Naked Agile and Naked Skydiving

Posted by Deborah Hartmann Preuss on Aug 09, 2006

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Simplicity

Recent "Agile 2.0 - or not" conversations have spurred author Alistair Cockburn to blog a conversation he recently had with Jeff Patton.  Cockburn, master of metaphor, who helped us think about team communication as "hot air currents" and "osmosis", today brings us a new word-picture to consider: Naked Skydiving as a metaphor for Agile process stripped to its essentials and moving fast.

"Naked agile is without apologies not for everyone and not for every project. Big, distributed teams can forget it (think Arctic naked skydiving ... cold cold cold). Life critical systems, forget it (think rocks and shale on the landing surface... death, destruction and many cuts). But if you're a small team, colocated, with access to usage experts, it could be your thing."

As Agile software development moves into the "enterprise" space, gaining tools and trappings, Cockburn and Patton sound an appeal to focus on the basics: "Listening, Designing, Coding, Testing – That's all there is to software. Anyone who tells you different is selling something,"  to quote Kent Beck.

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   Not all

   by James Taylor

   Listening, Designing, Coding, Testing, Changing.
   My Blog

   Reply

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   Ah yes, there's nothing like some good naked pairing

   by Obie Fernandez

   ;)

   Reply

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   Re: Ah yes, there's nothing like some good naked pairing

   by Mark Hewett

   But that might result in tight coupling!

   Reply

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   Re: Ah yes, there's nothing like some good naked pairing

   by Deborah Hartmann

   Makes you wonder what's going on in those popoular Scrum Certification classes, doesn't it? ;-)

   Reply

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   Thanks for the info

   by j c

   Im glad theres people always dedicated to renaming the obvious and reminding me that I never knew how to do my job in the first place.
   
   And that I need a team of "usage" experts to use my brain. Brilliant!

   Reply

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   Re: Thanks for the info

   by Floyd Marinescu

   Im glad theres people always dedicated to renaming the obvious and reminding me that I never knew how to do my job in the first place.

   j c (why don't you use your real name?), being heavily involved in the patterns space I have to say that there is a lot of value in assigning names to common practices. It gives us a common vocabulary as software development professionals which makes learning and communicating easier. Sometimes the names can be silly, but there is value in naming the obvious IMO.
   
   Floyd
   Author, EJB Design Patterns

   Reply

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   Re: Thanks for the info

   by Deborah Hartmann

   Hi j c : sounds like you're already doing stripped-down bare-minimum process yourself - if so, this item wasn't directed at you :-) When it comes to process, though, plenty of people are still stuck in "more is better"... and a call to common sense might be useful there. Know anyone like that?

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   Re: Ah yes, there's nothing like some good naked pairing

   by mark hesketh

   I'm a big fan of Alistair but, if he's intent on us pronouncing his surname properly he shouldn't be casting allusions of being naked whilst travelling at high-friction speeds(!)
   
   Cheap shot i know but, i didn't start the thread - great term though and i agree with Floyd - terms promote learning/digestion.

   Reply

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