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Having recently experienced "agile", one of the things I've concluded is that the PM needs to be fireable by the team. I don't mean unemployed, I simply mean t

Having recently experienced "agile", one of the things I've concluded is that the PM needs to be fireable by the team. I don't mean unemployed, I simply mean the team needs to be able to tell the PM they will no longer be working with them. I just put in my 2 week notice at a shop that I've been working at for 6 months, and what I've found is that effectiveness isn't the goal. Having done freelance for the past 8 years, I was actively shocked by how ineffective and wasteful the processes were here. I once witnessed a discussion about whether to CC multiple people or send each person their own copy that took over a week and eventually involved a VP. I put in my 2 week notice this Monday. It took me all of 2 days to start filling my time again once I made the decision, and I can't even tell you how much I'm looking forward to going back to working for myself. It feels like having a straight jacket removed. I'm sure there are shops out there that end up using agile and don't become these ridiculous monstrosities, but I feel like those shops would be successful with or without agile.

nwallin 7y ago
> I'm sure there are shops out there that end up using agile and don't become these ridiculous monstrosities, but I feel like those shops would be successful with or without agile. I think that's the key. Agile isn't a silver bullet, it's just a tool. If your problems are screws and you grab a screwdriver, you're probably in good shape. It works great for my team, because we all trust each other and genuinely take the quality of our product to heart. It doesn't work for our neighboring team because nobody gives a fuck besides getting credit for all of the good stuff and deflecting blame for all of the bad stuff. I don't have a whole lot of faith in "there's one way to run a team/be a leader and you do it like this" sort of thing. The style of leadership I was taught in the military would not fucking fly on my team, but honestly, it would serve my neighboring team fairly well. Their problems are nails.

nwallin 7y ago

> I'm sure there are shops out there that end up using agile and don't become these ridiculous monstrosities, but I feel like those shops would be successful with or without agile. I think that's the key. Agile isn't a silver bullet, it's just a tool. If your problems are screws and you grab a screwdriver, you're probably in good shape. It works great for my team, because we all trust each other and genuinely take the quality of our product to heart. It doesn't work for our neighboring team because nobody gives a fuck besides getting credit for all of the good stuff and deflecting blame for all of the bad stuff. I don't have a whole lot of faith in "there's one way to run a team/be a leader and you do it like this" sort of thing. The style of leadership I was taught in the military would not fucking fly on my team, but honestly, it would serve my neighboring team fairly well. Their problems are nails.