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  3. Structured, yes or no?

Structured, yes or no?

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  • T TNCaver

    I agree. Agile is the invention of project managers and is designed for their purposes. Dividing development work into Scrum's arbitrary sprint lengths is just silly, and only measures how well you can train developers into fitting their work into the process so that progress reports can show artificial improvements. However, there is nothing wrong with planning your project, structuring its development into a logical sequence and being able to plan your day/week/month. I'm a loner programmer myself and I've always planned my projects by tasks. Now that I do work with a team I find the Kanban approach works well without all the red tape of scrum. Maybe you and your friend could try Kanban, or your own version.

    If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.

    Sander RosselS Offline
    Sander RosselS Offline
    Sander Rossel
    wrote on last edited by
    #6

    TNCaver wrote:

    I agree. Agile is the invention of project managers and is designed for their purposes. Dividing development work into Scrum's arbitrary sprint lengths is just silly, and only measures how well you can train developers into fitting their work into the process so that progress reports can show artificial improvements.

    Exactly this. I've even worked in a team where I wasn't allowed to pick up additional work if I finished my work, say, one or two days before the end of the sprint, because "we'll be planning that for the next sprint" :wtf: I'd just sit there and pretend to be working. Coworkers were just finishing up their work for the sprint so they didn't need my help either.

    TNCaver wrote:

    there is nothing wrong with planning your project, structuring its development into a logical sequence and being able to plan your day/week/month.

    Of course there isn't! However, when a client calls and says "we'd prefer you'd work on tasks A and B rather than what you're doing now" or even "drop everything, we need to do this work ASAP!" there should be room for that. I prefer knowing what I'll be doing the next month (if only because that means I have any work at all), but priorities can shift by the day.

    Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

    T L S 3 Replies Last reply
    0
    • P PIEBALDconsult

      Me too! It's why I also prefer to work alone. It seems that the larger the team the more rigidity is required -- Scrum recommends development teams between three and nine members. Scrum would slow me down.

      Sander RosselS Offline
      Sander RosselS Offline
      Sander Rossel
      wrote on last edited by
      #7

      Yeah, with two or three developers you can usually get away with just winging it. More than three and you'll need some process in place. Well, depending on the people you're dealing with I guess (but more people means more preferences). I think it's easier for people like us to follow some process than it is for people who need a process to not have one.

      Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

      1 Reply Last reply
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      • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

        I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

        Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

        M Offline
        M Offline
        MarkTJohnson
        wrote on last edited by
        #8

        Working solo you can do however you want but once a second person is added there needs to be some sort of structure. Formal process for two people who know each other, probably not. But some form of "Here's what I'm working on. What are you working on? Are we going to step on each other's toes?" conversations need to happen. I agree with the Kanban suggestion.

        I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.

        Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
        0
        • M MarkTJohnson

          Working solo you can do however you want but once a second person is added there needs to be some sort of structure. Formal process for two people who know each other, probably not. But some form of "Here's what I'm working on. What are you working on? Are we going to step on each other's toes?" conversations need to happen. I agree with the Kanban suggestion.

          I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.

          Sander RosselS Offline
          Sander RosselS Offline
          Sander Rossel
          wrote on last edited by
          #9

          MarkTJohnson wrote:

          But some form of "Here's what I'm working on. What are you working on? Are we going to step on each other's toes?" conversations need to happen.

          Yeah, definitely! But for me, they can be just that, conversations. That's exactly how my first employer did it. You fix that form, you write a new one and I'll work on a third. Are we clear? See you next week (or when someone has questions, or actually keep seeing you as we shared an office) :laugh:

          Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

          1 Reply Last reply
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          • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

            TNCaver wrote:

            I agree. Agile is the invention of project managers and is designed for their purposes. Dividing development work into Scrum's arbitrary sprint lengths is just silly, and only measures how well you can train developers into fitting their work into the process so that progress reports can show artificial improvements.

            Exactly this. I've even worked in a team where I wasn't allowed to pick up additional work if I finished my work, say, one or two days before the end of the sprint, because "we'll be planning that for the next sprint" :wtf: I'd just sit there and pretend to be working. Coworkers were just finishing up their work for the sprint so they didn't need my help either.

            TNCaver wrote:

            there is nothing wrong with planning your project, structuring its development into a logical sequence and being able to plan your day/week/month.

            Of course there isn't! However, when a client calls and says "we'd prefer you'd work on tasks A and B rather than what you're doing now" or even "drop everything, we need to do this work ASAP!" there should be room for that. I prefer knowing what I'll be doing the next month (if only because that means I have any work at all), but priorities can shift by the day.

            Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

            T Offline
            T Offline
            TNCaver
            wrote on last edited by
            #10

            And that's always been the case. Priorities change. I don't know what the "official" Kanban approach to that is, but we shift tasks between the "doing" and the "backlog" and the "on hold" statuses quite often because of shifting priorities. It doesn't mean you can't plan your day, it just means that sometimes you change your plans.

            If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.

            Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

              I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

              Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

              L Offline
              L Offline
              lmoelleb
              wrote on last edited by
              #11

              Waterfall: "We can't do that until the next release in around a year" With Scrum: "We can't do that until the next sprint in a few weeks" That is why you will find people saying Scrum gives flexibility. It all depends on where you started from. So yes, people who says "Scrum brings flexibility" are completely right. Just as the people who says "Scrum is making the process too rigid" are completely right. Understand what the methodologies tries to solve - then understand your own processes (and the problems with it). Then you can choose the right methodology for your team. Only consultants think the same process is the answer to every situation (and strangely, it is always the one where they can offer you "services"). Personally my productivity can be pretty much killed by switching priority daily (or multiple times a day) and I have yet to see a team (let's say 5 people+) that is not more productive if they are allowed to work unobstructed for at least a few days. My personal preference would probably be Kanban - but to be honest our Scrum is already leaning in that direction just because we don't take it too too serious :)

              M 1 Reply Last reply
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              • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

                Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                Greg UtasG Offline
                Greg UtasG Offline
                Greg Utas
                wrote on last edited by
                #12

                I think your post is talking about two different things. The first one is process. You don't need guidelines or rules to follow until something bad happens. Then you put something in place to reduce the chances of it happening again, even if working alone. The second one is stability. I would also get annoyed if priorities were constantly changing. It's also not an effective way to work when you often have to drop one thing for another. Returning to where you left off takes time. And if you never return to it, you wasted time on something that wasn't needed. The less churn, the better. Wanting to know what's coming months in advance may be unrealistic, but knowing what's coming this week isn't. It won't always work out as planned, but it usually should.

                Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

                Sander RosselS C 2 Replies Last reply
                0
                • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                  I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

                  Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                  D Offline
                  D Offline
                  den2k88
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #13

                  Structure, with flexibility of course. Without it's all a mess of work hours but with no idea of the direction.

                  GCS d--(d-) s-/++ a C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • T TNCaver

                    I agree. Agile is the invention of project managers and is designed for their purposes. Dividing development work into Scrum's arbitrary sprint lengths is just silly, and only measures how well you can train developers into fitting their work into the process so that progress reports can show artificial improvements. However, there is nothing wrong with planning your project, structuring its development into a logical sequence and being able to plan your day/week/month. I'm a loner programmer myself and I've always planned my projects by tasks. Now that I do work with a team I find the Kanban approach works well without all the red tape of scrum. Maybe you and your friend could try Kanban, or your own version.

                    If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    lmoelleb
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #14

                    Do you know where Agile comes from? Because the statement "Agile is the invention of project managers and is designed for their purposes" to me looks a bit strange when you know the history of agile.

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                      TNCaver wrote:

                      I agree. Agile is the invention of project managers and is designed for their purposes. Dividing development work into Scrum's arbitrary sprint lengths is just silly, and only measures how well you can train developers into fitting their work into the process so that progress reports can show artificial improvements.

                      Exactly this. I've even worked in a team where I wasn't allowed to pick up additional work if I finished my work, say, one or two days before the end of the sprint, because "we'll be planning that for the next sprint" :wtf: I'd just sit there and pretend to be working. Coworkers were just finishing up their work for the sprint so they didn't need my help either.

                      TNCaver wrote:

                      there is nothing wrong with planning your project, structuring its development into a logical sequence and being able to plan your day/week/month.

                      Of course there isn't! However, when a client calls and says "we'd prefer you'd work on tasks A and B rather than what you're doing now" or even "drop everything, we need to do this work ASAP!" there should be room for that. I prefer knowing what I'll be doing the next month (if only because that means I have any work at all), but priorities can shift by the day.

                      Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                      L Offline
                      L Offline
                      lmoelleb
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #15

                      How many clients do you have? Because if I drop whatever I am working on because client "A" think it is important... what about clients "B-Z"? Support cases gets priority (i.e. the product can't do something it should be able to do and it affects their business), but besides that we can't interrupt the team every time a client gets "a good idea".

                      Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                        I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

                        Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                        J Offline
                        J Offline
                        Jo_vb net
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #16

                        Too much structure can cause a lot of useless output. My current example: I'm testing the MVVM Toolkit from MS (which is based on the very popular MVVMLight from Galasoft). When you install the NuGet package of the MVVM Toolkit it comes along with 6 or 7 other packages. And when you create a new build it adds more than 100 files to your debug folder !! MVVMLight from Galasoft did add less than 10 files.

                        L 1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • J Jo_vb net

                          Too much structure can cause a lot of useless output. My current example: I'm testing the MVVM Toolkit from MS (which is based on the very popular MVVMLight from Galasoft). When you install the NuGet package of the MVVM Toolkit it comes along with 6 or 7 other packages. And when you create a new build it adds more than 100 files to your debug folder !! MVVMLight from Galasoft did add less than 10 files.

                          L Offline
                          L Offline
                          lmoelleb
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #17

                          Well, and then there is me: Why on earth would you use a toolkit for MVVM. But I am starting to accept that either: 1) I did not understand MVVM and by accident created something that is way simpler to program 2) A lot of other people are misunderstanding MVVM. I do not care which one it is, as long as those toolkits are kept away from my software. :D

                          J 1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • Greg UtasG Greg Utas

                            I think your post is talking about two different things. The first one is process. You don't need guidelines or rules to follow until something bad happens. Then you put something in place to reduce the chances of it happening again, even if working alone. The second one is stability. I would also get annoyed if priorities were constantly changing. It's also not an effective way to work when you often have to drop one thing for another. Returning to where you left off takes time. And if you never return to it, you wasted time on something that wasn't needed. The less churn, the better. Wanting to know what's coming months in advance may be unrealistic, but knowing what's coming this week isn't. It won't always work out as planned, but it usually should.

                            Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                            The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                            Sander RosselS Offline
                            Sander RosselS Offline
                            Sander Rossel
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #18

                            Greg Utas wrote:

                            The less churn, the better. Wanting to know what's coming months in advance may be unrealistic, but knowing what's coming this week isn't. It won't always work out as planned, but it usually should.

                            True, but our churn is dependent on that of our customers. If they have churn, we have it too. The difference is that we're getting paid for it.

                            Greg Utas wrote:

                            And if you never return to it, you wasted time on something that wasn't needed.

                            I've been hearing this a lot too. Frankly, I don't really care. It's nice when customers use your software, but if they don't, they don't. As long as they pay for it it's not my time that was wasted, but their money.

                            Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                            Greg UtasG D 2 Replies Last reply
                            0
                            • L lmoelleb

                              How many clients do you have? Because if I drop whatever I am working on because client "A" think it is important... what about clients "B-Z"? Support cases gets priority (i.e. the product can't do something it should be able to do and it affects their business), but besides that we can't interrupt the team every time a client gets "a good idea".

                              Sander RosselS Offline
                              Sander RosselS Offline
                              Sander Rossel
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #19

                              A couple, but sometimes it's like that. Last month, I had months of work ahead of me, but someone quit his job and months of work kind of evaporated and priorities for this customer changed quite a bit. Yesterday I had a call with the customer and we're now going to pick up a new project while postponing the previous one. So, I now have weeks of work for this client alone, while yesterday I had none, while last month I had months (talk about churn) :doh: Of course, that resulted in other customers getting more priority with their changes. Meanwhile, another customer called this morning, his reporting didn't work, took me half a day to fix. Of course I'm not doing everything ASAP, but when a client calls it usually has to be scheduled in later this week, or at least somewhere this month.

                              Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                              L 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • T TNCaver

                                And that's always been the case. Priorities change. I don't know what the "official" Kanban approach to that is, but we shift tasks between the "doing" and the "backlog" and the "on hold" statuses quite often because of shifting priorities. It doesn't mean you can't plan your day, it just means that sometimes you change your plans.

                                If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP.

                                Sander RosselS Offline
                                Sander RosselS Offline
                                Sander Rossel
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #20

                                TNCaver wrote:

                                it just means that sometimes you change your plans.

                                And sometimes multiple times a day :laugh: Maybe this is also because I'm alone working on multiple projects? I guess when you're in a team people have their own clients and projects and maybe there's a bit more stability.

                                Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                                1 Reply Last reply
                                0
                                • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                                  I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

                                  Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                                  O Offline
                                  O Offline
                                  obermd
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #21

                                  Try something like a Trello task board. If your project is hosted on GitHub, there's a Trello add-in that will allow comments during commits to become tasks. Here's a sample board New Requests Requests being worked Requests being tested Requests completed This will give both of you the ability to see what's in queue and give your friend the structure he needs.

                                  Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
                                  0
                                  • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                                    Greg Utas wrote:

                                    The less churn, the better. Wanting to know what's coming months in advance may be unrealistic, but knowing what's coming this week isn't. It won't always work out as planned, but it usually should.

                                    True, but our churn is dependent on that of our customers. If they have churn, we have it too. The difference is that we're getting paid for it.

                                    Greg Utas wrote:

                                    And if you never return to it, you wasted time on something that wasn't needed.

                                    I've been hearing this a lot too. Frankly, I don't really care. It's nice when customers use your software, but if they don't, they don't. As long as they pay for it it's not my time that was wasted, but their money.

                                    Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                                    Greg UtasG Offline
                                    Greg UtasG Offline
                                    Greg Utas
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #22

                                    I can see why you wouldn't care if the customer is paying anyway. It's probably a personality thing. Like your colleague, I don't like being yanked around in one direction, then another. I would tell the customer that churn has a cost and suggest that we work together to better determine the requirements in advance. If they didn't want to do that, OK, they're the customer. But not one that I'd gladly take on again.

                                    Robust Services Core | Software Techniques for Lemmings | Articles
                                    The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

                                    <p><a href="https://github.com/GregUtas/robust-services-core/blob/master/README.md">Robust Services Core</a>
                                    <em>The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.</em></p>

                                    Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                                      I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

                                      Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                                      Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                                      Richard Andrew x64R Offline
                                      Richard Andrew x64
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #23

                                      Think of the addition of structure as simply the next step in your evolution as a developer and businessman. It's inevitable.

                                      The difficult we do right away... ...the impossible takes slightly longer.

                                      Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                                        I've always been a bit of a cowboy coder. Has everything to do with my first job and it fits my personality, I think. Not one for lots of rules or things set in stone. My customers prefer it that way too, they're too busy to worry about the development process, they just want a working project delivered. I've always disliked scrum for that reason, way to much red tape! Oh, and I dread the "we can't do that until the next sprint" reply from companies! X| So I'm now working with an external designer (who is also a friend), and he has some problems with this way of working. It's basically constant changes, shifting priorities, loose deadlines (if at all), etc. He prefers to know what's up for today, the next two weeks, and the coming months, in that order. A change should be requested up front, planned, etc. So basically he prefers (the rigidity of) scrum*. It even affects his mood in that he doesn't feel like working because he doesn't know what to expect. As far as I know he's not on the autism spectrum. Needless to say, as a good developer-manager I'm now trying to keep him out of the chaos and bring some structure to his tasks. What are the preferences here? * I know scrum should be the opposite of rigid, but that's not at all how I've experienced it

                                        Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

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                                        Daniel Pfeffer
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #24

                                        When working alone, do whatever you feel comfortable with. I suspect that even then, you impose some structure on your work. When working with someone else, some structure is essential. This is necessary so you can coordinate your work - for example if your team member is designing the UI, you don't want to have him/her sitting around waiting for you to implement & test it while you write the data access layer. This does not mean that you need to implement all the requirements of the American DoD. :omg: :) As always, YMMV.

                                        Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

                                        Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • Sander RosselS Sander Rossel

                                          Greg Utas wrote:

                                          The less churn, the better. Wanting to know what's coming months in advance may be unrealistic, but knowing what's coming this week isn't. It won't always work out as planned, but it usually should.

                                          True, but our churn is dependent on that of our customers. If they have churn, we have it too. The difference is that we're getting paid for it.

                                          Greg Utas wrote:

                                          And if you never return to it, you wasted time on something that wasn't needed.

                                          I've been hearing this a lot too. Frankly, I don't really care. It's nice when customers use your software, but if they don't, they don't. As long as they pay for it it's not my time that was wasted, but their money.

                                          Best, Sander Azure DevOps Succinctly (free eBook) Azure Serverless Succinctly (free eBook) Migrating Apps to the Cloud with Azure arrgh.js - Bringing LINQ to JavaScript

                                          D Offline
                                          D Offline
                                          Daniel Pfeffer
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #25

                                          I beg to differ. Money is not the only reason I write code. Another reason is the satisfaction of knowing that people find it useful and are using it. Basically, I'm happy when my client are happy with what they paid for. This is also a good way to ensure repeat business.

                                          Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows. -- 6079 Smith W.

                                          Sander RosselS 1 Reply Last reply
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