am i agile - an introspection of our life

© 2012 AgileCafe.in 1

Am I Agile? – An introspection of life

Presented By: Albert Arul Prakash, CSM, CSPO


Dilemma when moving to AgileDeveloper

How can I develop software when I have ever changing requirements?

Test engineer

How can I test software when features are not fully developed?

Architect

How can I design a system without an understanding of its complete scope?

Technical Writer

How can I document a system when all I get are small chunks in each sprint?


The underlying anxiety• How can I create something, when I don’t know the big picture of what I am

creating?


The underlying anxiety

Drawing an elephant by connecting dots is easy

how can I do the same in software development?

But


• I introspected on the path that I took to reach a true understanding of Agile.

• I realized– Our life itself does not follow the

waterfall model.– Humans have always been Agilists

who have practiced Agile method of living every single day of their existence.

Introspection


Let’s Begin


During Infancy• We always take baby steps when we

start walking. – We never take long steps that might

make us fall. • The first baby step takes at least 7

months. • We are all provided with just- in- time

requirements like– turning over to one side– dragging ourselves forward– sitting up, crawling– standing– and then finally taking that first step

• As a baby, we never had a requirement that we needed to run like an Olympic sprinter! Or did we?


During Infancy• The requirement is

– a single baby step – leading then to few more steps at a time without holding on to anything,

walking steadily, and finally running– only after that do we look at greater goals like reaching somewhere

• Each stage is complete/testable in itself• The requirement evolves as we (the product) evolves, and we commit and do it.


School (K-12)• When it comes to studies, at school we

continue to use the iterative model– first we read/learn for the

weekly/monthly portion– we collate three month’s learning for

quarterly exams– then we continuously expand our

knowledge by studying more chapters – we collate 6 month’s learning for half-

yearly exams– we add more value by adding another 6

sprints (of 1 month duration) for our final exams


School (K-12)• Thus, we continuously

– take the syllabus that is to be completed every month

– integrate with our previous month’s learning and validate it regularly through exams

– evolve our ways to solve the problems that are ahead of us

– move ahead to attain the prescribed education level by applying the knowledge gained over the years


School (K-12)• None of us

– studied for PUC exams from day one of schooling

– learnt everything in a single go• All of us

– reached out for assistance to teachers, parents, and siblings when required

– adapted our study patterns to our individual needs in order to meet the goals of our schooling


Adult hood• As we move into college and

adulthood, we follow a similar pattern– in our personal lives– in trying various ways and means

to be attractive to the opposite sex – to try and impress the one who

has impressed us• We may not always succeed, but we

do add our experiences to the knowledge pool

• We constantly refactor ourselves to make things work and achieve an agreeable romantic life


Goal changes by better understanding• As children we aspire to become pilots, doctors,

astronauts, musicians, truck drivers, ice-cream vendors – anything that catches our fancy at a given time

• As we grow, our goals change based on our true passion and expectations from life• Many aspiring engineers become artists due

to change in priority and better understanding of our value

This is applicable in developing software too, The end result of the software can change dramatically based on current priorities and understanding.


Let’s introspect our career now• As soon as we join the work army,

– We stop being Agile– We want a situation where someone

commits a deliverable on our behalf– We hardwire our brain with an attitude

that• we will follow what our leaders say • they know best and can commit for

us• they will find ways to solve a

problem • we don’t need to use all the values

that we achieved though all these years


Time to break the illusion

Are we not following agile in our career progression?


Time to break the illusionThe answer is

We do follow AGILE.


Time to break the illusion• None of us

– became architects from our freshman year in any software company.

Do you remember how hard we worked during our software engineer life to get that senior software engineer role?


Time to break the illusion• We followed agile in our career by

– taking one step at a time to achieve our career goals

– marching ahead by adding new goals once we achieved the current one

– adding more value continuously by evolving our knowledge and way of solving a problem


Time to break the illusion• We are the same people who are now asking

– How can I develop software that has a product backlog that changes constantly?

– How can I develop product without knowing its full system design?


I want you to ask yourself a question now.


Am I Agile?


Presented By:

Connect @

Albert Arul Prakash

[email protected]

• http://www.linkedin.com/in/albertarulprakash• http://www.scrumalliance.org/profiles/75425-albert-arul-prakash-rajendran• https://www.facebook.com/albertarulprakash• https://twitter.com/bepenfriends• https://plus.google.com/101433668966009443790

http://www.linkedin.com/in/albertarulprakash

http://www.linkedin.com/in/albertarulprakash

http://www.scrumalliance.org/profiles/75425-albert-arul-prakash-rajendran



https://www.facebook.com/albertarulprakash



https://twitter.com/bepenfriends

https://twitter.com/bepenfriends

https://plus.google.com/101433668966009443790

am i agile - an introspection of our life

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