[PLUG] Agile Methods for SysAdmins?

[<jvoris@axs2000.net>]

I love hearing this discussion on Scrum vs. Kanban, but I have a vested
interest in it - being the Leader of AgilePhilly.com - where we talk
about this all the time.

Where I fall on this is to encourage you to move to Kanban and only keep
the parts of Scrum that are helpful.  A Retrospective meeting of the
minds every two weeks seems like a productive review.

If I can say any one thing to encourage you to think about a Kanban Board
( or Information Radiator as we often call them ) . . . . Kanban is
going to be a better fit for your Customer Service or Sys-Admin work . .
 because you and your team are constantly re-evaluating the Backlog of
TODO items as priorities change.  Scrum wants to set the list of tasks
for a defined period and work through that list.  That kind of timeboxed
static workflow does not work for Maintenance Depts or Customer Service
or SysAdmins.

P.S. I should mention that Agile Philly has a Mentoring program where we
pair an experienced Agile Coach to bounce ideas off while you transition
and try new things.  Usually this is just a phone call every two weeks
between the two people - but can help you confirm your impressions as
you move forward.  

http://www.agilephilly.com/page/amp-up-your-skills ( AgilePhilly
Mentoring Program ) 


- John Voris, Lead Coordinator, www.AgilePhilly.com


>Does anyone currently use Agile Methodologies as System Admins/Engineers?

>I've been all over the place with Agile and Kanban in a few different
>teams. I think it all depends on your particular team workflow. For
>straight sysadmin work, Kanban for sure. However, if you're the sys admin
>on a software team, then Agile tends to work better. Shoehorning a 
> sysadmin team into Agile hurts, mostly for the reason you laid out. 
> There's a lot of fire fighting, production breaks, and at the end of the sprint 
> you have nothing to show. Did that for a while, it was terrible and it made 
> me and my team look terrible to management, which is what 
> product/project management is all about.
>
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group         --        http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion  --   http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug