Method’s the Wrong Place To Look

Part [part not set] of 3 in the series Defining Agile

There’s an old joke:

A policeman comes across a drunk crawling around under a streetlamp, asks him what’s up. Drunk says he lost his car keys. So the cop helps him look for a while. But no luck, so the cop asks him, "Where’s your car, sir?" and the guy points off in the dark. Cop says, well, why are we looking over here, when your car is over there? Drunk says, "Well, because the light’s better here."

There are folks who would have you believe that the software development movement we’re a part of is about what I call broadly "method": structure, process, technique, rules, definitions, steps, algorithms.

I don’t believe that, myself. That’s why I go on all the time about acculturation, about "the whole geek", about the triple-base of made+making+maker, and so on.

The light is better there, under "method". I don’t think that’s the most likely place we to find the agile car keys, though, so that’s not where i’m looking.

I’m off in the dim recesses of community.

I am a geek’s geek: I adore technique. I find great beauty in structure. I long for algorithm and rules and process.

But all the great moments of my career in agility have come from community, and that’s where I am looking for more of them.

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