More Quotes from Twitter

Back on August 20th, I posted a long list of quotes from things people have posted through Twitter. Today, because I can tell it's going to be a lazy day for me, and for no other reason, I'm posting a second, shorter, set of such Twitter material. Again, listed in alphabetical order by first names and with some things by me.

?? (can’t remember where I heard it) – “If you fence people in, they become sheep.”

Alistair Cockburn - "Plans are great till they meet people"

Angelo Anolin - No matter how much bashing waterfall method gets, it has its share of successes prior to agile. Scott Duncan - Re: bashing waterfall & its "successes prior to agile" - 'course agile really suggests it isn't the method we should rely on.

anonymous (via Armond Mehrabian) - When there is in elephant in the room, introduce him.

Bob Marshall - Adopt the perspective that all sw development is a subset of product development and learn from PD folks like Reinertsen.

Bob Marshall - Limit work-in-process - not just development work but all work. Get Little’s Law working for you rather than against.

Bob Marshall - When I say (or think) "I have an idea" what I mean is "please look at the world again, from this new perspective, folks".

Brian Marick - Greater ease requires first moving in the direction of less ease. Shame, that.

Dave Rooney - Easier to make something small bigger, but not opposite. Scott Duncan - Yes...one of my main methodology pts! And also encourages what do I need to do better" thinking as opposed to "what do I want to throw out or get away without doing". Dave Rooney - Absolutely! By nature we're methodology "pack rats", loathe to get rid of any artifact or procedure "in case we need it"!

Dave Rooney - Yup - that's my business model!! :) Beginners are in the "shu" stage - I get them to "ha" and they fire me when they attain "ri".

David Anderson - @flowchainsensei the problem with Deming is folks refuse to believe that he's relevant to the knowledge work century. :-S Bob Marshall - @agilemanager True. Although I think that opinion's ltd to those (few) who've ever heard of him :-S And fewer want to own ways of working

Dee Hock (via Wally Bock)- "Haste never made time and waste never made abundance."

Dr. Seuss (via Mike Cottmeyer) - "Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.”

Earl Everett - Scrum is not the name of the 'ball game', it's rugby. Played well, rugby is a very agile game, mentally & physically. Scott Duncan - True, but once you're asked where the word comes from, Rugby gets dragged into the discussion, unfortunately. But your point is good in that I think we should move the conversation from game to qualities as you describe. Earl Evertt - Also, rugby is a highly collaborative and fluid game, and leadership comes from different people at different times. Scott Duncan - Unlike many sports we get to see in the USA, Rugby is very much a team game. Even moreso than football/soccer, I think.

Esther Derby - having leadership strengths != being "the leader." teams need _leadership_ which can come from diff ppl at dif times.

Esther Derby - Myths about pay: Labor rate = labor cost. Labor rate is easy to count; labor cost, not always so easy. Definitely not the same thing.

George Dinwiddie - Carpenters don't argue whether a hammer or saw is the better tool. Why Lean vs Agile vs Kanban? Goal is to build a house. Tim Ottinger - Carpenters do argue about Case v. Cat v. Deere v. Holland. Also, saw v. hammer is clear-cut. flow v. piulse is harder. Scott Duncan – Carpenters don't argue hammer vs saw since they can't do the other's job. Individuals sure have their fav hammers, though.

Henry Ford (via Deborah Hartmann Preuss) - "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said 'a faster horse.'” Dale Emery - Maybe Ford didn't know to ask the next question: "If u had a faster horse, what would that do for u?"

J.B.Rainsberger (via David Hussman at Agile 2009, not Twitter) – “Drive the cost of failure to 0, so we can fail a million times.”

James Bach (and Michael Bolton) - We think a check [as opposed to a test] is "an observation with a decision rule that can be performed non-sapiently" example: junit asserts. So, a lot of what Agilists call testing, we would call checking. But to create checks and react to broken checks requires testing skill.

Joan Koerber-Walker - Why Do We Ignore "Best Practices"? Scott Duncan - 'Cause we don't think they are?

Michelle Sliger - Deming says don’t blame the people, it's the system. My question: who forged the sys? PEOPLE. Who's going to chg the sys? People. Let’s get busy. Dennis Stevens - I feel sorry for the system. People are always abusing it and gaming it. It just isn't nice. Skip Angel - One more: Many orgs expect mgmt to fix systems, but best ppl are those that are closest to problems system is trying to fix. Esther Derby - even when U can't chg the system, U can chg your response to the system from any point in org.

Mike Schubert - Agile Development isn't doing things faster - it's doing the right things sooner (which may make you appear ... faster).

Mitch Kapor - The perfect is the enemy of the good, & the good is the enemy of the good enough. Is the good enough the enemy of the barely ok?

Paula Thornton (via Grant Rule) - Toyota "not normal corp business model...they've learned how to learn. GM makes cars. Toyota makes people who make cars" Grant Rule - If Toyota has "learned how to learn" by "mak[ing] people who make cars" who in the software industry makes ppl who make effective systems?

Scott Duncan - And instead of a CSM test, what about a CSP-like statement that CSM "graduates" would have to submit and have judged?

Steven M Smith - A TEAM without the means to score product value is missing explicit agreement with their customer(s) about significance. A TEAM obsessed with product quality IME runs out of funds, which forces shipment, which results in a product with little value. A TEAM obsessed with time to market IME operates on hunches and ships quickly with the hope that its product has value.

Steven M Smith - Tell me my idea is wrong and I'll think that info is useful. Assist me to transform the idea so it's right and I'll feel helped.

Steven M Smith - When a TEAM reaches consensus, ideally IME each member has agreed to actively rather than passively support the decision. Most TEAMS don't use consensus to make decisions IME, which results in many members failing to actively support the decisions. a TEAM that uses consensus to make minor decisions IME wastes its time: Empower individuals or sub-teams to make minor decisions. a TEAM member is guilty of fraud when they participate in a consensus decision and refuse to support it to an outsider.

Sydney J. Harris (via Chris Moy) – “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."

Tanmay Vora - In the game of excellence, if you have "anger" and "ego" on your side, you don't need an opponent! :)

Tim Ottinger - How many orgs consider management "the art of getting people to work more"?

Tim Ottinger (actually from a workshop at Agile 2009) – “My backlog is terribly frustrating. The users? Abusive, berating. Id like it all first, but will work in small bursts, if you let me make money while waiting!”

Tom Gilb (via Benjamin Mitchell) - "A software programmer is not necessarily an engineer in the same way a bricklayer is not necessarily a construction engineer"

Vasco Duarte - Irony is having the first quiet moment of the day in a canteen with 200 other people after heavy work load in an office alone!