Comment by dbcfd | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dbcfd | Hacker News Reader

The devil is in the details. You still need competent people to determine and estimate tasks, and to implement those tasks. Implementation is the biggie. How do you design the implementation? How complete are your tests? What are the important requirements of the task?

There seems to continue to be this idea in management that process will take the place of skilled programmers. That you can then just plug any programmer in, and the process will produce a usable product.

It's amazing how most other skill based industries require certification exams, to verify that you truly do know how to build a bridge, prepare a legal defense, or perform a hip replacement. Software development is the only place where process is thought to replace skill and knowledge.

No amount of "Agile" brand ointment can miraculously turn a rag-tag team of goof offs into a well oiled development crew. And likewise, a team of skilled developers can actually be quite successful without Agile methodologies.

My own experience with Agile is that it's mostly beneficial to the high priests that make their living from it...

There seems to continue to be this idea in management that process will take the place of skilled programmers.

This is true, but it's not what Agile originators meant. The early Agile stuff was exactly the opposite. E.g. the initial SCRUM paper starts out talking about "Small teams of competent individuals, working within a constrained space that they own and control." Extreme Programming specifically removed from management the power to arbitrarily mandate a schedule:

http://www.techrepublic.com/article/extreme-programming-bill...

But if the programmers are running the show, what is management supposed to do? That's why there's a scrum master. Yes, you need a leader, but often that role gets pushed to a manager, who focuses too much on process. They should rename it the scrum playmaker, with each sprint focusing on a new playmaker, returning control to the team.

Managers also have a much different understanding of the word "competent" than the people on the team.

Amen brother!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com