RE: SD Times: Tech Writers Should Be Pigs, Not Chickens

["Jack DeLand" <jackdeland -at- comcast -dot- net>]

I agree and disagree with David and Chris. Yes, I think that Agile is best
adopted wholesale, as an organizational change. (For a terrific book on
organizational development, see Preferred Futuring by Dr. Larry Lippitt, but
note that, as a former intern, I am biased. It's still terrific.)  

But I have been on a dev team that successfully implemented Agile methods
within an non-Agile org. In this case, it revolved around the scrum master,
who was able to maintain a balance of expectations with management, and the
project manager, who cleared the way. In my current situation, we have an
org that is wholly Agile, and life is definitely easier. Again (IMO) it
revolves around a very committed and very talented scrum master, but the
management support goes all the way up the ladder to the man with the
Carrera S. There is no way of subtracting or negating the human element,
unless you want to go to robotics.

I have never been in a waterfall environment where dates did not slip.
Agile, to me, is a terrific improvement over traditional methods, if only
because it gives voice and a  real degree of control to the people who are
actually creating the product as a way of working daily, not as a happy
exception.  This is key to the "preferred futuring" approach.

I would recommend scrumalliance.org to anyone interested in investigating
Agile further. Again, as a graduate, I am biased. But I am also definitely
committed. Oink.

Jack DeLand, CSM | 734 972 3026 (cell) | jack.deland (skype) |
www.linkedin.com/in/jackdeland



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