Agile: This Is Becoming Weirder By The Minute
Just when I thought I have seen it all when it comes to the Agile hype… I came across Agile Draw.
This is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much. I can just see it coming:
- Workshops for practicing whiteboard sketching
- Courses for learning the new and innovative semantics (especially how to properly use colors to express your emotions)
- And of course a formal certification program — how else would you become a Whiteboard Master?
The next thing you know there’s a new drawing tool: AgileDraw+ — your computer-based whiteboard.
And what about a standard committee. How else will the Agile Draw semantics evolve. So, don’t be surprised if in a couple of years you will see Agile Draw 2.0 everywhere you go (new shapes, new lines, new colors… exciting, isn’t it?).
Agile people, excuse me for asking this, but is it possible that somewhere along the way you got so hooked on keeping the hype alive and creating more buzz that you forgot what YOUR goals were?
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:21 am
Yes, very NEW semantics indeed. Text inside circles and boxes …
How can I ignored AgileDraw until now ?
August 2nd, 2006 at 1:59 pm
Amen.
August 3rd, 2006 at 1:39 am
AgileDraw’s home page does a great job of describing what others would call “sketching”. And explains with a clear flow-chart exactly when to do that before getting down to UML.
In today’s meaning-seeking world, who can fault them for taking a simple, commonsense activity, putting a name on it, and claiming it as their own?
It was surely not only for money that Gary Dahl sold pet rocks in the 1970’s:
http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Culture/Fads/Pet_Rocks.asp
And lest you say that these ideas don’t have staying power, remember that 25 years later, Ms. Aki Maita came out with the Tamgotchi:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamagotchi
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:41 am
Please don’t sum up the entire Agile community from just that one website. I consider myself an agilist and personally think that AgileDraw is going a little too far. Remember…People over Processes and Tools.
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:03 am
Aaron,
I am not trying to stereotype the entire Agile community. I was just trying to point out that things are indeed going a little too far. Sometimes.
Lidor
August 6th, 2006 at 8:01 am
Hah. We’ll know that “Agile” has been truly co-opted by vendors when some makes a CASE tool where you draw in “AgileDraw” and can generate code from your model. ;-)
August 7th, 2006 at 6:19 am
AgileDraw+ — your computer-based whiteboard
I think they call that a SMARTBoard. Darned nifty little piece of hardware, too! =)
August 22nd, 2006 at 5:05 pm
I don’t see why Agile Draw is such as bad thing?
Right under the “About Agile Draw” heading, it states the following: “The Agile Draw principles are not new! Agile Draw is a simple summary of things we all know about drawing useful pictures.”
I for one think it is a beautiful alternative to the notation-heavy UML. I don’t care what it is called, Agile Draw, Quick Draw, whatever… just give me some confidence to do basic sketching on my job using boxes, circles, lines, and text. I like it!