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Like most IT people I love tools. And tools are absolutely vital to #Agile, esp. #automation of #development & #delivery. But when it comes to managing teams & processes, do #tools and #Agile always mix? Maybe not…
1. Software developers like #tools. No, they adore tools. They seem the most natural way to solve a problem, and they are familiar territory that any #delivery team is more than happy to enter. #Agile
2. But #tools provide little support for the *content* of most #Agile delivery tasks, from defining Product Vision to conducting Daily Stand-Up Meetings. They do support day-to-day workflow, reporting and recording, but at that level are often easily replaced by manual #methods.
3. #Tools can be very helpful for managing the relationship between the #delivery team and the wider organisation – reporting, recording and tracking activity, and workflow management (when set up correctly). #Agile
4. Another positive: #tools are very good for supporting coordination across distributed #teams and large sites. #Agile
5. But #tools add little to the efficiency or effectiveness of the #delivery team itself. And generally they threaten to impose a new #bureaucracy. #Agile
6. Indeed, even where useful, #tools focus on the 'meta-task' - creating & communicating records of who did what, when work started & ended, status, etc. They seldom guide #teams on what to do or integrate with the broader knowledge needed to ‘do the job’. #Agile #Method
7. #Tools are frequently co-opted by #stakeholders (esp #PMO) to generate non-Agile data, reports, etc., which can eventually derail #Agile. They provide a classic example of #PournellesLaw. jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp…
8. In fact not only do they provide no immunity to external pressures undermining #Agile, but they make those pressures harder to resist.
9. In other words, although #tools may be the last item failing #teams abandon, their positive contribution to #Agile has often disappeared long before that.
10. In sum, #tools are a powerful means to #Agile's ends, especially #automation, but be very careful that they don't become a bureaucratic obstacle.
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