Agile Otter Blog

"When will it all be completed" is a question that many people can't imagine not asking.  "When will we start making money from this?" is maybe a better question.  "Is this something worth investing more money and time in?" is maybe better. But people are all hung up on software development as "buying a thing" instead of "growing a revenue stream" or "developing an audience of raving fans."  If you're "buying a thing" then "what will it look like and when will it be done" seem like the reasonable questions. It's a mindset thing. It's reinforced by myriad business practices and internal policies which limit the thinking to "buying a finished thing" and this keeps other ideas from taking root.  "If I were buying a car," "if I were paying you to build a deck," etc. So, maybe the brain-stretcher of the day:  What if software development is nothi...

I have seen people who think open spaces rock, and people declaring them “the worst possible layout.” Some people like offices (find them “essential”) and others hate them. I met people who liked their cubicles, while most find them soulless and dehumanizing. Most collocated teams like sitting in “pods” but some don’t. I have a theory rather than a great design.  My theory begins “it depends.” It only becomes interested when we get to “depends on what”. So, there is information in every space. Visual, audible, olfactory, etc.  Some of that space is on your screen when you’re working at the computer. Some is posters, drawings, whiteboards. Some is discussion happening nearby. Some is via information radiators.  If you take away the information, then it’s harder to be both focused and aware. Starved of information, we will be less productive and do less valuable work. Think of being the one remote person trying to keep up on the changes to a ...