Comments on: Why Your Developers Don’t Want To Swap Pairs – Practical Agility http://www.skorks.com/2010/03/why-your-developers-dont-want-to-swap-pairs-practical-agility/ For the betterment of the software craft... Mon, 21 Nov 2011 13:57:06 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: Markus Tamm » Blog Archive » Links 09.03.2010http://www.skorks.com/2010/03/why-your-developers-dont-want-to-swap-pairs-practical-agility/comment-page-1/#comment-3828 Markus Tamm » Blog Archive » Links 09.03.2010 Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:52:46 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=1396#comment-3828 [...] Why Your Developers Don’t Want To Swap Pairs – Practical Agility (Alan Skorkin) [...] [...] Why Your Developers Don’t Want To Swap Pairs – Practical Agility (Alan Skorkin) [...]

]]> By: Dew Drop – March 8, 2010 | Alvin Ashcraft's Morning Dewhttp://www.skorks.com/2010/03/why-your-developers-dont-want-to-swap-pairs-practical-agility/comment-page-1/#comment-3819 Dew Drop – March 8, 2010 | Alvin Ashcraft's Morning Dew Mon, 08 Mar 2010 12:20:25 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=1396#comment-3819 [...] Why Your Developers Don’t Want To Swap Pairs – Practical Agility (Alan Skorkin) [...] [...] Why Your Developers Don’t Want To Swap Pairs – Practical Agility (Alan Skorkin) [...]

]]> By: Alan Skorkinhttp://www.skorks.com/2010/03/why-your-developers-dont-want-to-swap-pairs-practical-agility/comment-page-1/#comment-3817 Alan Skorkin Mon, 08 Mar 2010 07:14:23 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=1396#comment-3817 You're right, there is that risk, but when the story is small enough, it is not that much of a risk, at most you lose a day for one pair, not nice, but not the end of the world. Having said that you can also prioritize dependent stories together, but implement them separately, in this case you can't really deprioritise the other part of the story unless you don't want the first part. In this case it is the same situation as as deprioritising a story half way through implementation. I do however agree with you, that it is better to have a story which has value on it's own, I just think it is not worth it to do it at the expense of other parts of your process. You’re right, there is that risk, but when the story is small enough, it is not that much of a risk, at most you lose a day for one pair, not nice, but not the end of the world. Having said that you can also prioritize dependent stories together, but implement them separately, in this case you can’t really deprioritise the other part of the story unless you don’t want the first part. In this case it is the same situation as as deprioritising a story half way through implementation.

I do however agree with you, that it is better to have a story which has value on it’s own, I just think it is not worth it to do it at the expense of other parts of your process.

]]> By: Kornyhttp://www.skorks.com/2010/03/why-your-developers-dont-want-to-swap-pairs-practical-agility/comment-page-1/#comment-3816 Korny Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:43:44 +0000 http://www.skorks.com/?p=1396#comment-3816 I agree it's good to break up stories - but I also think a story should have tangible, measurable, *testable* value on it's own. If your goal is to be testable, and shippable, as often as possible, then a story that does only half a task is a risk - what if the second half gets de-prioritised, then the first half is a big load of yagni. Note I say "value" not "business value" - what is business value? Or rather, what is *non* business value?? Project stakeholders include not only 'the business', but also operations, security, and (gasp!) developers, both current and future. They may not have as big a say as the business, but they are still valid stakeholders - so if a story provides value to them, it provides business value. I agree it’s good to break up stories – but I also think a story should have tangible, measurable, *testable* value on it’s own. If your goal is to be testable, and shippable, as often as possible, then a story that does only half a task is a risk – what if the second half gets de-prioritised, then the first half is a big load of yagni.
Note I say “value” not “business value” – what is business value? Or rather, what is *non* business value?? Project stakeholders include not only ‘the business’, but also operations, security, and (gasp!) developers, both current and future. They may not have as big a say as the business, but they are still valid stakeholders – so if a story provides value to them, it provides business value.

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