My fear of robots, er... tools, pt 5

Online/Offline tools for team project management are expensive. I used to do procurement for things like this. I cringe at the money spent here. I would like to think that no matter if you are at a large organization or a small one, you would will watch spending with a great amount of responsibility. 

Purchasing tools like this goes into the tens of thousands of dollars for even small organizations. This cost is very high. I find this is the case for most project management software.

There are inexpensive an very Agile alternatives to doing things this way. I personally love my card wall. If the wall gets hit by a tasmanian devil, I keep an soft copy in Excel/Numbers/Google Docs or favored spreadsheet application. 

My fear of robots, er... tools, pt 4

I have a fear of team communication being reduced as valuable interaction is now funneled into tool use.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. 

I see this with common office tools like the phone and email. I see teams who are collocated call someone who is outside of their team rooms but located on the same floor as their team for a conversation that may last longer than a few minutes. I see teams email each other when they are collocated. That one is my personal button…

If a team is expected to keep record within a tool they may start to look to this tool as the method to communicate. I have seen team say "Why do it twice?" The tool is often not for them but, if they are judged by what it contains, they may start to use it as the only method of communication. CYA becomes the rule of thumb. I have seen test specialists and dev specialists who sit right next to each other speak to each other through the test case tracking software. Very frustrating…

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

My fear of robots, er... tools, pt 3

​I have a fear of managers using tools to judge their teams in the absence of interaction. 

I have seen managers request the feedback from tools to gather data to support the endeavors of the team. When pressure is applied for acceleration, increased efficiency, or more productivity, the team is punished with the data pulled from the tool without the valuable conversation that should go with it. ​

​Estimates are considered exactimates; precise commitments by the team. 

​The output of the tools are distributed around the organization without education on the new mindset of how we work.

​Trust broken...

My fear of robots, er... tools, pt 2

Teams may change behavior to support the shortcomings of a tool.

I have observed teams in the past that would forgo good behaviors because their tools did not support them. Of course there is the chance for a team to pick up bad behaviors because a tool reinforces it. 

A tool should exist to support the endeavor of the team while allowing their good practices to flourish. ​