Agile Physics Research (Parody)
involution.comIt's remarkable how ridiculous "agile" is when applied to any other field. In fact what's remarkable is that this ridiculousness isn't immediately obvious to otherwise-intelligent programmers.
Is it the programmers that push for it, though, usually? I think management (at least mine) likes the fine-grained control + reporting (and the /name/!), and the rest is catch as catch can.
Programmers tend to push for more testing, continuous integration, lots of short iterations, quiet time and space.
Management tends to push for more meetings, more things you can track and measure and more tracking and measuring and ways to lover cost.
None of this is bad, what's bad is that where ever there is turmoil, good ideas and crap ideas get mixed up.
Like pair programming and/or co-location vs. private quiet offices.
That's because it applied to science-fields, and it applies to software engineering, which is more of a craft than a science.
Agile is essentially lean production for software, and I've heard it's not so ridiculous.
Where're the agile-accountants or pair-plumbers then? I stand by my original point.
Agile does not necessitate pair-programming. XP does, XP is more of a religion.
Accountants, like almost all service businesses, deal directly with customers and tend to have relative short iterations because you can't delay paying your taxes for ever.
So "user stories" and iteration are in fact very common things you can find not just in agile software development, but almost anywhere.
It's not that Agile is that great, it's that it is that much better then Waterfall.
The "agile software principles" look fairly similar to what I know of other creative cooperative endeavors, like filmmaking or modern music.
Is it a fault that programming turns out to be more like a creative cooperative art rather than a hard science? This seems far less ridiculous than pretending it has the rigor of "engineering". My old manager would seriously tell Oliver Stone he needed to be CMMI level 5 by the end of the year.
P.S., try to keep your comments on-topic: agile methods, not the intelligence of those who agree or disagree with them.
Wow, that went totally over my head.