...in fact, it's actually a good thing.
Scrum but…
Having experienced Flaccid Scrum, I find this article interesting, and agree with most of it.
I'd also like to add though, that if you do the scrum practices (story cards, stand ups, retrospectives, etc) but don't buy into the fundamental principals, you will not succeed. And that means everyone on the team, not just the people in charge. In particular, if the team is not empowered, is not committing to the estimates and the iteration plan in its heart, and and does not trust, then you are probably better off using traditional processes. Or just as likely to fail whatever process you use.
Gender Stereotyping
I'm very interested in the subject of gender stereotyping, which probably isn't surprising as I'm a girl in a predominantly male industry. And I like cars, and sports, and get irritated if people assume I'm not "allowed" to be interested in these things.
Far from being discriminated against, however, I find many people ask me why there aren't more women in the industry and what can be done to encourage girls into IT. If these questions were easy to answer, they wouldn't have to be asked.
Nine Things Developers Want More Than Money
Nine Things Developer Want More Than Money
Read if you're a developer and wondering what's missing from your job.
Read if you're a manager and you're looking to recruit the right types of developers. In particular be honest with yourself over whether your organisation is more aligned to "hygiene" or "motivation". At least one of the poor job decisions I have made is because the role was mis-sold as one and turned out to be the other.
Metrics and Incentives.
This is a great example of what happens when you try to incentivise intelligent people on very simple metrics.
They cheat.
This was well described in Freakonomics, and something Mr On Software bangs on about regularly. It's clear that there isn't really a good answer to the problem - actually that's not true. The answer to the problem is to have everyone working in a job they are happy in and proud of, one where they are intrinsically motivated, and give them enough information to allow them to make the correct calls when it comes to prioritising work. But I'm guessing that a large portion of the working world does not fall into this category.
Agile Infection Growing
This is a bloody good idea. It builds upon my own Virgoen tendancies to write lists and tick things off, but what the list model lacks is the "in progress" state. Plus occasionally my lists get confused. See today's notebook page:
Certifiction
From spellfecker today:
Certifiction (n.) : a professional endorsement which states only that the holder had the money to pay for the exam.
...which reminded me of this debate, particularly the first comment.
Continuing the Agile froth…
...there are a number of points in this interview with Paul Oldfield which are interesting to consider when thinking about "doing Agile right". It seems to be compatible with my "people over process" view - I'm not stating that having good people negates the need for any form of process or discipline, I have seen that this is simply not the case. I do however think that agile techniques in particular rely heavily upon the "right" people / team, for some nebulous definition of "right".