4 ms·

I have seen Agile working with pure core infrastructure teams. How does the UI (or lack thereof) change the applicability of agile?

hugey010 7y ago
UI specifications are inherently incomplete and often require feedback from stakeholders. You're developing software for consumption by regular humans with feelings and emotions instead of for another computer or developer. Then there's the "implied" specifications which could be anything from current design fads, to legacy support, accessibility, usability, and plain old opinion. Maybe a bad example, but it's basically mandatory to include a manpage for a cli utility, but do you always include drag & drop for a file uploader?
namdnay 7y ago
I would say it comes down to two things: 1 - Is it a domain where "user story" means something? 2 - Is it a domain where you can iterate fast? Usually for UI these two conditions are met. From my experience, when talking about big infrastructure projects, they aren't
- aeorgnoieang 7y ago
  Doesn't infrastructure have users too? Why wouldn't 'user story' mean something to them? All else equal, smaller or shorter feedback loops are better. And often shortening a feedback loop is worth considerable tradeoffs elsewhere. It's certainly the case that being able to iterate fast may not be currently possible, but being able to do so, or even just being able to iterate faster should probably always be a priority (even if not the top one). This all applies even to physical real-world infrastructure. I remember a story about a city somewhere (South America?) where the mayor (?) was able to shorten the feedback loop whereby roads were built or repaired. That seems like a good, even great, thing, even at somewhat considerable cost. What kind of big infrastructure projects were you thinking of specifically?

4 ms·

I have seen Agile working with pure core infrastructure teams. How does the UI (or lack thereof) change the applicability of agile?

by pflenker 7y ago

hugey010 7y ago
UI specifications are inherently incomplete and often require feedback from stakeholders. You're developing software for consumption by regular humans with feelings and emotions instead of for another computer or developer. Then there's the "implied" specifications which could be anything from current design fads, to legacy support, accessibility, usability, and plain old opinion. Maybe a bad example, but it's basically mandatory to include a manpage for a cli utility, but do you always include drag & drop for a file uploader?
namdnay 7y ago
I would say it comes down to two things: 1 - Is it a domain where "user story" means something? 2 - Is it a domain where you can iterate fast? Usually for UI these two conditions are met. From my experience, when talking about big infrastructure projects, they aren't
- aeorgnoieang 7y ago
  Doesn't infrastructure have users too? Why wouldn't 'user story' mean something to them? All else equal, smaller or shorter feedback loops are better. And often shortening a feedback loop is worth considerable tradeoffs elsewhere. It's certainly the case that being able to iterate fast may not be currently possible, but being able to do so, or even just being able to iterate faster should probably always be a priority (even if not the top one). This all applies even to physical real-world infrastructure. I remember a story about a city somewhere (South America?) where the mayor (?) was able to shorten the feedback loop whereby roads were built or repaired. That seems like a good, even great, thing, even at somewhat considerable cost. What kind of big infrastructure projects were you thinking of specifically?