[Interest] What don't you like about Qt?

Jason H jhihn at gmx.com
Tue Oct 18 16:52:00 CEST 2016


> In years prior it was not uncommon to find major corporations with teams 
> of 40+ developers, many of them consultants, developing systems for 
> internal consumption. Large projects took (and still take) a minimum of 
> 7 years to spec, develop, test, install and finally settle in. During 
> that entire time the development costs were booked as assets. Now, under 
> the 1985 accounting rules change, they have to deliver "something" to 
> book as an asset. This means they skip the design because the detailed 
> design required for a successful project of any real size cannot be done 
> inside of a quarter. Instead they bang out absolutely useless chunks 
> shifting the salaries of people not even remotely involved in the 
> process into the Agile project so it can all be booked as an asset each 
> quarter.

In your last few emails, you've made some good points that I agree with. But this last paragraph reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "Consultants: Why be part of the solution when you can be part of the problem?" The fact is consultants rarely have a vested interest when working solely on billable hours, and indeed this is what Agile addresses in several aspects:
1. Demos - show that it is done by end of sprint
2. Huddles 
- identify and eliminate blockers daily
- bidding of tasks to the fastest implementer

Taken all together, the former environment where opaque lazy consultants could thrive bilking hours from contracts (particularly federal) is eliminated and replaced where they must be transparent. The results speak for themselves. 

Now what you describe about the shifting is a problem unrelated to Agile software development. But it does sound like the business aspect is picking up on the Agile methodology. Speculatively, I suggest that it's because they have a greater level of transparency (and may be better execution?) so it's easier to justify to the higher-ups. Also, businesses are applying Agile to business practices because they see results. 

To repurpose a Stephen Colbert quote: "Reality has well-known [Agile] bias." For better or worse, Agile (and specifically the transparency aspect) is here to say. No longer can developers hide until the last minute to announce another last-minute delay. 






More information about the Interest mailing list