[ale] OT: Scrum and Extended Development

[Michael Hirsch]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
> Christopher Fowler
> Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 2:45 PM
> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
> Subject: RE: [ale] OT: Scrum and Extended Development
> 
> Seems to me like this is the Nirvana of programming.  As a developer
if
> I could place those restrictions on sales, executives, users, and
others
> then my life would be easier.  Not a week goes by that sales does not
> try to add stuff to a feature list.  In this environment they would
have
> to add a feature to their own list and wait until the next iteration
for
> it to be developed.  What sales rep do you know that can wait for
> features to be developed?

Now you know why I like it.  I think that most sales reps actually
understand the need to prioritize development and not be interrupt
driven (though maybe not in those words) but we developers and our
processes rarely encourage them to act that way.  One nice thing about
scrum is that there is an official process in place that disallows that
kind of behavior, and there is an official person in place (the
scrummaster) who will enforce it.

OTOH, scrum does allow the sales guy to put their new request on the
backlog of items to be developed, which is very satisfying for them.  A
couple of weeks later when the next iteration is planned the project
owner gets to decide what will be implemented, but at least it is on the
official list of items.  

It works quite nicely.

Michael

> On Thu, 2005-01-27 at 14:36, Michael Hirsch wrote:
> 
> > I'd like to see why they make that claim.  I think scrum is great
for
> > coming in and clearing logjams in projects.
> >
> > Scrum sounds to me like a really good thing to use on your project.
> > After each iteration you are supposed to have "shippable code".  It
> > should be fully tested and running--no "demo ware".  For a
conversion
> > project, this seems like a good thing.
> >
> > Scrum only works if you have real management buy-in on it.  If you
adopt
> > it, will management let you proceed?  Will they let you not change
> > requirements except between iterations?  Will they let you have
fixed
> > length iterations?  If not, then I wouldn't bother adopting it.
> >
> > Good luck,
> >
> > Michael
> >
> >
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