I hate agile/scrum because...

Greg Utas

#2 and #3 are not unique to Agile/Scrum. They're a sign of imbecilic, blinkered management, which is a widespread problem.

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englebart

#0 should at a minimum have a Dev branch and a Prod branch. If something major pooches Dev, you can start a new Dev from Prod Agree on #2 We recently switched to a new UI. It took a lot of scrambling to get the artifacts for the previous iteration removed from the code. We need to be able to have dedicated sprints to “take out the trash”. #4 infrastructure: why Developers came up with DevOps and infrastructure as code!

kmoorevs

#realJSOP wrote:

We never get sanctioned time to work on developing tools that help us do our jobs better (a different kind of technical debt)

Is that an agile thing? :thumbsup: It's hard to sell the ROI to management who also have to sell it up the chain. In my situation, I'm forced to lie about it (working on productivity tools) or worse, do it on my own time/dime.

"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse "Hope is contagious"

realJSOP

We have multiple devs working on multiple apps sharing a lot code - branching/merging would really help.

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

realJSOP

July 12 2023 - that's my magic bullet.

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

realJSOP

we have a lot of signs of imbecilic, blinkered management.

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

realJSOP

It's a a side-effect of agile. We're only supposed to work on assigned tasks. Most of the technical debt we resolve is done on our own time - like the deployment tool I wrote, or the config-less connection strings module I wrote, or the entity factory app I wrote, or the refresh process forensic inspection tool I wrote. I could go on, but I think you get the point...

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013

Rick York

Since it is a government organization that is exactly what I would expect. Even a moderate level of competence would be a surprise to me.

"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"

Gary R Wheeler

I think any one of your items would make a great entry on a "Top 10 Signs You Should Bail" X| list. Just today I got tacit approval to address a #2 item. We have a piece of equipment-wrangling code that got its start 20 years ago. It's been through 6 or 7 hands in that time and an integral part of several different products. There have been any number of chain-saw edits to adapt it each time. The end result is less than coherent, and its behavior on the newest product has... bizarre edge-condition issues. I volunteered to take it over when one of our team quit and we reshuffled responsibilities. Yeah, I know volunteering is stupid. This thing, however, should be easy. Anyway, there was a gripe from the product prototype machine. This was the first time I'd done a deep dive into this code. None of it is particularly bad, it's just there's inactive cruft laying around and you can't see the forest for the kudzu. I told my boss in our team meeting today that I'd set up a branch of the component and I was developing a new version as a "learning experience" while I reviewed the original. Josh knew this was some of my finer grade BS, but he let me get away with it. Part of it may have been the fact that his hands were the last ones in this body of code before it landed in my lap. In my role as the DSJB(*) I've spent significant time on item 3. We have a diagnostic tool that is a Leatherman™[^] multi-tool for debugging our multi-processor, multi-threaded applications. Our home-grown automated build process ensures our products go from source control to compilers to install media, internal publishing, and change documentation without any manual steps or intervention. (*) Departmental Shit-Job Boy

Software Zen: delete this;

den2k88

#realJSOP wrote:

It's not a software development management tool, it's a people/time management tool that doesn't allow for mistakes or problems, or delays outside the development process (usually regarding infrastructure problems).

On this point I just want to say that Agile/Scrum is not a process per se but a few requirements of a process to be implemented by the company - nobody can print a list of operations to follow and declare themself agile. Compare it with SPICE and AutoSPICE to see the difference: each phase in SPICE is preceded, followed and cluttered by a metric farkton of paper. That said, if the process does not account for mistakes then it is broken. Each and every process must take into account the presence of mistakes in each of its phases and have mitigation/recovery procedures in place. All the other points are not Agile per se, it's the usual bad management. No process or process philosofy can fix that. I also worked with a manager that swore by Agile and he could work on safety sensitive (railway, so millions of potential life losses involved) projects that required high amounts of formal documents and validation with 99% efficiency, with a team of average-good developers (no geniuses). How did he do that? He is simply a good manager that chose Agile as it reflected his way of moving. I am sure he could have used any process management and have it work just as flawlessly.

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

GuyThiebaut

My understanding is that the purpose of Agile was to get developers to talk with each other but it has morphed into something that can be marketed and sold and can become bloated with unnecessary guff. Strangely enough all the swimlanes, burndown, backlog, user stories etc. can lead to developers talking less with each other. Branching and merging isn't always necessary but in my daily work I could not get away without it as there are too many of us working on the same codebase to risk committing straight to main and making the lives of other developers hell - on my personal home projects where I am the only developer I don't use branches.

“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”

― Christopher Hitchens

megaadam

#realJSOP wrote:

We never get sanctioned time to work technical debt

and such idiocy is not the fault of Scrum. That is the fault of a dyzfunctional corporate organisation [that uses "Scrum" as a pretext for anythin and everythin]

"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"

obermd

is your real problem. I agree with your comment about spending time in an endless meeting. I try not to do this with my staff.

Andreas Mertens

I always try to add an extra bit of buffer to my estimates. That way I have that extra bit of time to deal with refactoring/technical debt issues. If I don't use it, it looks good to management that I am meeting or exceeding my estimates.

dandy72 · July 12 2023 - that's my magic bullet.

Nice. Exactly one day before I turn 51.

trønderen

If I understand your right: If I am under a certain age, I am not granted the freedom to make up my own mind about the value of agile/scrum. Being young requires of me that I embrace it. You are not telling from which age you grant me the right to make my own judgements on the matter. I really hope that I am above that age. Geek and Poke: Advanced Scrum[^]

Slacker007

Perhaps you either don't understand the context to which I replied to John or you mistakenly are replying to me on another members post, because I completely do not understand your comments in relation to my post.:confused::confused::confused:

trønderen

When someone writes a post declaring rather negative feelings about agile/scrum, and you reply by suggesting that he may be near (or into) retirement, I find it quite obvious that you by that means to suggest that "The reason why you hate agile/scrum is that you are too old. If you had been younger, you wouldn't have written such an agile/scrum-critical post". I really see no other good reason why you would be referring to #realJSOP's retirement.

Slacker007

No, I was not suggesting that John was too old. If you know the history of John's employer and working environment, it is full of frustrations and misery a lot of the time. So, when I mentioned he was close to retirement, I meant that he will soon not have to deal with all the crap he deals with. John, I am sure, is more than capable of working in agile/scrum, regardless of his age. Cheers. :java:

realJSOP

Slacker007 wrote:

John, I am sure, is more than capable of working in agile/scrum, regardless of his age.

Hey hey hey! Let's not get carried away with assumptions. :)

".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
-----
You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
-----
When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013