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In one company that proclaimed to do “agile”, our release was suddenly halted by the business, because they came up with some new requirements. These were regul

In one company that proclaimed to do “agile”, our release was suddenly halted by the business, because they came up with some new requirements. These were regulatory requirements they of course long knew about, but only now decided to throw at us, because “agile” and it’s an ongoing product. All good and well, except that they now demanded the product to be released within two weeks, because that’s when the marketing campaign went live. Of course, our PM and scrum master, just went along and put us all into a room, to estimate and figure out how we could deliver. All our estimates were proclaimed wrong, and we had to estimate again, eventually devs just gave a number to make it fit within the two weeks. Needless to stay, the product did not launch, and the developers got blamed for not being flexible enough. That’s how agile works in big companies, use agile as a term for everything wen it fits, use it as a way to blame others. Scrum masters are just there to pass along communication from the business, and absorb complains from developers. It’s just another one-way street of communication.

the_af 4y ago
> All our estimates were proclaimed wrong I've seen something like this happen, and I must wonder. The only ones that can give an estimation are the people who will actually do the work. This estimation will likely be also wrong, but it's their job and their estimation. How can anyone else dispute it? Very tempted to reply "well, how about you do it in two weeks then?". I never do, because I want to keep my job. And nobody is ever punished for missing deadlines, anyway.
- irrational 4y ago
  They dispute it because they assume that developers are padding their estimates. You know, it will probably take 2 weeks, so double it and then double it again.
  - ahtihn 4y ago
    If developers consistently miss deadlines and the business consistently pushes back on estimates, maybe the original estimates weren't padded? This should be fairly easy to communicate to the business people.
    - CRConrad 4y ago
      Yeah, should be.
- woutr_be 4y ago
  > I never do, because I want to keep my job. And nobody is ever punished for missing deadlines, anyway. Pretty much, the general consensus amongst developers was to just go along with whatever the scrum master is saying, just so that we could at least get out of the meeting and start our work. Missing deadlines was pretty common, getting blamed was pretty common, but you won't get fired. Perhaps you'll get moved to a different team, where the same story repeats itself.
- rswail 4y ago
  That's using the "what's the earliest date you can't prove you won't be finished by" method of estimation.
drewcoo 4y ago
And for every story like this, where developers can't do things they know they need to because all decisions are top-down . . . I say unionize. Management needs to know that IC devs are a force to be reckoned with and not code-bots. And then use the union to get contracts that allow devs more control over decision-making. We don't need unions for better wages. What we're often missing is respect, dignity. (Yes, sorta like sex workers.)

the_af 4y ago

> All our estimates were proclaimed wrong I've seen something like this happen, and I must wonder. The only ones that can give an estimation are the people who will actually do the work. This estimation will likely be also wrong, but it's their job and their estimation. How can anyone else dispute it? Very tempted to reply "well, how about you do it in two weeks then?". I never do, because I want to keep my job. And nobody is ever punished for missing deadlines, anyway.

irrational 4y ago
They dispute it because they assume that developers are padding their estimates. You know, it will probably take 2 weeks, so double it and then double it again.
- ahtihn 4y ago
  If developers consistently miss deadlines and the business consistently pushes back on estimates, maybe the original estimates weren't padded? This should be fairly easy to communicate to the business people.
  - CRConrad 4y ago
    Yeah, should be.
woutr_be 4y ago
> I never do, because I want to keep my job. And nobody is ever punished for missing deadlines, anyway. Pretty much, the general consensus amongst developers was to just go along with whatever the scrum master is saying, just so that we could at least get out of the meeting and start our work. Missing deadlines was pretty common, getting blamed was pretty common, but you won't get fired. Perhaps you'll get moved to a different team, where the same story repeats itself.
rswail 4y ago
That's using the "what's the earliest date you can't prove you won't be finished by" method of estimation.

drewcoo 4y ago

And for every story like this, where developers can't do things they know they need to because all decisions are top-down . . . I say unionize. Management needs to know that IC devs are a force to be reckoned with and not code-bots. And then use the union to get contracts that allow devs more control over decision-making. We don't need unions for better wages. What we're often missing is respect, dignity. (Yes, sorta like sex workers.)