True, but I think we can separate the idea from the person/company.
The problem statement is very well written. The Director of Engineering rotating because they can’t deliver, and the battle between Product and Engineering.
Conclusion is rushed, but it boils down to what agile advocates at the core: product manager and QA need to be in the room along with engineering.
It is until they hear daily about the challenges, first hand, and they see the struggle that it makes sense. Does not matter how many reports the PM does, first have seeing why technical debt is making things slow is invaluable.
Only addition I would add is: there is a reason why sprint waterfalls exist. You can’t iterate forever, and someone needs to play the role of the mature person that knows when something is good enough and needs to be shipped. I think Agile as a framework is at its limits. We need something that lets us run the engineering but at the same time becomes more predictable to business.
I suppose I'm tainted because I've seen one too many methodology consultants. "What you're doing now is bad...but this new way will solve all your problems.." Enter "Value Scrum" your new savior.
After almost 3 decades in software, I've come to perceive a few things about the industry and the people in it, especially the new entrants:
1) All problems begin with "how can we solve this with new software/feature/etc?" because after all, we're software people and we make software so clearly software is the answer.
2) Society believes #1. They expect that all problems are solved with software. Not only does society believe this, VCs believe this also. There is incentive to behave as #1 in the hopes that it leads to $$$.
3) Anyone not believing #1 is a detractor, or worse, a Luddite. Technology as solution is the prevailing axiom. It is Maslow's hammer. All non-believers must be purged or cancelled.
So when I read what I'll admit is an enticing article that demonstrates experience and analytical thinking by the author I'm intrigued and mostly supportive. Just like software frameworks (yes, you Javascript community) the answer to problems is always a new present solution which one day will be a future problem whether it be tech or tech inspired methodology. Tech first problem solving usually always leads here.
I was also struck by an adaption of a statement I read once about XML. The adaptation follows: "Agile is like violence, if it isn't working you're not using enough of it."
So what does this mean, abandon all tech? No. It means, apply critical thinking. Let dissent be ok. Do the things the article suggests. You don't need training, or a seminar or a consultant. And if the leadership wants to do something you can't fully engage in, find something else to do. Don't waste your life.
