Transparency: A Great Leap Forward or Exposed Artery?

Posted by Amr Elssamadisy on Apr 17, 2009

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Process & Practices

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Agile Techniques ,

Agile

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QCon London 2008 ,

QCon

In this panel at QCon 2008 in London Kent Beck, Chris Matts,  Keith Braithwaite, John Nolan, and Steve Freeman, all very talented and experienced practitioners and leaders in the Agile community, take a hard look at transparency and it's practicality.

Agile propagandists make great claims about the advantages of being transparent about the state of their projects

They fill their walls with index cards and charts that expose their progress to anyone who might be wandering through the room. They have regular, intense feedback sessions where they make it clear to the stakeholders just how many things they need to fix. They claim that this how maturerelationships work and that "Honesty is the best policy".

But is this true? Many of us work in dysfunctional organisations where honesty is the best way to get cheated. Surely Transparency is just not pragmatic?

Watch this presentation here.

 

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   Propagandists?

   by Dave Rooney

   "Agile propagandists"? WTF?
   
   I haven't checked out the presentation yet so I might be missing something, but I would think that we're a little beyond name-calling by now. Perhaps I'm naive (or possible a closet "propagandist"), but I find that term rather offensive.
   
   Dave Rooney
   Mayford Technologies

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   Re: Propagandists?

   by Amr Elssamadisy

   Hi Dave :)
   
   This is directly from the presentation abstract. Given that the panel is full of the so-called propagandists, it was meant to be a little self-mocking and in jest.
   
   Amr

   Reply

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   Re: Propagandists?

   by Dave Rooney

   DAMMIT!! How do you expect me to be reactionary and uninformed?! Can't a guy just tee off without having to watch a bloody presentation?! :)
   
   Sheepishly,
   
   Dave Rooney
   Mayford Technologies

   Reply

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   Re: Propagandists?

   by Keith Braithwaite

   Panel member here.
   
   I paraphrase Sheryl Ross's characterisation of "propaganda" as communication with the intent to persuade a group of people to favour one set of idea over certain others. She contends that the purely negative sense of the word is too narrow.
   
   I'm a consultant, and if Weinberg is right that consulting is influencing others at their request, then propaganda is my job.

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   Agile Adoption - Crossing the Chasm

   by Udayan Banerjee

   I think, "we the agile propagandists", underestimate the extent of mindset change required by "non-agilists" to adopt agile. I have highlighted some of the key issues here - setandbma.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/agile-adoption/

   Reply

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