Failing Successfully

In my last post Kibbee introduced me to a new word: Scrummerfall. That lead me to some interesting posts as well as another word: Waterscrum. Some interesting ideas and insights. I feel that it helps reading that - at work we're not alone in the suffering. It sort of lets the wind out of the sails too when you discover that the grass isn't actually greener on the other side.

I feel that we've failed at being "agile" at work but I will still count the experience as a success. Yes, failing successfully as it were. We've introduced things under the agile banner that I count more as basic software engineering tools / processes like a CI server, the standardized use of a build tool, adoption of unit test writing, use of static analysis tools to quickly provide feedback on the current state of the project. So even if people sit down at standups and want to plan 2 years of iterations, I'm glad that we did "agile". And I'd be glad if we could do it again, for the first time.

Calling it Agile does not make it so

At my work about 7 years ago there was a big push to turn our process into "XP / Agile". It's been an interesting ride but at this point I don't consider what we do "agile". True, we've taken some ideas from the agile methodology, but very few of them have stuck. The thing that I find the most funny is that some co-workers believe that we're fully XP - which I am amused by because I think that we never were. I was discussing this with a co-worker (CW) today and the conversation went like this:

CW: But we're doing Agile things like standups.
Me: How many chairs do you use?
CW: All of them...
Me: Then it isn't really a standup, is it?

I'm not trying to be a jackass, really I'm not. The fact that people aren't following the steps that are in the name of the activity without realizing how they are deviating from the process boggles my mind. Just calling something "agile" does not make it so. Imagine going to a car dealership and buying a BMW and they show up with a ford focus - "But hey, it's got 4 wheels and a windshield, it's pretty much the same thing! Tell all your friends that you drive a BMW! Vooommm!"

If you're driving a ford focus, it's better to just tell people that. Then at least you're all on the same page. If you're telling people that you drive a BMW and then find out about your ford focus, then you'll lose any credibility that you had. It'll just add to confusion and doesn't help anything. You could argue that it'll help you get a new job (because it's a buzzword) but in the interview they'll probably suss out your answers and figure out that you don't understand the terminology of your industry.

*sigh*

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, we shouldn't call it an Agile Frog. It just confuses people with images of a duck-frog-hybrid. (I hope that image stays in your mind all day.)

Let me know what's wrong

As part of the simplifying and ditching cable idea, I bought a DNS-323 that I'm going to hook into the ps3. Trying to set up the email alerts and have them use my isp (currently ncf) I was going nuts. It looked like it was timing out, but I there isn't any logging or anything useful. After a lot of failed attempts and some desperation, I decide to try google's smtp server.

And it works.

I'm half happy and half angry. I hate it when I feel that I've wasted a bunch of time. *sigh*

Best time to write a test

Today we were discussing using jQuery function rather than the $-function. I thought "there's no way that I'm going to remember to do that" - *ding! light bulb!* That's the point where you need to write a test. If there's any manual step that can be forgotten, then at some point it will be forgotten.

The 3 R's start with Reduce

When talking about the 3 R's order mattered - the first step was to reduce. I'm trying to apply this to more than just garbage. We're currently looking at ditching our cable tv and perhaps even the home phone line. The money isn't even the big issue - it's the fact that we're paying for things that we're barely using. The fact that the pvr cuts off programs and we lose the last 30 seconds and have to find it on the internet anyways just adds salt to the wound.

That's not to say that we won't watch tv - we buy plenty of dvd's, find episodes that we missed (again, cursed rogers and pvr) and now I'm looking at buying a OTA HD antenna.

In the end I think that I'd feel better if I just read more books and exercise more. I have a bit of a love hate relationship with tv.

At this point the only shows that we watch are: Glee, The Daily Show, Big Bang Theory, and How I Met Your Mother. The only one that I'm concerned that we'll not be able to get in a timely manner is The Daily Show. We'll figure it out.