5 ms·

Yes. In agile development we have one "sprint" cycle followed by another. When do we stop sprinting?

expertentipp 9y ago
We don't want do disappoint Scrum master, do we? If one doesn't like daily standups one can always change the job, right? /s
- arkh 9y ago
  If your team was really agile it would be the case. Retrospective should be used to discuss and adapt the way you handle your iteration (not sprint). If your daily stand-up are a problem, remove them. But agile is like communism or free market: it does not exist.
_pmf_ 9y ago
Obligatory quote from Rich Hickey (from his talk "Simple Made Easy"): "Who can run at the top of their ability? Right. A short distance runner. You can’t run far at that speed. We programmers have figured out how to fix that, though. We just fire the start pistol every hundred yards and call it a new sprint!"
UK-AL 9y ago
If your using sprints to put pressure on people, tell your manager he's doing it wrong. Work out your velocity at which you can do work at consistent pace without pressuring people. I think one of biggest mistakes in scrum was calling sprints, sprints. The goal out of scrum is being able to release at predictable and sane pace. Not to maximise output
- avian 9y ago
  Every pitch I've heard for Scrum promised increased productivity. I've seen consultants come in and show slides like "10x increase in output per employee" (and then refuse to answer what exactly that means in terms of code produced). Maybe it's not some philosophical goal, but it's definitely something that's advertised a lot in practice. I've come to treat the fact that they use Scrum as a minus in potential employers.
  - UK-AL 9y ago
    The biggest issue with pushing for pure productivity is that it makes your team unpredictable and inconsistent. One sprint, yes you may get more out of them if you pressure them. But on the next sprint? Your team has mentally clocked out. In practise going for consistent and sane pace increases productivity over the long term than trying to pressure your team. So yes, it can increase productivity but not in a naïve way.
  - mooreds 9y ago
    I thought the goal wasn't more productivity, but rather more consistency. The goals of agile, as I have seen them pitched, were always about the business having more insight about speed and control of the why, and the developers having more control over the how. That said I have never worked in a place that fulfilled all the agile agenda.
  - marcosdumay 9y ago
    Agile is about finishing the antagonism around the developers and product owners that appears when the product is badly specified or the business is risky. I have no idea what Scrum is about. Most people claim it's a way to fulfill the above paragraph, but then half of its formalism would have to be dropped. Anyway, as badly named as sprints are, they are one of the formalisms that wouldn't need dropping.
- Clubber 9y ago
  The problem isn't the velocity IMO, it's the endless grind that sprints create. Back when, we used to do quarterly releases (back when you would burn to a CD and ship it). Quarterly releases were pretty aggressive, but at the end of the release, we would celebrate. Biweekly releases are just insane and no celebration, just another sprint. Grind, grind, grind.
  - UK-AL 9y ago
    I remember those days as the worst. I remember coming to release times, and having "crunch" times.
    - Clubber 9y ago
      Agree, but now every 2 weeks is crunch time.

We don't want do disappoint Scrum master, do we? If one doesn't like daily standups one can always change the job, right? /s

arkh 9y ago
If your team was really agile it would be the case. Retrospective should be used to discuss and adapt the way you handle your iteration (not sprint). If your daily stand-up are a problem, remove them. But agile is like communism or free market: it does not exist.

_pmf_ 9y ago

Obligatory quote from Rich Hickey (from his talk "Simple Made Easy"): "Who can run at the top of their ability? Right. A short distance runner. You can’t run far at that speed. We programmers have figured out how to fix that, though. We just fire the start pistol every hundred yards and call it a new sprint!"

UK-AL 9y ago

If your using sprints to put pressure on people, tell your manager he's doing it wrong. Work out your velocity at which you can do work at consistent pace without pressuring people. I think one of biggest mistakes in scrum was calling sprints, sprints. The goal out of scrum is being able to release at predictable and sane pace. Not to maximise output

avian 9y ago
Every pitch I've heard for Scrum promised increased productivity. I've seen consultants come in and show slides like "10x increase in output per employee" (and then refuse to answer what exactly that means in terms of code produced). Maybe it's not some philosophical goal, but it's definitely something that's advertised a lot in practice. I've come to treat the fact that they use Scrum as a minus in potential employers.
- UK-AL 9y ago
  The biggest issue with pushing for pure productivity is that it makes your team unpredictable and inconsistent. One sprint, yes you may get more out of them if you pressure them. But on the next sprint? Your team has mentally clocked out. In practise going for consistent and sane pace increases productivity over the long term than trying to pressure your team. So yes, it can increase productivity but not in a naïve way.
- mooreds 9y ago
  I thought the goal wasn't more productivity, but rather more consistency. The goals of agile, as I have seen them pitched, were always about the business having more insight about speed and control of the why, and the developers having more control over the how. That said I have never worked in a place that fulfilled all the agile agenda.
- marcosdumay 9y ago
  Agile is about finishing the antagonism around the developers and product owners that appears when the product is badly specified or the business is risky. I have no idea what Scrum is about. Most people claim it's a way to fulfill the above paragraph, but then half of its formalism would have to be dropped. Anyway, as badly named as sprints are, they are one of the formalisms that wouldn't need dropping.
Clubber 9y ago
The problem isn't the velocity IMO, it's the endless grind that sprints create. Back when, we used to do quarterly releases (back when you would burn to a CD and ship it). Quarterly releases were pretty aggressive, but at the end of the release, we would celebrate. Biweekly releases are just insane and no celebration, just another sprint. Grind, grind, grind.
- UK-AL 9y ago
  I remember those days as the worst. I remember coming to release times, and having "crunch" times.
  - Clubber 9y ago
    Agree, but now every 2 weeks is crunch time.