{"id":47,"date":"2024-11-25T11:37:04","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T10:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?p=47"},"modified":"2024-12-18T08:45:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-18T07:45:46","slug":"but-why-though","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?p=47","title":{"rendered":"Origin Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The way I stumbled onto Agile was &#8211; as these things go &#8211; mostly by accident. We did <strong>a project<\/strong>, it <strong>turned out very good<sup data-fn=\"4fa89e4c-5002-4a4d-b291-2b5026a6a252\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#4fa89e4c-5002-4a4d-b291-2b5026a6a252\" id=\"4fa89e4c-5002-4a4d-b291-2b5026a6a252-link\">1<\/a><\/sup><\/strong>, and eventually I wondered: apart from the obvious reason of us being bloody geniuses<sup data-fn=\"6545416f-3df9-45d0-bee8-cf1b31d0e08d\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#6545416f-3df9-45d0-bee8-cf1b31d0e08d\" id=\"6545416f-3df9-45d0-bee8-cf1b31d0e08d-link\">2<\/a><\/sup> &#8211; could we do this on purpose? Could there be <strong>method to the madness<\/strong>? Would we be able to repeat this<sup data-fn=\"7f461fbe-93ee-4157-97b0-b790e79d4669\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#7f461fbe-93ee-4157-97b0-b790e79d4669\" id=\"7f461fbe-93ee-4157-97b0-b790e79d4669-link\">3<\/a><\/sup>?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let me start by describing<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">where we started from:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>We did have a guy doing &#8220;project management&#8221;<sup data-fn=\"584b88fe-08f7-4843-b194-98ed79664368\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#584b88fe-08f7-4843-b194-98ed79664368\" id=\"584b88fe-08f7-4843-b194-98ed79664368-link\">4<\/a><\/sup> (lower case), but way too little bandwidth to do &#8220;Project Management&#8221;<sup data-fn=\"3ea11fad-0685-4aaa-a8b8-8ee56052919b\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#3ea11fad-0685-4aaa-a8b8-8ee56052919b\" id=\"3ea11fad-0685-4aaa-a8b8-8ee56052919b-link\">5<\/a><\/sup> (upper case). Meaning: in terms of project execution, <strong>we were pretty much on our own<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"cf9564da-67f7-4e76-94ce-bde0da218a27\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#cf9564da-67f7-4e76-94ce-bde0da218a27\" id=\"cf9564da-67f7-4e76-94ce-bde0da218a27-link\">6<\/a><\/sup>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The project being a re-imagining of one of the earliest video games ever<sup data-fn=\"bcd8e4bf-7bd7-42cb-9682-b3745afcd842\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#bcd8e4bf-7bd7-42cb-9682-b3745afcd842\" id=\"bcd8e4bf-7bd7-42cb-9682-b3745afcd842-link\">7<\/a><\/sup>, which is to say: <strong>simple<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"19a604f7-7d24-493d-9d5a-edf8559dc41f\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#19a604f7-7d24-493d-9d5a-edf8559dc41f\" id=\"19a604f7-7d24-493d-9d5a-edf8559dc41f-link\">8<\/a><\/sup>-to-the-point-of-being-trivial.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Gottfried<sup data-fn=\"927446b6-3adf-4016-b16f-fc0fdf568123\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#927446b6-3adf-4016-b16f-fc0fdf568123\" id=\"927446b6-3adf-4016-b16f-fc0fdf568123-link\">9<\/a><\/sup>, Armin<sup data-fn=\"4692b91b-ad85-4b04-83ed-345722f929af\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#4692b91b-ad85-4b04-83ed-345722f929af\" id=\"4692b91b-ad85-4b04-83ed-345722f929af-link\">10<\/a><\/sup> and me were<strong> in awe<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"1fcf8b3a-da9f-40fb-bb05-13333678e8ca\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#1fcf8b3a-da9f-40fb-bb05-13333678e8ca\" id=\"1fcf8b3a-da9f-40fb-bb05-13333678e8ca-link\">11<\/a><\/sup> of the source material\u2026 we could <em>not<\/em> mess this up!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Our customer contact &#8211; Mr. Rik Skews<sup data-fn=\"33976892-5c7e-4367-9d22-b10a30c3299f\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#33976892-5c7e-4367-9d22-b10a30c3299f\" id=\"33976892-5c7e-4367-9d22-b10a30c3299f-link\">12<\/a><\/sup> &#8211; just as enthusiastic about the source material as we were and willing to <strong>engage with us early and often<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"891e1c91-ec3e-4697-8075-1fb00f714dc1\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#891e1c91-ec3e-4697-8075-1fb00f714dc1\" id=\"891e1c91-ec3e-4697-8075-1fb00f714dc1-link\">13<\/a><\/sup>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>As you can see &#8211; several of the <strong>Agile Principles<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"ffa6f599-133f-4d85-83ed-7f7dcc5047a6\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#ffa6f599-133f-4d85-83ed-7f7dcc5047a6\" id=\"ffa6f599-133f-4d85-83ed-7f7dcc5047a6-link\">14<\/a><\/sup> were already in place when we started. Others apply to<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">how we went about it:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>First, we built the most basic re-engineering of the Space Invaders <strong>core<sup data-fn=\"fb0f44fe-01b0-49a4-92ac-da4a2f0c1ea7\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#fb0f44fe-01b0-49a4-92ac-da4a2f0c1ea7\" id=\"fb0f44fe-01b0-49a4-92ac-da4a2f0c1ea7-link\">15<\/a><\/sup> concept<\/strong>: a grid of \u201eInvaders\u201c moving in a zig-zag pattern from top to bottom, a \u201eDefender\u201c able to move left, right and shoot; Winning and losing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The first milestone was about <strong>a month<\/strong> in. We had: a feel for how quickly the Invaders, the Defender and the bullets should be moving, a first version of how all of it was going to look; and not much more.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The <strong>feedback<\/strong> to the core game was very positive (well: it&#8217;s a classic<sup data-fn=\"568ad856-ef50-4cbd-9c23-dca6c2e3ace7\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#568ad856-ef50-4cbd-9c23-dca6c2e3ace7\" id=\"568ad856-ef50-4cbd-9c23-dca6c2e3ace7-link\">16<\/a><\/sup> for a reason, no?). But the <strong>feedback<\/strong> to our graphic design was a hard no: no messing with the Invader designs. Pixel-by-pixel as in the &#8217;78 original. No glowy outlines, no new designs, no adaptations whatsoever \u2026 which on a minimum screen-resolution of 124*124 creates a bit of a challenge, believe you me!<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>So what did we do? We <strong>fixed what we had<\/strong> according to this <strong>feedback<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"780155b3-8a78-4e9f-aa03-610dff313392\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#780155b3-8a78-4e9f-aa03-610dff313392\" id=\"780155b3-8a78-4e9f-aa03-610dff313392-link\">17<\/a><\/sup> and used only the originals. And only those. Different-sized versions needed to be <em>exactly<\/em> twice, thrice (etc.) the size of the originals. For resolutions where this looked awkward\u2026 it just did. The \u201ehit-boxes\u201c for the Invaders stayed proportional to the screen-width, though, so every once in a while we counted something as a \u201ehit\u201c, even though the \u201eshot\u201c and \u201ethe Invader\u201c didn&#8217;t actually overlap<sup data-fn=\"23c60397-f06d-40c5-81a2-237866260ea4\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#23c60397-f06d-40c5-81a2-237866260ea4\" id=\"23c60397-f06d-40c5-81a2-237866260ea4-link\">18<\/a><\/sup>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You will probably already be able to guess one trend many agile teams see early in their life-cycle and which is highly frustrating to all those being sold on \u201e<strong>the iron triangle<\/strong>\u201c<sup data-fn=\"2a055bf8-0803-4b91-82e1-255eae051b65\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#2a055bf8-0803-4b91-82e1-255eae051b65\" id=\"2a055bf8-0803-4b91-82e1-255eae051b65-link\">19<\/a><\/sup> of project management: Scope suffered. Scope suffered badly. Of all the things that were <strong>planned<\/strong> for the next milestone, a month after the first, we <strong>delivered<\/strong> about a third. The second milestone is not something any seasoned Project Manager cries wolf about\u2026 but they do get concerned. It\u2019s around that time that Gottfried\u2019s assignment to the project was bumped from \u201e<em>you keep a close eye on Sepp, ok<\/em>?\u201c to \u201e<em>as much of your time as you can spare, considering the other things you\u2019re involved in<\/em>\u201c.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Yet: the customer was happy. The new version of the graphic design would pass the license-holder\u2019s requirements and the (few!) things we managed to add made what we had <strong>just a little better<\/strong>, rather than worse (I think we started with multiple waves of attackers and a scoring-system \u2026 <em>very<\/em> simple stuff, technically, if we\u2019re honest).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>And so on for the next milestone and so on for the next. Way less than what had been promised when the contract<sup data-fn=\"d51c84d6-be52-41fa-ac4e-bf937073d293\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#d51c84d6-be52-41fa-ac4e-bf937073d293\" id=\"d51c84d6-be52-41fa-ac4e-bf937073d293-link\">20<\/a><\/sup> had been set up, but for every milestone the customer feedback was in and we had <strong>just a little more<\/strong> than the milestone before.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fast forward to the last one or two milestones: yes, by this time management become concerned. But then: we had a customer heavily bought in to the thing we already had. This was <em>his<\/em> baby as much as ours and he loved it just as much as we did and when push finally came to shove, he preferred to <strong>compromise on scope<\/strong> of what was still left from the contract and <strong>focus on quality<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201e<em>Twice the work in half the time<\/em>\u201c<sup data-fn=\"4140726b-367e-42e0-ad1c-ec8b394fa61b\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#4140726b-367e-42e0-ad1c-ec8b394fa61b\" id=\"4140726b-367e-42e0-ad1c-ec8b394fa61b-link\">21<\/a><\/sup>? Not really. Not at all, actually. A <strong>customer satisfied<\/strong>, this indeed. A <strong>team proud<\/strong> of its work, oh yes. <strong>Eternal riches<\/strong>? I never found out, tbh.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Happy ever after<\/strong>? Not quite. A lot of things went right in the &#8211; let&#8217;s call it: <em>accidental<\/em> &#8211; Scrum described above. A lot of things went wrong in the <em>naive<\/em><sup data-fn=\"0d6c82eb-6ebc-4211-ad0a-d7ad925b82f0\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#0d6c82eb-6ebc-4211-ad0a-d7ad925b82f0\" id=\"0d6c82eb-6ebc-4211-ad0a-d7ad925b82f0-link\">22<\/a><\/sup> Scrum we did next. It took me a couple of years before I felt compelled to write this thing here. But allow me to summarize<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>what happened next:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At one point during the project, Gottfried had forwarded me a link to the Scrum Guide: \u201e<em>You should read this. I think this is pretty much what we are doing here<\/em>.&#8221; I read it then, judged it smart &#8211; if a bit &#8220;duh&#8221; (<em>of course<\/em> that&#8217;s how things should be done!) &#8211; and duly forgot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we were done, I read it again. Read the <strong>Scrum Guide<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"1219401a-e4da-4437-a951-b79ce675de52\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#1219401a-e4da-4437-a951-b79ce675de52\" id=\"1219401a-e4da-4437-a951-b79ce675de52-link\">23<\/a><\/sup> again, read the <strong>Agile Manifesto<\/strong><sup data-fn=\"a681c8ad-9ed6-4ce3-952a-b4de4418a370\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#a681c8ad-9ed6-4ce3-952a-b4de4418a370\" id=\"a681c8ad-9ed6-4ce3-952a-b4de4418a370-link\">24<\/a><\/sup>, read that <strong>XP<sup data-fn=\"73dad825-b810-4e84-98c3-2de8e006ebb7\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#73dad825-b810-4e84-98c3-2de8e006ebb7\" id=\"73dad825-b810-4e84-98c3-2de8e006ebb7-link\">25<\/a><\/sup> <\/strong>book and started to take the whole thing seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fast forward several years. \u201eScrum\u201c was very much officially how video game developers here in Vienna worked. But \u201eScrum\u201c isn\u2019t \u201eScrum\u201c, as you will no doubt have realized. One \u201eScrum\u201c fails where another succeeds and the guide is anything but specific on <em>how<\/em> to do it right. \u201e<em>It\u2019s a framework<\/em>\u201c, they say, \u201e<em>not a methodology<\/em>\u201c. And leave you there, bewildered as to what should be the difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Is &#8220;Scrum&#8221; even necessary<sup data-fn=\"13540d1e-1861-4442-a903-68142f0b91d2\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#13540d1e-1861-4442-a903-68142f0b91d2\" id=\"13540d1e-1861-4442-a903-68142f0b91d2-link\">26<\/a><\/sup>? Isn&#8217;t it all just &#8220;a mindset<sup data-fn=\"51f653ab-794b-4f81-943f-dbb9838e4c28\" class=\"fn\"><a href=\"#51f653ab-794b-4f81-943f-dbb9838e4c28\" id=\"51f653ab-794b-4f81-943f-dbb9838e4c28-link\">27<\/a><\/sup>&#8220;? Ask yourself<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">should <em>you<\/em> be doing \u201eAgile\u201c?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s an interesting question. It all depends on the \u201ewhy\u201c. <em>Your<\/em> \u201ewhy\u201c might differ from mine &#8211; actually: most definitely yours <em>will<\/em> be different from mine, sometimes by a little, sometimes by a lot. \u201e<strong>If all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail<\/strong>\u201c they say and boy do I love to hit things with my Agile hammer\u2026 but is your problem even this proverbial nail? <a href=\"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?page_id=50\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"50\">Follow me to find out<\/a>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8212;<\/p>\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-footnotes\"><li id=\"4fa89e4c-5002-4a4d-b291-2b5026a6a252\">yes, I am proud: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/space-invaders-evolution-mob\/space-invaders-evolution\/\">https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/space-invaders-evolution-mob\/space-invaders-evolution\/<\/a> <a href=\"#4fa89e4c-5002-4a4d-b291-2b5026a6a252-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 1\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"6545416f-3df9-45d0-bee8-cf1b31d0e08d\">well yes, of course, we were. Admittedly, somewhen during the course of the project Gottfried even forwarded me a link to the Scrum Guide. Which I read, considered smart (if somewhat &#8220;duh &#8211; obviously that&#8217;s how things should be run&#8221;) and duly forgot until it became time to reflect <a href=\"#6545416f-3df9-45d0-bee8-cf1b31d0e08d-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 2\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"7f461fbe-93ee-4157-97b0-b790e79d4669\">mostly repeatable: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/galaga-x\/galaga-x\/\">https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/galaga-x\/galaga-x\/<\/a> &#8230; there&#8217;s a number of reasons the next one turned out good-ish, but not quite as good as our first run. More on that later <a href=\"#7f461fbe-93ee-4157-97b0-b790e79d4669-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 3\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"584b88fe-08f7-4843-b194-98ed79664368\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Project_management\">https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/project-management<\/a> <a href=\"#584b88fe-08f7-4843-b194-98ed79664368-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 4\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"3ea11fad-0685-4aaa-a8b8-8ee56052919b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ipma.world\/ipma-certification\/4lc\/certified-project-manager-level-c\/\">https:\/\/ipma.world\/ipma-certification\/4lc\/certified-project-manager-level-c\/<\/a> <a href=\"#3ea11fad-0685-4aaa-a8b8-8ee56052919b-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 5\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"cf9564da-67f7-4e76-94ce-bde0da218a27\">&#8220;<em>The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.<\/em>&#8221; => <a href=\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html<\/a> <a href=\"#cf9564da-67f7-4e76-94ce-bde0da218a27-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 6\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"bcd8e4bf-7bd7-42cb-9682-b3745afcd842\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Invaders\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Invaders<\/a> <a href=\"#bcd8e4bf-7bd7-42cb-9682-b3745afcd842-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 7\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"19a604f7-7d24-493d-9d5a-edf8559dc41f\">&#8220;<em>A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.<\/em>&#8221; => <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.holub.com\/p\/galls-law\">Gall&#8217;s law<\/a>  <a href=\"#19a604f7-7d24-493d-9d5a-edf8559dc41f-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 8\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"927446b6-3adf-4016-b16f-fc0fdf568123\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/game\/47519\/space-invaders-evolution\/credits\/j2me\/?autoplatform=true\">https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/game\/47519\/space-invaders-evolution\/credits\/j2me\/?autoplatform=true<\/a> <a href=\"#927446b6-3adf-4016-b16f-fc0fdf568123-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 9\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"4692b91b-ad85-4b04-83ed-345722f929af\">see above <a href=\"#4692b91b-ad85-4b04-83ed-345722f929af-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 10\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"1fcf8b3a-da9f-40fb-bb05-13333678e8ca\">&#8220;Respect&#8221; being on of Scrum&#8217;s core values. For a number of reasons => <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scrum.org\/resources\/scrum-values\">https:\/\/www.scrum.org\/resources\/scrum-values<\/a> <a href=\"#1fcf8b3a-da9f-40fb-bb05-13333678e8ca-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 11\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"33976892-5c7e-4367-9d22-b10a30c3299f\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/person\/509794\/richard-skews\/\">https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/person\/509794\/richard-skews\/<\/a> <a href=\"#33976892-5c7e-4367-9d22-b10a30c3299f-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 12\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"891e1c91-ec3e-4697-8075-1fb00f714dc1\">&#8220;<em>Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software<\/em>.&#8221; => <a href=\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html<\/a> <a href=\"#891e1c91-ec3e-4697-8075-1fb00f714dc1-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 13\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"ffa6f599-133f-4d85-83ed-7f7dcc5047a6\">can&#8217;t link to that often enough, can I? => <a href=\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html<\/a>  <a href=\"#ffa6f599-133f-4d85-83ed-7f7dcc5047a6-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 14\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"fb0f44fe-01b0-49a4-92ac-da4a2f0c1ea7\">let&#8217;s not call it &#8220;<em>Minimum Viable Product<\/em>&#8221; &#8211; I was naive about the term then &#8211; an to this day it&#8217;s often misused. I&#8217;ll add my 2 cents <a href=\"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?page_id=49\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"49\">here<\/a> at another time, for now read up here: <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Minimum_viable_product\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Minimum_viable_product<\/a> <a href=\"#fb0f44fe-01b0-49a4-92ac-da4a2f0c1ea7-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 15\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"568ad856-ef50-4cbd-9c23-dca6c2e3ace7\">legend has it that at it&#8217;s original launch it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins, that&#8217;s how much people loved it: <a href=\"https:\/\/allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/video-game-myth-busters-space-invaders.html\">https:\/\/allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/video-game-myth-busters-space-invaders.html<\/a> <a href=\"#568ad856-ef50-4cbd-9c23-dca6c2e3ace7-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 16\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"780155b3-8a78-4e9f-aa03-610dff313392\">did I mention <strong>feedback<\/strong>?  <a href=\"#780155b3-8a78-4e9f-aa03-610dff313392-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 17\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"23c60397-f06d-40c5-81a2-237866260ea4\">Turns out: players don&#8217;t mind winning if it looks like the game&#8217;s fault. Who&#8217;d&#8217;a thunk? <a href=\"#23c60397-f06d-40c5-81a2-237866260ea4-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 18\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"2a055bf8-0803-4b91-82e1-255eae051b65\">The &#8220;Iron Triangle of Project Management&#8221; states that you can fix two, but only two of the following parameters: scope, quality or time. Reality for most project managers is that they&#8217;re expected to keep all three. Pity them. The practical result is that while one of these parameters is usually upheld, this happens to the detriment of (at least) one of the others, but late in the project and to everyone&#8217;s &#8220;surprise&#8221;. => <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Project_management_triangle\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Project_management_triangle<\/a> <a href=\"#2a055bf8-0803-4b91-82e1-255eae051b65-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 19\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"d51c84d6-be52-41fa-ac4e-bf937073d293\">&#8220;<em>Customer collaboration\u00a0over contract negotiation<\/em>&#8221; => <a href=\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/<\/a>  <a href=\"#d51c84d6-be52-41fa-ac4e-bf937073d293-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 20\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"4140726b-367e-42e0-ad1c-ec8b394fa61b\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/19288230-scrum\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/19288230-scrum<\/a> <a href=\"#4140726b-367e-42e0-ad1c-ec8b394fa61b-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 21\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"0d6c82eb-6ebc-4211-ad0a-d7ad925b82f0\">Scrum is one of those &#8220;easy to learn, difficult to master&#8221;-things. More on that <a href=\"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?page_id=56\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"56\">here<\/a> <a href=\"#0d6c82eb-6ebc-4211-ad0a-d7ad925b82f0-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 22\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"1219401a-e4da-4437-a951-b79ce675de52\"><a href=\"https:\/\/scrumguides.org\/\">https:\/\/scrumguides.org\/<\/a> <a href=\"#1219401a-e4da-4437-a951-b79ce675de52-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 23\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"a681c8ad-9ed6-4ce3-952a-b4de4418a370\"><a href=\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/<\/a> <a href=\"#a681c8ad-9ed6-4ce3-952a-b4de4418a370-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 24\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"73dad825-b810-4e84-98c3-2de8e006ebb7\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/67833.Extreme_Programming_Explained\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/67833.Extreme_Programming_Explained<\/a> <a href=\"#73dad825-b810-4e84-98c3-2de8e006ebb7-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 25\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"13540d1e-1861-4442-a903-68142f0b91d2\">no. But it&#8217;s a good place to start <a href=\"#13540d1e-1861-4442-a903-68142f0b91d2-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 26\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><li id=\"51f653ab-794b-4f81-943f-dbb9838e4c28\">also: no. As much as you may <em>want<\/em> to get something done &#8211; you have to <em>do it<\/em> to see results. This is as true for &#8220;Agility&#8221; as it is for doing your chores, obeying traffic rules or exercising your body. No such thing as a free lunch. As always, <em>actually doing it<\/em> requires work and at least an idea of <em>where to start<\/em>. <a href=\"#51f653ab-794b-4f81-943f-dbb9838e4c28-link\" aria-label=\"Jump to footnote reference 27\">\u21a9\ufe0e<\/a><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The way I stumbled onto Agile was &#8211; as these things go &#8211; mostly by accident. We did a project, it turned out very good, and eventually I wondered: apart from the obvious reason of us being bloody geniuses &#8211; could we do this on purpose? Could there be method to the madness? Would we &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?p=47\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Origin Story&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"yes, I am proud: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/space-invaders-evolution-mob\/space-invaders-evolution\/\\\">https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/space-invaders-evolution-mob\/space-invaders-evolution\/<\/a>\",\"id\":\"4fa89e4c-5002-4a4d-b291-2b5026a6a252\"},{\"content\":\"well yes, of course, we were. Admittedly, somewhen during the course of the project Gottfried even forwarded me a link to the Scrum Guide. Which I read, considered smart (if somewhat \\\"duh - obviously that's how things should be run\\\") and duly forgot until it became time to reflect\",\"id\":\"6545416f-3df9-45d0-bee8-cf1b31d0e08d\"},{\"content\":\"mostly repeatable: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/galaga-x\/galaga-x\/\\\">https:\/\/www.pocketgamer.com\/galaga-x\/galaga-x\/<\/a> ... there's a number of reasons the next one turned out good-ish, but not quite as good as our first run. More on that later\",\"id\":\"7f461fbe-93ee-4157-97b0-b790e79d4669\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Project_management\\\">https:\/\/dictionary.cambridge.org\/dictionary\/english\/project-management<\/a>\",\"id\":\"584b88fe-08f7-4843-b194-98ed79664368\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/ipma.world\/ipma-certification\/4lc\/certified-project-manager-level-c\/\\\">https:\/\/ipma.world\/ipma-certification\/4lc\/certified-project-manager-level-c\/<\/a>\",\"id\":\"3ea11fad-0685-4aaa-a8b8-8ee56052919b\"},{\"content\":\"\\\"<em>The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.<\/em>\\\" => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html\\\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html<\/a>\",\"id\":\"cf9564da-67f7-4e76-94ce-bde0da218a27\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Invaders\\\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Space_Invaders<\/a>\",\"id\":\"bcd8e4bf-7bd7-42cb-9682-b3745afcd842\"},{\"content\":\"\\\"<em>A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. The inverse proposition also appears to be true: A complex system designed from scratch never works and cannot be made to work. You have to start over, beginning with a working simple system.<\/em>\\\" => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/blog.holub.com\/p\/galls-law\\\">Gall's law<\/a> \",\"id\":\"19a604f7-7d24-493d-9d5a-edf8559dc41f\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/game\/47519\/space-invaders-evolution\/credits\/j2me\/?autoplatform=true\\\">https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/game\/47519\/space-invaders-evolution\/credits\/j2me\/?autoplatform=true<\/a>\",\"id\":\"927446b6-3adf-4016-b16f-fc0fdf568123\"},{\"content\":\"see above\",\"id\":\"4692b91b-ad85-4b04-83ed-345722f929af\"},{\"content\":\"\\\"Respect\\\" being on of Scrum's core values. For a number of reasons => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.scrum.org\/resources\/scrum-values\\\">https:\/\/www.scrum.org\/resources\/scrum-values<\/a>\",\"id\":\"1fcf8b3a-da9f-40fb-bb05-13333678e8ca\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/person\/509794\/richard-skews\/\\\">https:\/\/www.mobygames.com\/person\/509794\/richard-skews\/<\/a>\",\"id\":\"33976892-5c7e-4367-9d22-b10a30c3299f\"},{\"content\":\"\\\"<em>Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software<\/em>.\\\" => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html\\\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html<\/a>\",\"id\":\"891e1c91-ec3e-4697-8075-1fb00f714dc1\"},{\"content\":\"can't link to that often enough, can I? => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html\\\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/principles.html<\/a> \",\"id\":\"ffa6f599-133f-4d85-83ed-7f7dcc5047a6\"},{\"content\":\"let's not call it \\\"<em>Minimum Viable Product<\/em>\\\" - I was naive about the term then - an to this day it's often misused. I'll add my 2 cents <a href=\\\"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?page_id=49\\\" data-type=\\\"page\\\" data-id=\\\"49\\\">here<\/a> at another time, for now read up here: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Minimum_viable_product\\\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Minimum_viable_product<\/a>\",\"id\":\"fb0f44fe-01b0-49a4-92ac-da4a2f0c1ea7\"},{\"content\":\"legend has it that at it's original launch it caused a shortage of 100-yen coins, that's how much people loved it: <a href=\\\"https:\/\/allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/video-game-myth-busters-space-invaders.html\\\">https:\/\/allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.com\/2013\/11\/video-game-myth-busters-space-invaders.html<\/a>\",\"id\":\"568ad856-ef50-4cbd-9c23-dca6c2e3ace7\"},{\"content\":\"did I mention <strong>feedback<\/strong>? \",\"id\":\"780155b3-8a78-4e9f-aa03-610dff313392\"},{\"content\":\"Turns out: players don't mind winning if it looks like the game's fault. Who'd'a thunk?\",\"id\":\"23c60397-f06d-40c5-81a2-237866260ea4\"},{\"content\":\"The \\\"Iron Triangle of Project Management\\\" states that you can fix two, but only two of the following parameters: scope, quality or time. Reality for most project managers is that they're expected to keep all three. Pity them. The practical result is that while one of these parameters is usually upheld, this happens to the detriment of (at least) one of the others, but late in the project and to everyone's \\\"surprise\\\". => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Project_management_triangle\\\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Project_management_triangle<\/a>\",\"id\":\"2a055bf8-0803-4b91-82e1-255eae051b65\"},{\"content\":\"\\\"<em>Customer collaboration\u00a0over contract negotiation<\/em>\\\" => <a href=\\\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/\\\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/<\/a> \",\"id\":\"d51c84d6-be52-41fa-ac4e-bf937073d293\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/19288230-scrum\\\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/19288230-scrum<\/a>\",\"id\":\"4140726b-367e-42e0-ad1c-ec8b394fa61b\"},{\"content\":\"Scrum is one of those \\\"easy to learn, difficult to master\\\"-things. More on that <a href=\\\"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/?page_id=56\\\" data-type=\\\"page\\\" data-id=\\\"56\\\">here<\/a>\",\"id\":\"0d6c82eb-6ebc-4211-ad0a-d7ad925b82f0\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/scrumguides.org\/\\\">https:\/\/scrumguides.org\/<\/a>\",\"id\":\"1219401a-e4da-4437-a951-b79ce675de52\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/\\\">https:\/\/agilemanifesto.org\/<\/a>\",\"id\":\"a681c8ad-9ed6-4ce3-952a-b4de4418a370\"},{\"content\":\"<a href=\\\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/67833.Extreme_Programming_Explained\\\">https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/67833.Extreme_Programming_Explained<\/a>\",\"id\":\"73dad825-b810-4e84-98c3-2de8e006ebb7\"},{\"content\":\"no. But it's a good place to start\",\"id\":\"13540d1e-1861-4442-a903-68142f0b91d2\"},{\"content\":\"also: no. As much as you may <em>want<\/em> to get something done - you have to <em>do it<\/em> to see results. This is as true for \\\"Agility\\\" as it is for doing your chores, obeying traffic rules or exercising your body. No such thing as a free lunch. As always, <em>actually doing it<\/em> requires work and at least an idea of <em>where to start<\/em>.\",\"id\":\"51f653ab-794b-4f81-943f-dbb9838e4c28\"}]"},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-allgemein","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67,"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/67"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagilistcookbook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}