KAIZEN & SHOELACES

Once again, Master Yoda estimates 3 story points...

We had training today. User stories and estimation. At one point, I pulled my shoelaces tight, just to feel the safety and comfort of being locked into my shoes.

Don't tell me you've never done that.

It seems to me that Agile software development is a bit like a mysterious martial art - there's a sort of code, a set of sequences, maybe even a philosophy out there which underpins what you do. You can train formally in it, learn from the masters and become proficient at following it, like dutiful students, scrum-team members, padawans. The gurus will go misty-eyed as they elucidate their own important-sounding Agile proverbs - passed down to them from gurus of gurus who sit cross-legged in Palo Alto and San Diego and other cool sounding places, where developers hang out.

"You are all developers!" said the trainer today, sounding like Confucius. 'Do or do not,' I wanted to say, 'There is no try.'

Of course the idea of Agile is that eventually you make it your own - it adapts around you, like you're controlling the Matrix. I've heard several people say this now - don't stick to the scrum guide, inspect and adapt, give it a little kaizen and your velocity, your burndown and the trust of your superiors will sort itself out while you practice your moves. Yes, master. We all know, deep down though, that you can apply as much shuhari as you like, there'll always be managers ready to collect your numbers for their spreadsheets.

After a while, I couldn't feel the circulation in my feet. Too tight.