Treat staff like adults and equals

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2019-03-28 06:22

There is a sea change in work, whether within IT or outside. It's a renaissance: a complete shift in how we think about employees and management. The portmanteau is usually "Agile" but it is far far more than that. It is a confluence of many new (and not so new) ideas. At their heart is a restoration of humanity, of human values, a unification of Truth, Goodness, and Beauty.

Firing people is always a last resort.

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2019-02-07 21:24

Firing people should always be a last resort, not an instrument of culture change.

My changing mind

Submitted by skeptic on Sun, 2019-01-27 07:58

It's lucky for me that I don't get the kind of attention which would lead to people comparing my current posts to my old ones. There is nothing worse than having your own words quoted back to you a decade later. And this blog has been going 12 years, so my views have certainly changed over that time - not drifted slightly, but shifted majorly. Here are some examples:

Kill the ticket

Submitted by skeptic on Sat, 2019-01-26 10:27

I really like the "kill the ticket" movement in DevOps. (hat tip to Damon Edwards). A ticket means a work record in a tool like Remedy or Service Now to represent an incident, problem, change request, defect....

Automation is for the best

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2019-01-22 10:10

OK I'm getting sick of writing tweets defending automation from social justice warriors (of which I'm one: check my tweets @theitskeptic) who want to shut it down or slow it down.

The Five Ways of Devops

Submitted by skeptic on Thu, 2018-12-06 22:19

I think there are not Three Ways of Devops but five Ways.

The novel The Phoenix Project was intended to be a way of selling and educating us on the concept of Agile, Lean and DevOps, but it is such a brilliant book that it created a new model of its own along the way, known as the Three Ways.

A standardised work management tool?

Submitted by skeptic on Sun, 2018-11-18 16:18

The papers published by the DevOps Forum are a fabulous contribution to the DevOps body of knowledge. I always learn an immense amount from them. But with the latest paper I can't agree with it. It is Overcoming Inefficiencies in Multiple Work

Agile Procurement

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2018-11-02 23:28

Agility of procurement is a major issue for many organisations. Especially as we try to increase our agility in working, it is often the procurement department that we run into like a brick wall. E.g. from personal experience it can take months to hire a consultant or contractor, which makes it impossible to work.

Climate change

Submitted by skeptic on Wed, 2018-10-10 19:55

Media are awash with hysterical (and not as in funny) misinterpretations of the recent IPCC report, all of them along the lines of "we have 12 years to save the world". I'm as concerned about climate change as anyone, but the apocalyptic bullshit over the latest IPCC report only discredits the real science. It's not saying anything like we have only 12 years to save the world.

New Ways Of Managing

Submitted by skeptic on Tue, 2018-10-09 06:44

I'm now convinced that transformation to Agile isn't about new ways of working, it's about New Ways Of Managing™.
Change the governance, policy, KPIs, system, products, services, and people development. The culture and work will change.
This is the IT Skeptic's Big idea for 2018.

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