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It’s weird that an employee who opts out of noise specifically for productive work gets this treatment. Some of the most incredible programmers I’ve had the pl

It’s weird that an employee who opts out of noise specifically for productive work gets this treatment. Some of the most incredible programmers I’ve had the pleasure of working with were just like this, and I felt like it was my job as their boss to help them keep it that way. There’s a bias for visibility and not actual work that I think makes it really difficult for those on the spectrum or who have adhd or just difficulty refocusing after getting interrupted have to deal with that doesn’t get a lot of support in the modern workplace. To boot, this culture drives type-a, need to talk face-to-face, achievement focused personalities absolutely crazy. I can’t tell you have many times I’ve had to say no to some over controlling stakeholder who “needs in person morning status updates” every day. It absolutely killed our code velocity when we tried it and the late night crew thought they were hitler.

rendall 3y ago
Do you hold daily standup or scrum?
- happytiger 3y ago
  I’m almost afraid to answer this because it’s pretty controversial. Ime. Depends. If it’s in service to the work, and the developers find it useful, then sure. But I’ve seen teams work a whole lot of different ways and be successful. But the important thing is that the team finds it useful. There are plenty of ways to build a product or a company that doesn’t rely on a daily meeting. Remember that Scrum doesn't care about the format: that's up to the developers to decide. Scrum only cares that people stay on the same page and most importantly are productive in helping move forward with open communication and collaboration to hit the sprint goals. I’ve seen this meeting used by clients and executives to micromanage everything, and sometimes telling the “business owner” they aren’t invited to the meetings isn’t possible. For example, telling a non-technical, micromanaging startup CEO who’s just discovered the power of SCRUM while under pressure for a raise and feeling behind on their product delivery to sit down and just listen very easily. Or in some teams doing a daily meeting works only around releases and they don’t feel like it’s useful all the time. There are a lot of forms that works successfully, but everyone has strong opinions on what does and does not work. You don’t want to be too prescriptive. What my experience has taught me is to have someone in charge of the product delivery — and then allow them to run the show with whatever support they need. That allows for a lot of flexibility while keeping accountability.
  - rendall 3y ago
    That makes sense. Definitely agree that these meetings really are for the team, and if they don't find it useful then it's good to try another ways.
gtirloni 3y ago
Definition of noise is relative.
meiraleal 3y ago
> There’s a bias for visibility and not actual work that's not bias, someone that behaves like OP without proven record is just eccentric.

rendall 3y ago

Do you hold daily standup or scrum?

happytiger 3y ago
I’m almost afraid to answer this because it’s pretty controversial. Ime. Depends. If it’s in service to the work, and the developers find it useful, then sure. But I’ve seen teams work a whole lot of different ways and be successful. But the important thing is that the team finds it useful. There are plenty of ways to build a product or a company that doesn’t rely on a daily meeting. Remember that Scrum doesn't care about the format: that's up to the developers to decide. Scrum only cares that people stay on the same page and most importantly are productive in helping move forward with open communication and collaboration to hit the sprint goals. I’ve seen this meeting used by clients and executives to micromanage everything, and sometimes telling the “business owner” they aren’t invited to the meetings isn’t possible. For example, telling a non-technical, micromanaging startup CEO who’s just discovered the power of SCRUM while under pressure for a raise and feeling behind on their product delivery to sit down and just listen very easily. Or in some teams doing a daily meeting works only around releases and they don’t feel like it’s useful all the time. There are a lot of forms that works successfully, but everyone has strong opinions on what does and does not work. You don’t want to be too prescriptive. What my experience has taught me is to have someone in charge of the product delivery — and then allow them to run the show with whatever support they need. That allows for a lot of flexibility while keeping accountability.
- rendall 3y ago
  That makes sense. Definitely agree that these meetings really are for the team, and if they don't find it useful then it's good to try another ways.

gtirloni 3y ago

Definition of noise is relative.

meiraleal 3y ago

> There’s a bias for visibility and not actual work that's not bias, someone that behaves like OP without proven record is just eccentric.