3 ms·

Management: "You mean there's a software development methodology that lets us track dev progress with a microscope, and that eschews planning (which we hate and

by kabdib 11y ago

Management: "You mean there's a software development methodology that lets us track dev progress with a microscope, and that eschews planning (which we hate and suck at anyway)? And bonus it makes us look hip and with-it? Sign us up!" I knew Agile was dead the moment that Microsoft managers started to "implement" it.

UK-AL 11y ago
Why? Microsoft consistently develops some of the most popular products.
- na85 11y ago
  Microsoft's products are popular due to excellent marketing, not because of their technical merits. Most of their products are mediocre at best, and many of them seriously suck. Particularly their operating system. IMHO the only thing MS has produced that's actually good is Excel.
  - anko 11y ago
    Visual Studio is awesome
kps 11y ago
Capital-A Agile is essentially collectivized micromanagement, and brings together all the well-known advantages of collectivization and micromanagement.
simonswords82 11y ago
Hmmm....I understand what you're saying but we still use agile at my software company and as one of its managers that's not my take. Here's my view on the points you've raised: It does allow us to track dev progress, but with great power comes great responsibility. We don't micromanage our devs but we do use the data this produces to keep clients up to speed on development progress. This allows us to be mega transparent, generates trust and this makes clients happy and less prone to worrying. We still plan, but we don't try to plan the full project ahead of time, we all know that never ends well. We work with our clients to plan 2 x two week sprints. When those sprints are complete we pull them back in to get their feedback and decide what needs to be done in the upcoming sprints. This gives clients flexibility as they often need to change their minds when they see the finished sprint. It works for them and us. Agile in and of itself doesn't make us look hip unfortunately. Trello, the tool we use to map out sprints and report on progress does though. Our clients love it and it's revolutionised our relationships with them. In fact, a major reason we won another big contract just last week was due to the approach I've outlined above.

by kabdib 11y ago

UK-AL 11y ago

Why? Microsoft consistently develops some of the most popular products.

na85 11y ago
Microsoft's products are popular due to excellent marketing, not because of their technical merits. Most of their products are mediocre at best, and many of them seriously suck. Particularly their operating system. IMHO the only thing MS has produced that's actually good is Excel.
- anko 11y ago
  Visual Studio is awesome

kps 11y ago

Capital-A Agile is essentially collectivized micromanagement, and brings together all the well-known advantages of collectivization and micromanagement.

simonswords82 11y ago

Hmmm....I understand what you're saying but we still use agile at my software company and as one of its managers that's not my take. Here's my view on the points you've raised: It does allow us to track dev progress, but with great power comes great responsibility. We don't micromanage our devs but we do use the data this produces to keep clients up to speed on development progress. This allows us to be mega transparent, generates trust and this makes clients happy and less prone to worrying. We still plan, but we don't try to plan the full project ahead of time, we all know that never ends well. We work with our clients to plan 2 x two week sprints. When those sprints are complete we pull them back in to get their feedback and decide what needs to be done in the upcoming sprints. This gives clients flexibility as they often need to change their minds when they see the finished sprint. It works for them and us. Agile in and of itself doesn't make us look hip unfortunately. Trello, the tool we use to map out sprints and report on progress does though. Our clients love it and it's revolutionised our relationships with them. In fact, a major reason we won another big contract just last week was due to the approach I've outlined above.