I'm sure you can figure out who I am if you really want to.
Aug 15, 2018 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
Most companies today have "Managers". The companies are organized around an imposed hierarchy of responsibility and (somewhat) associated authority. We might prefer some other structure: we might reflect on other existing structures within those companies. /1
But that's the way most companies are: a hierarchy of power, authority, responsibility. The management functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling (Drucker) all pretty much follow that hierarchy. /2
Jul 25, 2018 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
Apparently we need a little digression on waste. I'll leave it to you to study the 8 kinds of waste that lean addresses, and the Toyota notions of muda, muri, and mura. Maybe some links, below, if I remember.
I think about it a bit more intuitively than that.
/1
Presumably we're "in the business" of building something. Building a software product is at the top of my mind, but we could be writing a book or having a bake sale. The "something" is the software, the book, or the cookies.
/2
Jul 24, 2018 • 15 tweets • 3 min read
So I was thinking about #noestimates. I'd think we could agree that IF estimates were not needed, we would not use them, because waste. (If not I have something interesting to learn.) And WHEN they're not needed, we'd not use them, I should think?
/1
Now I want to suggest that estimates are /always/ waste. They are not product (I hope) so they are automatically waste. We should want to get rid of them on those grounds.
/2
Feb 8, 2018 • 19 tweets • 4 min read
Today I'm thinking about precision. In a sense I might be against it. Stick with me. The eminent @ivarjacobson is promoting Essence, which is a candidate approach to precisely defining methods and practices (and more) for software development. /1
My initial reaction to this was that it's a great idea, and frankly I still think it is. The ability to say more clearly what a method is and is not has many potential advantages. Clarity is of course one. Increased ease in creating a team's own method is another. /2
Feb 6, 2018 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
I’ll put this poorly. will try to do better later, in another medium. the thing is this. faux-agile, would-be-agile, downrightfuckingfake agile are going to be all over. people are even trying to /standardize/ agile, to nail it down, to define it. /1
people are “certifying” rank agile beginners, three-day agile leaders, one-week agile whatevers.
people are pushing their scheme, framework, angle, over all the other angles.
some of the things being pushed are downright wrong, incorrect, mistaken, maybe even evil.
/2
