Ask HN: Best project management practices in 2018?

Re:Ask HN: Best project management practices in 2018? by dragonwriter on Wednesday February 14, 2018 @03:38PM (#16379160)

SAFe both directly incorporated process evaluation and improvement and recognizes that the process starting point appropriate to different orgs in different tasks is different, and even in its framework doesn't dictate low-level team process though it describes what process combinations are common, so it seems to, as much as a canned starting-point process can be, be a fairly robust concrete implementation of Agile Manifesto values (it's arguably, though, more Lean than Agile, though I'd argue Lean’s focus on well-defined processes with continuous, team-involved evaluation and improvement is the best operationalization of the Agile Manifesto’s “individual and interactions over processes and tools” (remembering that the Manifesto’s “over” statements are explicitly about priority, not one thing instead of the other.)

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Re:Ask HN: Best project management practices in 2018? by mattmanser on Thursday February 15, 2018 @11:05AM (#16385062)

Most of the concepts in that diagram are in direct contradiction of the agile manifesto.

For example, a scrum master is supposed to ensure a team follows agreed processes, in direct contradiction with one of the four values of the agile manifesto:

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

A scrum master is someone running around dictating that everyone stick to processes. Usually that were "agreed" by management (i.e. dictated)[1]. This is also in direct contradiction to several of the principles.

I also love how the customer is shoved in the top right of the diagram, as far, far, far away from the developers as possible. Agile value 3:

Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

[1] Scrum itself is so far from agile and in direct contradiction of the principles I have no idea how they managed to convince everyone it's an agile methodology.

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Re:Ask HN: Best project management practices in 2018? by dragonwriter on Thursday February 15, 2018 @12:21PM (#16385739)

> For example, a scrum master is supposed to ensure a team follows agreed processes

Ok.

> in direct contradiction with one of the four values of the agile manifesto:

> Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

But its not in contradiction. Agreed processes are the outcome of individuals and interactions, not dictates from authority external to the team. The individuals and interactions are superior to, and directing, the processes and tools; that is consistent with the line quoted from the Agile Manifesto, especially when considered with the line everyone forgets that immediately follows the "X over Y" statements: "That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more."

The Manifesto is not calling for rejecting clear, well-defined processes in favor of chaos. Its calling for making process serve the team rather than vice versa.

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Re:Ask HN: Best project management practices in 2018? by mattmanser on Thursday February 15, 2018 @03:45PM (#16387464)

Well, that's an impressively convoluted way of justifying doing the exact opposite of what the phrase says.

The principles make it even clearer.

What's especially damning about Scrum is that there's courses, and prescribed tools, and prescribed processes. Exactly the opposite of what the values and the principles argue for.

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