisions November 2017

• Highlighting that the framework can be applied beyond software is a nice addition.
• The additional information and rewording for the Scrum Master role will be helpful to some.
• Daily Scrum changes are a great step in a positive direction. Promoting a conversation over the three question format (3QF) or walking the board has been a challenging sell to many.
• The need to further reiterate the definition of a time-box highlights one of many symptoms exemplifying that Scrum, for many, is not "Simple to understand" as advertised. :-)
• The requirement to have "at least one high priority process improvement identified in the previous Retrospective meeting" on the Sprint Backlog creates some issues as it does not align with the definition of the Sprint Backlog.
• It is not a Product Backlog Item (PBI).
• It is not a part of the plan for delivering the Increment and realizing the Sprint Goal.
• It is not a forecast of functionality.
• The Sprint Backlog belongs solely to the Development Team therefore so does this process improvement item.
• Changes are inspected and adapted during the Daily Scrum (for Development Team only).
• Development Team works through the plan.
• Only the Development Team can change its Sprint Backlog during a Sprint.
• It is a highly visible, real-time picture of the work that the Development Team plans to accomplish during the Sprint.

Some Software Development History

There is a lot to the history of software development.  Start with Managing the Development of Large Software Systems[1] (1970), the misunderstanding that led to the waterfall process and classic project management[2].  The term agile comes from the Manifesto for Agile Software Development[3] (2001) though the groundwork for that philosophy started in the 1990s (history[4])
including eXtreme Programming[5] and Scrum[6].  Scrum being based on[7] Toyota's manufacturing model where Kanban and its principles[8] began: The New New Product Development Game[9].

  [1] https://www.cs.umd.edu/class/spring2003/cmsc838p/Process/waterfall.pdf
  [2] https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/what-is-project-management
  [3] http://agilemanifesto.org/
  [4] http://agilemanifesto.org/history.html
  [5] http://www.extremeprogramming.org/
  [6] https://www.scrum.org/
  [7] https://www.scruminc.com/takeuchi-and-nonaka-roots-of-scrum/
  [8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban#Toyota.27s_Six_Rules
  [9] https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game

Corporate Bureaucratic Agile

Glen B Alleman gives plenty of examples of the corporate bureaucratic idea of what agile is.  There is nothing wrong with attempting to identify risks and putting measures in place to reduce risks.  There is a problem with attempting to predict the future.  There is nothing in his content which reflects the values and principles of the manifesto.  Long term planning based on estimates of unknowns.

https://twitter.com/galleman/status/864330448477999105

https://twitter.com/galleman/status/864300464619180033

https://twitter.com/galleman/status/861233980686745600

For a guy with 3K+ followers . . . he doesn't receive a lot of interactivity . . . except when he is exemplifying his closed-mindedness with others.

Partial Features of .NET Core in Visual Studio 2017

There are some great things coming in Visual Studio 2017 . . . someday.  Some features have existed since 2013.  Some only partially.  With .NET Core being the future, these features need to be completed, especially since much of it mimics a nodeJS-esque process.

Live testing.  It looks as though it is working, the progress visual moves, but the tests aren't actually being executed; this is the most misleading UI/UX in a long time.  Some articles, and GitHub issue notes say "next release" but we're still waiting and wanting.

Browser Explorer.  Technically it works.  The lack of live reload is heartbreaking.  Gulp (which Microsoft recommends) and Grunt can watch for filesystem changes and execute tasks, such as browser refresh with connect, yet this IDE hasn't implemented it.

There are plenty of good reasons to switch.  Being on 15.3 without these features, and with many open issues, is a let down.  Here's to hoping that Microsoft can clean this up . . . and soon.

Equality Not Labels

If equality is truly the goal, then why is your group label so divisive?  Black/Blue/Brown/Yellow Lives Matter

Why does Hulu have a category for LGBT?  Can I request SWM?

Since there is the NAACP, can I start the NAAWP?

Why has LGBT become alphabet soup?  How many more can you define?