Good software does not come out of companies without a bottom-up approach to software development. Top-down approaches are either terrible or extremely expensive.
Agile development is something that at my company we fought for, not against. It’s literally impossible to fight against actual agile development since it has to come from the workers. Agile is not scrum, and neither are a collection of ceremonies. It’s just a framework to give agency to developers.
Do you think that traditional project management is from the top down? Or were you exposed to bad traditional project management? Because that’s the same argument that you are making for Agile.
Let’s make things clear - the Agile methodology is a great tool. But like any other tool, it is not a one size fits all. But what is happening right now is that it’s pushed by upper management because that’s the cool tool.
What kind of non-agile bottom-up software projects have you experienced? Bottom-up waterfall? I guess it’s possible in theory but that would be a sight to behold.
My only point is that in most situations, upper management are fools that should be left to their devices and should never get a say in development methodologies. By definition if upper management imposes Scrum, it’s a self-defeating prophecy.
Waterfall
Agile
Scrum
Top-down
Can be great (esp. with rigid requirements like fintech, for safety-critical systems, or integration with traditional engineering processes with rigid schedules and feature sets) but will probably be more expensive
Bad managers trying to make-up for their own lack of foresight
Can’t exist (but some companies pretend very hard)
Bottom-up
Probably can’t exist (but I haven’t seen anyone try)
Yes
Yes
Your average tech company should be somewhere in the bottom-right, but bad managers are trying to pull the needle upwards to justify their existence or make up for their incompetence. But they still call that “Agile” (which can be true by some definitions of the word) or “Scrum” (which that isn’t, by definition).
Good software does not come out of companies without a bottom-up approach to software development. Top-down approaches are either terrible or extremely expensive.
Agile development is something that at my company we fought for, not against. It’s literally impossible to fight against actual agile development since it has to come from the workers. Agile is not scrum, and neither are a collection of ceremonies. It’s just a framework to give agency to developers.
Do you think that traditional project management is from the top down? Or were you exposed to bad traditional project management? Because that’s the same argument that you are making for Agile.
Let’s make things clear - the Agile methodology is a great tool. But like any other tool, it is not a one size fits all. But what is happening right now is that it’s pushed by upper management because that’s the cool tool.
What kind of non-agile bottom-up software projects have you experienced? Bottom-up waterfall? I guess it’s possible in theory but that would be a sight to behold.
My only point is that in most situations, upper management are fools that should be left to their devices and should never get a say in development methodologies. By definition if upper management imposes Scrum, it’s a self-defeating prophecy.
Your average tech company should be somewhere in the bottom-right, but bad managers are trying to pull the needle upwards to justify their existence or make up for their incompetence. But they still call that “Agile” (which can be true by some definitions of the word) or “Scrum” (which that isn’t, by definition).