Agile Otter Blog

I read a lot of disappointed tweets, reddit posts , etc about agile development processes, especially since the whole Take Back Agile thing started. There is an honest perception that all of agile development is disingenuous, deceptive, insincere. I build my own perceptions on my own history and observations, too. I have to be reminded that we all experience life differently . As a consultant, I have seen all the dysfunctions that others have seen, but I have also seen agile projects done well. When I talk about the joys of TDD , it conflicts strongly with others' experience of forcing test coverage numbers. When I talk about pair programming and mob programming, it conflicts strongly with their experience of freeloading peers or "in cubicle-audits." When I talk about BDD, it conflicts with their experience of tail-end test automation. When I talk about using Big Visible Charts to aid focus, it conflicts with their experiences of managers using charts to embar...

The part of male privilege I enjoy is the part where people don't act like that it's my job to be "hawt" and fit and styled to visually conform to current "universal" standard of physical hotness. I can be quirky and paunchy and wear comfortable clothes and nobody throws a fit or calls me names. I can have a tooth gap and like being bald on top, and even have a wild eyebrow now and then and it does me no harm. I don't have to earn an audience with my looks, or demand that people take me seriously.  If I get a hair cut and dress up nice, nobody calls me a whore, nor is a stranger likely to feel entitled to have a grab or fondle. I'd like to extend this from male privilege to human privilege, but I don't know quite how.  I would like everyone to enjoy it as much as I do.

Let me tell you the two weirdest things about being home when you are a "road warrior:" Directions: I've lived in this area almost 10 years and don't know more than five or ten roads by name. I can barely get around without GPS. People describe places by approximation to local landmarks and I have no idea what they're talking about. When they talk about intersections it usually means nothing to me.  I've probably seen more of Europe than Lake County. I know how to get to a few restaurants and stores, my house, and the local airports. Otherwise, it's all unknown territory. I'm a stranger everywhere, but I'm pretty used to being a stranger. I think I've approached living in this house the same way I approach living in a hotel when I'm out on a gig, learning only enough routes and places to meet my needs while I'm there.  Roads I don't take, I don't know by name and don't know where they go or what they run past. Her...