Much of what you hear on HN regarding agile and modern startup practices is a case of William Gibson's aphorism: "the future is already here, it's just not even

Much of what you hear on HN regarding agile and modern startup practices is a case of William Gibson's aphorism: "the future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed." I've worked in startups that fit the HN stories but also have other classic failure stories that led to their demise (agile development, a few good customers, but lack of Steve Blank style customer development, for one). I've also worked in large companies that don't have time for innovative processes and approaches, beyond "the way they've always done things". But they do often have good executives or managers that have the ability to provide air cover for pockets to thrive with new approaches. These tend to be fragile to politics, however. The algorithm I've used is pretty simple: a) Hunt for a place you can learn from b) otherwise, hunt for a place open minded enough that you can learn by leading and make mistakes c) Goto A