2022-05-18 01:31:12 +00:00
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---
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layout: post
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title: "Idea for Part-time Agile Development Shop"
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2022-05-18 02:21:33 +00:00
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slug: "part-time-agile"
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2022-05-18 01:31:12 +00:00
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date: 2015-02-25 10:34:00
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categories: life
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---
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Agile software development is awesome, but there's more to life than writing
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code, developing software, and becoming the next successful start-up. People
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might like to work part-time so that they can devote the rest of their time to
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other things like school, research, theirs kids, or what-have-you in a
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sustainable way. Unfortunately part-timer employees at full-time Agile shops can
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create friction. Web search "agile part time employee" and you'll see a wash of
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people trying to hammer out the problem of how to coordinate fragmented,
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part-time, and/or remote teams in an agile work place. The problem, I think, is
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that it's not possible, or at least it's very hard. Think: trying to jam a large
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rectangular prism through a small circular hole. You might make it work, but
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you're probably not going to like it.
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But that's only thinking about the problem with the 8 hour work week as a
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constant. Read on to see a proposed way to work agile, part-time.
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<!--more-->
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Agile Buy In
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------------
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Agile works when everyone buys into it 100%. You're going to partner all the
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time, you're going all to test drive your code. You're all going to have small
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teams (2-6) working on a sole project that stand-up and retrospect. You're going
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to cycle your pairs within your team and the members of your team. Web search
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"Agile the Pivotal Way" and watch [any of][AtPW1] [those videos][AtPW2] and
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you'll get a good idea of what a well-running 100% agile/XP/alternative
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development shop looks like.
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[AtPW1]: https://vimeo.com/52923973
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[AtPW2]: http://pivotallabs.com/103-agile-the-pivotal-way/
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Being Part Time Isn't Lazy
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--------------------------
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Somehow, we've got it in our heads that working 8 hours a week (or more) at a
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single job is needed. However, most people are self-admittedly multi-faceted.
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They might want to pursue a graduate degree, learn about another subject
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entirely, volunteer, be a Batista at a coffee house, home school their kids. The
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exact motivation could be anything, let's merely acknowledge that it could be
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awesome to split up your day, and flex your brain and body in different ways
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throughout the day.
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A Solution
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----------
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So you can see where the rub is, right? How do you get 100% Agile buy in and
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let people work part-time? My proposed solution is to have everyone buy in to a
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part-time development cycle. An example of your company's schedule could be
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this:
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00:00 - 12:00 - Company members live their lives away from work
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12:00 - 13:00 - all Company members come to office, have lunch, and chat
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13:00 - 13:30 - Company stands up, Company splits into teams
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team stands up, split into pairs
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13:30 - 18:00 - pairs program
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~30 minutes is used in this block for one break big or multiple small breaks
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18:00 - XX:XX - reform into Company, have drinks, unwind
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XX:XX - 24:00 - Company members live their lives away from work
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The formula is (approximately): one hour for lunch, half hour for stand-ups,
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four-and-a-half hours for programing (with a half-hours worth of
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break time sprinkled in), unwind, and go do whatever. *Optionally* (and I stress
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**optionally**) company members can come together before work or after work and
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have talks, perform research in groups, just hang out, but the important thing
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is it is truly *their time*.
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For me, the problem is right now is to find some people (at least one) to start
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this crazy idea with. I am thinking of taking the summer and working
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(full-time) for an agile shop or coaching a company into getting to agile, so
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that I can get into that well-tested full-time agile groove and then in the fall
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of 2015 coming together with a person/team form a Company doing part-time agile.
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Are you crazy enough to give this a try this with me? Drop me a line:
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<apocryphalauthor@gmail.com>.
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