I was recently given this link:
Agile Is Powerful. So What Might It Look Like in Design for Construction? (tekla.com)
As I read through and immediately thought someone was smoking crack. I know I could use my normal vitrioloc syntax but…
Here’s a quick run though of the critically flawed ideas.
Forcing in the notion of “co-location” in the middle of a global pandemic is laughable if not callous and reckless. I have been on teams spread far and wide from India to Costa Rica to Israel. Business is global. The pandemic is real. Work gets done regardless of where people sit. Communication is key. Not co-location. Co-location is dead.
Continuous delivery is not always possible or a good idea. Have you ever made a physical part, say a cabinet or a table? I recently made an 8′ tall cabinet for a friend. It was built to fit a specific space in her garage. How am I supposed to provide continuous delivery for that? Give her one shelf at a time? No. Continuous delivery does not fit all production contexts.
I will not welcome a change that requires me to throw out the cabinet carcass that I have already built because my friend suddenly wants it 8′ wide instead of 8′ tall as originally requested. That kind of change requires scrapping everything I have and starting over. We need to tell clients, “No.” If you want a completely new cabinet, then we start from the beginning and scrap everything I have built up to this point. There is no other way to deliver physical assets.
Blind trust of your teammates is terribly naïve. I offer an open hand, but I learn very quickly when people on my teams are not working in the best interest of the project goals. I am working with someone right now that is only out to pad his wallet. He created a huge pile of shit code, then left the client to become an outside consultant for that same client. Why would he do that if he believed in his work and the company that he used to work for? He continues to under-estimate work efforts, cause chaos in the development teams, and muddies any topic that might lead to diminishing his role (and $$$). I saw the same behaviors at Intel. I saw it in other projects. There are always people who are not working in the best interests of the client. To think otherwise is… not good.
I suppose I could go on, but I think I have made my point. In my world, real developers ship. This kind of hand waving over an idea that has been shown to have significate weaknesses is only self-serving bullshit that only convinces clients to spend money on illusions.
More fuel to the fire: