You Call This Agile?

JoelonSoftware's most recent piece is about some of the fallacies in "Agile" software and some of the issues within it. We use Agile in some parts of the company, and have had success with that -- that said, there's always the peril that happens when development and other parts of the company have...miscommunication, which sounds like the problem described in Joel's piece.

Comments

What universe did this come from?

[autophile]

From TFA:

This Is Why Programmers Get The Big Bucks. The whole reason you gave them Aeron chairs, unlimited M&Ms, free catered lunches, and the kickass computers with the 30" LCDs...

Leakage from an alternate universe far from our own?

...is so they can deal with new bugs Microsoft introduced in their code by messing up a DLL that used to work.

Okay, it's a universe very close to our own.

--Rob

Re:What universe did this come from?

[Acer500]

Wow, and I'm constantly complaining to management about the computers we have (I'm talking Uruguay, Third World here, and some 1.7 Ghz PIVs and Celerons).

At least we get to 512 or even 1 Gb of RAM most of the time, as we believe it's critical for developers (we usually buy memory upgrades to lengthen the life of most PCs).

I think we'll donate to you next time :P instead of the other way round.

I hope you're not in the US or Canada.

Re:Context switching, aka, incompetence

[androidqueen]

well, of all the . . . i can't work like this! i'm the *talent*!

if anybody needs me, OR WANTS TO APOLOGIZE, i'll be in my trailer.

Re:Context switching, aka, incompetence

[Anonymous Coward]

Why do I see Joel constantly talking about how disturbing it is to "context switch", when sysadmins like myself are expected to handle a dozen or more tasks, most of them "surprise" stuff, daily? Don't tell me "oh, programming is complex"- so are networks.

So, you get unlimited M&Ms, a 30" screen, aereon chair, and get all upset when you spend an unexpected 2 hours out of your 8 hour workday on an emergency, one a week or so. Meanwhile, I'm working on whatever was left in the IT supply room, have to carry a pager, work 10 hour days because I'm doing 2-3 people's jobs- and I've got a half dozen long term project goals...but I'm getting bugged HOURLY to fix the most trivial shit by programmers who can't be bothered to stick paper in a printer?

If Sarah was a sysadmin and had to waste a day collecting her thoughts after spending two hours fixing a mysql database, she'd be fired. You programmers need to stop behaving like prima donnas.

Why do I see Joel constantly talking about how disturbing it is to "context switch", when janitors like myself are expected to handle a dozen or more tasks, most of them "surprise" stuff, daily? Don't tell me "oh, programming is complex"- so are toilets.

So, you get unlimited M&Ms, a 30" screen, aereon chair, and get all upset when you spend an unexpected 2 hours out of your 8 hour workday on an emergency, one a week or so. Meanwhile, I'm working on whatever was left in the supply room, have to carry a plunger, work 10 hour days because I'm doing 2-3 people's jobs- and I've got a half dozen long term project goals...but I'm getting bugged HOURLY to clean shit by system admins who can't be bothered to stick paper towels in the trash can?

If Sarah was a janitor and had to waste a day collecting her thoughts after spending two hours fixing a clogged toilet, she'd be fired. You programmers need to stop behaving like prima donnas.

Fixed

Re:Context switching, aka, incompetence

[Tim Browse]

So why not become a programmer? Apparently, you'd work less hours, have better conditions, a better defined job, and not get interrupted all the time.

After all, I'm sure programmers' jobs are easy. Just make the switch.

In the meantime, junior, pipe down and fix the mail server.

Re:Context switching, aka, incompetence

[mattwarden]

Finally, a sysadmin with people skills!

Re:Context switching, aka, incompetence

[G-funk]

Suck shit, that's why we're programmers and not IT :)

Re:Context switching, aka, incompetence

[Anonymous Coward]

Sounds like somebody's got a case of the Mondays...