5 ms·

> There have been a lot of times in other jobs where we'd have a slack in our schedule and I used the down time to make a change that was really necessary and t

> There have been a lot of times in other jobs where we'd have a slack in our schedule and I used the down time to make a change that was really necessary and took a minimal amount of time, mentioned it in a standup meeting, and got blasted for not working on our "commitments" for the "sprint" (even when I had nothing to do). That doesn't really have anything to do with agile or scrum though. Just add a refactor/investigation task to the backlog for the sprint. Those types of activities should be justifiable too. If your team doesn't allow those types of tasks for some reason, that's more of a team problem than a problem with agile.

overgard 9y ago
"Justifiable" is the key word though. Why do I need to justify what I'm working on daily unless I'm not trusted? I mean, like most programmers, I have a four year computer science degree that was definitely not easy to obtain, I have like 10 years of experience, I've shown an understanding for prioritizing things that actually are important for the business, and they pay me a six figure salary for my expertise, so having to justify myself daily seems, frankly, insulting. I've worked in places where I didn't have to do that, and you know what? The sky didn't fall. Work still got done. (I would argue, more work, because people were more engaged since they felt a sense of ownership). We just had extra time in the day from fewer useless meetings, and a lot less politics from people trying to game the numbers they pull out of Jira and stuff like that.
- solipsism 9y ago
  This is a toxic attitude. Your 10 years of experience and 4 year education don't make you infallible. A high functioning team works closely, and that involves everyone's decisions being subject to scrutiny. If you can't justify your work, then it probably shouldn't get done. If you won't justify your work, then you don't deserve the six figures.
  - overgard 9y ago
    I never claimed to be infallible, and I'm happy to explain what I'm doing if someone asks, but ask yourself, how many other skilled highly educated professions are asked to provide such a humiliating measure of unnecessary transparency? (Hint: not most of them). Does your manager give you such transparency into what they're doing day to day? (Generally speaking: nope!) How do I know they're not just spending their afternoon's playing golf? (I don't: but I wouldn't work for them if I didn't think they were mature capable professionals). Think of it this way, in relationships, business or otherwise, what's sub-communicated is just as important as what's explicitly communicated. Often it's more important. And what's communicated via most agile processes is that programmers are unimportant cogs with no business knowledge that can't be trusted to not stray from important tasks. I think that's ugly.
    - rdiddly 9y ago
      When a lawyer or consultant bills a client he has to enumerate how each hour is spent. As an engineer in another field I submitted all my calculations for peer review, and all my drawings had to be signed by a manager. When you buy a grocery product you get a list of every ingredient and all the nutritional info. It's nothing more than transparency and accountability. The one paying the money wants and deserves to know what it's for.
      - 0x445442 9y ago
        Your example is much closer to a code or design review than a daily scrum meeting. I don't think he's against design meetings or reviews. Also, software development is quite a bit different than other engineering disciplines, at least at the application development level.
    - ZeroGravitas 9y ago
      This made me think of the book "checklist manifesto" which argues that surgeons should be forced to follow a checklist to make sure they don't miss anything. Part of the argument is that often the more junior members of them team know the surgeons are making mistakes, but there's no way for them to point this out without being bullied. Anectodes include the wrong leg being cut off while members of the medical team know it's the wrong one, but darent risk their career to mention it. I'm not sure how this relates to your comment, except your line about other professions reminded me.
  - megaman22 9y ago
    Yikes... this is a toxic attitude. I'd expect that kind of scrutiny in a hard-hat and lunch pail assembly line job, not a purportedly professional career.
    - fjsolwmv 9y ago
      Professional doctors, lawyers , and plumbers are all accountable for their time.
    - solipsism 9y ago
      Being a professional means having the self confidence and emotional maturity to justify one's work whenever it is called into question. In fact, one should do the due diligence (including cost benefit analysis) to be able to answer the question with ease. If you can't answer "why are you working on this?" easily then you're not doing your job. And if you resent being asked the question, then you either are self employed or you forgot who pays your salary.
  - cjcenizal 9y ago
    You may be saying the same things. It seems like the person you’re replying to emphasized _daily_ justification of work, which does seem unnecessary to me.
    - solipsism 9y ago
      Being open to having to justify anything that's called into question, and being capable of doing so, and being happy to... are different from forced to.
- purplezooey 9y ago
  I sort of agree with you. A lot of "justification" ends up being such a frustrating waste if time. Usually necessary though.
- 0x445442 9y ago
  Yeah, not once have I been involved with a project or team attempting some forced process where an objective benefit to cost analysis was done on the process itself.

overgard 9y ago

"Justifiable" is the key word though. Why do I need to justify what I'm working on daily unless I'm not trusted? I mean, like most programmers, I have a four year computer science degree that was definitely not easy to obtain, I have like 10 years of experience, I've shown an understanding for prioritizing things that actually are important for the business, and they pay me a six figure salary for my expertise, so having to justify myself daily seems, frankly, insulting. I've worked in places where I didn't have to do that, and you know what? The sky didn't fall. Work still got done. (I would argue, more work, because people were more engaged since they felt a sense of ownership). We just had extra time in the day from fewer useless meetings, and a lot less politics from people trying to game the numbers they pull out of Jira and stuff like that.

solipsism 9y ago
This is a toxic attitude. Your 10 years of experience and 4 year education don't make you infallible. A high functioning team works closely, and that involves everyone's decisions being subject to scrutiny. If you can't justify your work, then it probably shouldn't get done. If you won't justify your work, then you don't deserve the six figures.
- overgard 9y ago
  I never claimed to be infallible, and I'm happy to explain what I'm doing if someone asks, but ask yourself, how many other skilled highly educated professions are asked to provide such a humiliating measure of unnecessary transparency? (Hint: not most of them). Does your manager give you such transparency into what they're doing day to day? (Generally speaking: nope!) How do I know they're not just spending their afternoon's playing golf? (I don't: but I wouldn't work for them if I didn't think they were mature capable professionals). Think of it this way, in relationships, business or otherwise, what's sub-communicated is just as important as what's explicitly communicated. Often it's more important. And what's communicated via most agile processes is that programmers are unimportant cogs with no business knowledge that can't be trusted to not stray from important tasks. I think that's ugly.
  - rdiddly 9y ago
    When a lawyer or consultant bills a client he has to enumerate how each hour is spent. As an engineer in another field I submitted all my calculations for peer review, and all my drawings had to be signed by a manager. When you buy a grocery product you get a list of every ingredient and all the nutritional info. It's nothing more than transparency and accountability. The one paying the money wants and deserves to know what it's for.
    - 0x445442 9y ago
      Your example is much closer to a code or design review than a daily scrum meeting. I don't think he's against design meetings or reviews. Also, software development is quite a bit different than other engineering disciplines, at least at the application development level.
  - ZeroGravitas 9y ago
    This made me think of the book "checklist manifesto" which argues that surgeons should be forced to follow a checklist to make sure they don't miss anything. Part of the argument is that often the more junior members of them team know the surgeons are making mistakes, but there's no way for them to point this out without being bullied. Anectodes include the wrong leg being cut off while members of the medical team know it's the wrong one, but darent risk their career to mention it. I'm not sure how this relates to your comment, except your line about other professions reminded me.
- megaman22 9y ago
  Yikes... this is a toxic attitude. I'd expect that kind of scrutiny in a hard-hat and lunch pail assembly line job, not a purportedly professional career.
  - fjsolwmv 9y ago
    Professional doctors, lawyers , and plumbers are all accountable for their time.
  - solipsism 9y ago
    Being a professional means having the self confidence and emotional maturity to justify one's work whenever it is called into question. In fact, one should do the due diligence (including cost benefit analysis) to be able to answer the question with ease. If you can't answer "why are you working on this?" easily then you're not doing your job. And if you resent being asked the question, then you either are self employed or you forgot who pays your salary.
- cjcenizal 9y ago
  You may be saying the same things. It seems like the person you’re replying to emphasized _daily_ justification of work, which does seem unnecessary to me.
  - solipsism 9y ago
    Being open to having to justify anything that's called into question, and being capable of doing so, and being happy to... are different from forced to.
purplezooey 9y ago
I sort of agree with you. A lot of "justification" ends up being such a frustrating waste if time. Usually necessary though.
0x445442 9y ago
Yeah, not once have I been involved with a project or team attempting some forced process where an objective benefit to cost analysis was done on the process itself.