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A comment on Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for software delivery?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for softwa... by imbnwa on Thursday March 04, 2021 @02:43PM (#26347174)
I remember noticing this on my first frontend job 5 years ago. How are in hell are they accurately measuring any kind of performance? I'm sure it can actually be done but enterprise half-asses even that, likely because keeping it all slightly arbitrary allows for more ambiguity to leverage against workers (keeps them paranoid rather than certain, elites don't like safety amongst workers).
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Re:Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for softwa... by hinkley on Thursday March 04, 2021 @05:36PM (#26349456)
> How are in hell are they accurately measuring any kind of performance?

You aren't, and that's the grift.

I force developers to do something they are bad at. They get better, but they're never 'great' at it. So I can withhold raises they deserve because I'm punishing them for what they're not good at instead of rewarding them for what they are great at.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for softwa... by matthewmacleod on Thursday March 04, 2021 @06:59PM (#26350320)
It’s not a measurement tool though - it’s tool for self-calibration. If anyone outside the software team sees those estimates then the process is broken. Doubly so if they’re tied to any performance evaluation.
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Re:Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for softwa... by pracer on Friday March 05, 2021 @07:40AM (#26356185)
Well, but that's what actually happens everywhere. The estimates are not for the team itself, but used for managers and the company. Even in the comments here it was justified as "the company needs to know that to sell it to customers".

So reality trumps ideals.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for softwa... by Pet_Ant on Thursday March 04, 2021 @07:26PM (#26350607)
> It’s not a measurement tool though - it’s tool for self-calibration.

This was my complaint of the term “velocity” because it sounds objective and absolute when it’s really much more arbitrary and not even comparable to the same team from year to year.

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Re:Ask HN: Do you think Agile/Scrum is beneficial for softwa... by imbnwa on Friday March 05, 2021 @06:50PM (#26363808)
Exactly, and since there's no human whose job is to figure out the ontology of dev work...
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