Scrum Notes 2013-20

← → | contents

Cheap Agile. Yum! ▶️

I recently re-entered the freelance/consulting field after being engaged full time for the previous 27 months. Curious about what I might do next, I began scanning the job boards for contract positions, and discovered, once again, that in the desire to become "Agile" the great majority of organisations do not have a clue what they are asking for, nor any sense of who they should hire—they leave that to the middle men, the staffing agencies, to decide for them. I have not found one position that allows me to contact the organisation directly.

Given how carefully (over-cautiously, in many cases) potential new hires are interviewed and vetted, this disengagement strikes me as bizarre. Imagine an agency that does your grocery shopping for you, based on what they think you like to eat, or perhaps what will give instant gratification (cakes!) or more likely, what is cheap and available in bulk, e.g. Walmart over Whole Foods. It's all food, right?

Almost exactly three years ago I wrote some advice to clients looking to hire Agile consultants. It is advice worth repeating as, if anything, the situation is more dire now than it was back then, simply by the sheer force of numbers of companies jumping on the Agile band wagon. Here's the advice...

How to Hire an Agile Consultant

Palo Alto, 14/04/2015   comment