Re: [extremeprogramming] Origin of term "standup"?

On 11/18/19 4:52 PM, Tim Ottinger via Groups.Io wrote:

 > On Monday, November 18, 2019, 3:51 PM, Slava Imeshev via Groups.Io 
<[email protected]> wrote:

     >> To me personally the value of the standups is that it forces
    participants to think in terms of work
     >> done. This is good for developer discipline because we know we
    will have to tell the team that
     >> we accomplished something. As a result we actually do something
    useful. Without stand ups it's
     >> common to have 'I'm working on it' for days. I've certainly done it.

     >> Another thing it promotes collaboration. I've stopped counting
    times when someone brings up a
     >> blocker and other member of the team offer help and sync up
    after the standup. In theory they
     >> should be doing it in real time offline, but it works so I'll
    take it.

> The value of standup is coercion and shame?

I'm going to be critical here.  I know where you're coming from, Tim, 
but I don't think this was a good way to advance the cause.

The above reply is a good example of lack of charitable interpretation 
in a discussion.

First, "forces X to think" is never literal, so it almost always makes 
sense to interpret it as "leads X to think" or "draws X's attention toward".

Second, he's talking about this stuff from the starting point of 
internal reactions and motivations; it's OK to motivate yourself or even 
make yourself feel (a little) bad about things in a way that would be 
bad if you treated others that way.  All of us have external means of 
imposing discipline on ourselves -- importantly, discipline to do things 
we've already accepted are the right thing to do and want to do.

You could (without having to use much charity) interpret Slava's first 
paragraph as saying, "When I know I'll have to say something tomorrow, 
it motivates me to do something concrete today." My guess is that that 
would lead to a better discussion.

That discussion could include points like, "Just because the exposure of 
a standup works well for you, doesn't mean it will work for other 
people." (Yeah, I found it hard to believe, but some people are way too 
anxious about standups to function effectively in them.  Turns out we're 
all different.)

Or: "Try encouraging people worried about what they're going to say in 
the next standup to vertically slice the story they're working on, so 
they'll be able to say something like 'I got the shipping calculation 
working for domestic addresses yesterday; today, it's on to Canada' 
instead of the dreaded 'Still working on it'."

Charity is not the same thing as agreeing, caving in, or deliberately 
distorting what someone's saying. We can express the same thoughts while 
using it as we can without it. But it's tough to have useful, meaningful 
discussions without it. (*cough* Twitter *cough*)

(Just to be clear: I agree that too many organizations use standups to 
promote coercion and produce shame; we should burn those organizations, 
crush them into the ground, sow salt, and then erect a stele saying 
"This is what happens when you pervert Agile".)

—George

   shin, n.: a device for finding furniture in the dark.


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