Agile Antipatterns and what we can do and can’t do about them - Agile Oxford - September 2024
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The document outlines a talk by Mike Harris at the Oxford Agile Meetup focused on agile antipatterns, which are common but ineffective practices that contradict agile principles. It includes examples from participants' experiences, discussions on the causes of these antipatterns, and emphasizes the importance of acknowledging reality to facilitate change within organizations. The session concludes with group exercises aimed at identifying actionable steps to address these antipatterns in agile practices.
Agile Antipatterns and what we can do and can’t do about them - Agile Oxford - September 2024
- 1. Mike Harris, Oxford Agile Meetup, Wednesday 18th September 2024 Agile Antipatterns And what we can, and maybe can’t, do about them
- 2. What is an antipattern? ? ? ?
- 3. • An antipattern in software engineering, project management, and business processes is a common response to a recurring problem that is usually ine ff ective and risks being highly counterproductive. • Coined by Andrew Richard Koenig • I’m using it here to mean a “practice that we observe that seems to be being accepted, but which appears to contradict the principles of Agile software development or which contrives to be Agile, but only in name” What is an Antipattern? Credit: Martin Fowler There are lots of di ff erent de fi nitions and perspectives (of course)
- 4. Examples From my own experience • Working on items in the backlog • Git rage • An important API • Demanding letters
- 5. Group Exercise Our own experience with Agile antipatterns • Round of introductions - who we are, what we do, who we do it for, where we live, something we like to do in our spare time • Discuss some anti-patterns we’ve encountered in our careers and the impact of them • Try to steer clear of why they were happening; we will come back to this • Pick one to two examples to describe to the wider group • Choose a person to describe them back to the wider group • When describing them, describe the observation, not the perceived impact at fi rst; we’ll let the wider group make suggestions fi rst
- 6. So why are we doing this? My examples (and possible causes) • Working on items in the backlog (getting hung up on the process/procedures and forgetting the principles, misunderstanding of Agile, following senior management without calling it out, insecurity and egos) • Git rage (ego, personal insecurities, personality con fl icts) • API without tests and with errors (Dunning-Kruger e ff ect, prioritising low cost over quality, recruiting under developed engineers and not developing them, using junior developers on projects, management ignorance or carelessness) • Demanding letters (siloed product organisation, blinkered thinking based on personal/team goals and delivery, inexperience product/systems people, egos, Dunning-Kruger)
- 7. Group Exercise The whys and wherefores • Back into your groups • Take your group’s one or two examples, or another more suitable • Discuss why they were occurring • Discuss whether there was something that was in the control of the team to e ff ect change (internal team behaviour), or was it an external in fl uence? • Feedback to the group
- 8. Internal vs External What we think we can change, and what we think we can’t
- 9. Are we drinking the Agile Cola? A re-cap on the Agile Values
- 10. Manifesto for Agile Software Development We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: ? ? ? ? That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. https://agilemanifesto.org Agile Values
- 11. Manifesto for Agile Software Development We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value: Individuals and interactions over processes and tools Working software over comprehensive documentation Customer collaboration over contract negotiation Responding to change over following a plan That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more. https://agilemanifesto.org Agile Values
- 12. Group Exercise Do we hold the Agile principles? • In your groups, discuss whether we think: • The Values are held by our organisations? • There parts of what we do that are intrinsically negatively a ff ected by the structure and operation of our organisations? • There is anything we can do about this?
- 13. People and Organisational Issues And whether we can do ought about them
- 14. People and Organisational Issues My examples • Working on items in the backlog (getting hung up on the process/procedures and forgetting the principles, misunderstanding of Agile, following senior management without calling it out, insecurity and egos) • Git rage (ego, personal insecurities, personality con fl icts) • API without tests and with errors (Dunning-Kruger e ff ect, prioritising low cost over quality, recruiting under developed engineers and not developing them, using junior developers on projects, management ignorance or carelessness) • Demanding letters (siloed product organisation, blinkered thinking based on personal/team goals and delivery, inexperience product/systems people, egos, Dunning-Kruger)
- 15. Acceptance Not in the sense of tests
- 16. Acceptance Of the World the way it is, not how we wish it to be • Often we can get het up in process and practices and getting people to do them • As coaches we may keep blaming the organisation and its people for not getting it, and we keep repeating the same mantras • This refusal to accept reality can be a lot to do with ourselves • To e ff ect change we fi rst have to accept things as they are • This includes ourselves
- 17. Non-Acceptance Of the World as it is • By not accepting things, we’re trying to change reality • Reality doesn’t respond kindly to this! • People and organisations tend to resist change • This can lead us to struggle • This can lead us to resentment • This leads us to Hell
- 18. Group Exercise Are we accepting of the real world? • Back into your groups • Thinking in terms of frustrations you have within your projects or organisation (or your wider life), are there opportunities for greater acceptance? • How does this acceptance feel? • Are there any new options that appear out of this acceptance? • Discuss with your group and feedback to the wider group
- 19. Final Group Exercise Gathering our learnings and e ff ecting change, e ff ectively • Back into your groups • Recognising the anti-patterns, the organisational and people related issues and limitations, our attitude towards them, and bearing the Agile Values in mind, how might we unblock and move forward? • What one thing can we do di ff erently tomorrow morning? • Discuss with your group and feedback to the wider group
- 20. Thank You https://xtreamlab.net https://mbharris.co.uk Get in touch: mike@mbharris.co.uk +44 (0) 7811 671 893