Asymptomatic

Posts tagged: work

Traction Touchbase
June 30, 2021
management development work standup scrum agile

I’ve been reading many posts on Reddit about “daily scrum” meetings, and I’ve got to say, there are some really strange practices out there. I don’t understand how people are ending up with the processes they do. I wanted to write down a few basics to get them out of my head and be able to share them with others, so I’m drafting this post. This post will be about the team daily touchbase meeting format that I’ve been using for the last three years, known in for-fee framework circles as “the daily scrum” and also as “daily standup”.

People seem to talk a bunch about “big-A Agile”. I don’t know that I like labels too much. I am working more from base principles here than from a Scrum foundations textbook or the Agile Manifesto. But it does seem reasonable to review some Agile basics.

Roadmaps
May 05, 2020
work roadmap plan

I’ve been thinking about how to plan not just a large development project, but multiple large development projects together on a timeline and allow for interrupt work.

We’ve managed to put together a roadmap for the next fiscal year. It looks nice, and it conveys useful information for our plan for the year. But it has some flaws, and I’ve been mentally taking a step back to try to understand the purpose of having a roadmap, and what useful results it feeds.

Productivity In Captivity
April 21, 2020
productivity plan work

One thing we’re learning as we stay home during C19 is that “if we only had the time” isn’t real. I think it’s one of the unexpected more depressing aspects of this whole situation.

When provided with the “opportunity” of “spare time” to work on those things that we’ve always wanted to get done, we’re not actually doing any more of them than we ever did. Having no place to be on Monday, Tuesday, or Thursday evenings like we usually would doesn’t re-open those evenings for other productive activities.

Fleeing COVID-19
March 22, 2020
virus coronavirus work covid-19 health

There’s a lot going on right now. I’ve been focused on getting my blog back up and running the way I want, and it’s still not there yet, but at least I feel comfortable now making some updates. Frankly, I’ve needed an outlet for long-form writing for a while now, especially during this, and I’ve been considering this softare issue a blocker. Yeah, I know it looks like everything has been working all this time, and no, it hasn’t quite.

Two weeks ago, I was on a trip to Columbus for work. The Coronavirus had just peeked its head out in China (and also the US, although people seem to have forgotten or ignored that) and we were starting to talk about whether it was a good idea to travel or not.

Walk Once Around
July 20, 2013
life work job walk

A month or so ago, I took a walk around the neighborhood with Berta, as we often do after dinner when there's still light out and the heat isn't overbearing.  These walks often contain what feels like awkward silence, or rather, they would if I would ever shut up.  For whatever reason, regardless of the breathlessness the pace and incline induces on my completely out-of-shape and asthmatic self, I can't help but take the opportunity to fill the silence with some chatter.  At some point, I'll have to ask Berta if she feels this is my habit and whether she'd rather walk silently, since although she does contribute, I feel like she'd rather just walk with her thoughts unpolluted.

Anyway, it was on this one walk when I found myself resisting the urge to offer the usual rhetorical diarrhea, and instead focused on some of my own internal contemplation.  It was actually a really nice day, I remember.  The temperature was just what you'd want in an early summer evening.  The sky was not cloudless, but full of colorful pink and purple twilight-lit clouds.  No cars on the road and a gentle, comfortable breeze.