Object Mentor Blog: Coercive Immediacy

Coercive Immediacy

tottinger — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:13:00 -0500

I have been thinking a lot about the “short reach” idea, and tryng to reach beyond it to capture the thing that the good agile project teams have and several others are missing. At the same time, I’ve been reading up on some agile tools (including one by a guy I know) in my spare time. In addition, I am on a mailing list for multisite agile development. Finally, I have been pondering how to work this agile stuff when the developers cannot be co-located due to shortage of office space or shortage of common areas.

I realized that the whole “short reach” thing creates a kind of coercive immediacy.

The corkboard with all the story cards in their four columns has that kind of immediacy. I can’t walk past it without assessing how far we are in the current iteration. I can certainly ignore a web page, or a display in some application on my computer. I can’t walk into the common area past that board without thinking.

Likewise, I could ignore an app that holds story status and backlog, but the cork board is where I go to show that I’ve completed a task and to get the next task. If my stories were assigned to me (rather than allowing self-organization) then I could neglect the corkboard too. I would not have to look at it or think about it. I could hold “my” story card at “my” desk until I decided I was done. When we are self-organizing, we are always thinking about who could help us, when we can get done, and what is the best way to truly complete this story and move on.

A partner has coercive immediacy. When you are programming in pairs, you don’t answer the phone unless you have to. IM and mail can wait. Interruptions are less welcome. Having two people on the story pushes one to focus. Also, the pair partner is always there to catch the sloppy shortcut, the poor naming, the ill-considered algorithm.

The customer team member also participates, and both feeds and feels the coercive immediacy of the team. Rather than make a guess, the programmer feels the nearness of the customer, and it’s much easier to ask than guess.

I think that TDD shows this most of all. I can’t choose to ignore the red bar. I write a line of code or two, and now my tests pass. The immediacy would be gone with it, except that I know I have some cheesy, minimal-effort code and I can’t leave it that way. I need a better test. When a test fails in some area where I’m not working, I feel the immediacy.

With distribution, multi-site, tools, and the rest I fear that we lose the coercive immediacy of Agile development. If we don’t have a partner in our way/face, then we lose something. If the status board is a tool somewhere, even a really nice tool, but I have to remember to ask for it to see it, then it is not in my way. It doesn’t inspire me.

My thought now is that an agile management tool won’t help unless it is something we have to live with all the time, during pairing, as part of the test/code/refactor cycle. It has to be in our faces, over our heads, and not just tickling the edge of our awareness like a more polite version of “clippy”.

"Coercive Immediacy" by basketball information

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:35:53 -0600

It’s useful to study your blog. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, especially its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the excellent work.

"Coercive Immediacy" by ysbearing

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:30:27 -0500

Slewing ring is also called slewing bearing, some people called: rotary support, swing support. English Name: slewing bearing or slewing ring bearing or turn table bearing, slewing ring in the real industrial applications is very wide.

"Coercive Immediacy" by Alexander Mcqueen Outlet

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 21:21:15 -0500

thanks for share with us

"Coercive Immediacy" by bagsupplyer

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 22:59:12 -0500

Thank you for posting. Waiting for updating. Wholesale cheap designer Men True Religion shorts from China at on line store

"Coercive Immediacy" by hi good luck

Mon, 29 Aug 2011 04:25:57 -0500

I rang Tanja and Go Kart additionally this girl informed me the things previously had appeared. Document was first only just for refusal. Document yet here’s quite. I simply cannot are convinced the person was first went. i Tons of most people joined in all the wonderful trip to all the Myton Family home Farm building Nightclub for Ingleby Barwick. The wedding was first in actual fact scheduled to take place located at Ingleby’s Romano Woodland still was first transported attributable to damp.

"Coercive Immediacy" by okey oyunu oyna

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:15:28 -0500

thanks a lot.

Okey oynamak hiç bu kadar zevkli olmadi. Online ve 3 boyutlu okey oyunu oyna ve turnuvalara sende katil.

"Coercive Immediacy" by Gaylene Mortell

Tue, 19 Apr 2011 04:47:15 -0500

I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. I am hoping the same best work from you in the future as well. In fact your creative writing abilities have inspired me.

"Coercive Immediacy" by Tenant Screening

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:03:28 -0600

The immediacy would be gone with it, except that I know I have some cheesy, minimal-effort code and I can’t leave it that way. I need a better test. When a test fails in some area where I’m not working, I feel the immediacy.

"Coercive Immediacy" by Criminal Records

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:56:33 -0600

If the status board is a tool somewhere, even a really nice tool, but I have to remember to ask for it to see it, then it is not in my way. It doesn’t inspire me.