Suck It Up, Buttercup. Agile Revisited
April 12th, 2012 § 1 Comment
I’ve made no secret here of the problems I’ve run into while working on projects that want to beat the drum of Agile development. And I still hold my position that Agile is a development methodology that was never meant to accommodate, or even consider, specialized disciplines like design.
Despite my belief, I continue to take on projects where the teams are rah-rah Agile, usually Scrum flavored Agile. So, why do I do that? For a few reasons, but I can assure you that none of them involve masochism. That’s just not my playground.
- Unless you’re working in an agency, you really can’t escape Agile.
Pretty much everyone developing software these days has moved their dev processes over to some kind of Agile. More often than not, it seems to be Agile-fall (which, if we want to be pedantic about it, isn’t really Agile at all). So, if you’re the sort of UX-er who finds agency life boring, or you just really love solving big human problems with technology, it’s time to accept that Agile is just going to be part of your life…if you want to keep working. - So many projects are a mess because they have no idea how to incorporate user experience practices into the mix.
My love of solving big, hairy problems doesn’t stop with technology. I love solving process problems, as well. So, when I see a team in need of some process unfucking, I’m all over it. I just can’t help myself. At the end of the day, I want to see project teams as happy as the user communities that they’re trying to help. - When expectations are properly managed, Agile gives designers the freedom to be wrong…a lot.
In more traditional (old skool? waterfall?) software design processes, designers often feel pressure to “get it right” before they show anyone anything. That’s because there’s generally very little time built into schedules to fix anything that you’ve screwed up. Dev folks, if you’ve ever wondered why the designers you work with seem uptight, arrogant, or secretive…that’s why. They’re used to having to be heroes and delivering the good shit on their first try. Agile encourages making decisions quickly and seeing if they work. That means that we have plenty of opportunity to experiment, and to correct our failed experiments.
In case you hadn’t guessed yet, I’ve tackled yet another big project that’s firmly entrenched in Agile. And I have, as usual, many many many things I want to say about it — not all of them pissy. Assuming I manage to save some energy for writing, over the coming weeks I may be spewing a lot of random thoughts of Agile here.
(For anyone who’s wondering about my decision to end my time in Agencylandia…that’s a whole ‘nother story. But, look above and you’ll get a clue why I’ve decided that world isn’t for me.)
F-bombs…
September 21st, 2011 § Leave a Comment
It’s always good to learn things about yourself. It means you’re growing. As a person. As a professional. As a tree…wait, not as a tree. Trees don’t learn.
Anyway, something I’ve learned about myself recently:
Nothing makes me drop f-bombs like shitty design.
I’m sure there are people who know me who could have told you that about me, but I never realized it was such a trigger until recently. And by recently, I mean about ten minutes ago.
So what sparked my moment of self-realization? A combination of two things, actually.
First, a heuristic analysis I’m hip-deep in at work. It’s bad, folks. Really, really bad–broken interface metaphors, disappearing menus, vague messaging, specialized terminology, inconsistent visual treatments. You name the rule, I can pretty readily point you to a place where this dev team has broken it. (It’s in fact bad enough that it’s almost inspired another rant about Agile…which is something I haven’t done in quite awhile.)
And second, Facebook’s newest design. This sparked such ire in me that I proceeded to rant about it on Facebook. Littering the landscape with f-bombs and other colorful language. Why does my potty mouth stand out in this instance as notable to me? Because I’m friends with my mother, various relatives, and some teachers from as far back as fourth grade on Facebook. As such, that’s generally not a venue where I let the “fuck” flag fly.
So, congratulations Facebook. You’ve released such a shitty design that you made me cuss in front of my mother. I’m hope you’re fucking proud of yourselves. Fucking idiots.
Waste of…
December 10th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
…money…space…time. You name it, this is a waste of it.
My personal winner for Most Ridiculous Product of the Year for 2010 is…
Starbucks VIA Ready Brewer...a brewer for your instant fucking coffee. Brilliantly stupid.
It’s instant fucking coffee, you stupid fucks. Why the hell does anyone need an appliance for that? Seriously. And to have the nerve to call it a “brewer”? That’s only something that the money grubbing whores of Starbucks would try to have the balls to do.
I’d like to think that people aren’t as dumb as marketers assume they are. Maybe for X-mas this year, Santa will restore my faith in my fellow humans and make sure not to put this piece of ri-cock-ulousness under anyone’s tree.
