Agile Dress Code
Last weekend was the Agile Coach Camp here in Ann Arbor. There were a lot of very interesting folks there, and as always happens in such situations, plenty of learning happened.
On the first evening, we had Lightning Talks, during which I presented an idea that had been brewing in my head for a while. It seems a little silly at first but I think it has some merit.
Basically what it comes down to is that I want to wear shorts and sandals to work. Things may be different on the west coast, but here in the midwest, jeans are about as casual as you can go without raising quite a few eyebrows.
The fact is that if you’re not in front of customers on a day-to-day basis, it really shouldn’t matter what you wear. You and your employer should strive to make you as comfortable as possible, thereby making you more productive.
My proposal is for the Agile community to unite and suggest to clients during Agile Transformations, that a key element to reaching Agile Nirvana is to free their staff of the corporate dress code.
Now, I’m the first to say that there need to be limits, but I think we can trust teams to exercise enough self control and common sense to make it work.
Who’s with me?
I am!
I am!
There is a perception that you are not working hard if you are in shorts and sandals. It looks more like vacation clothing than work clothing and some people take it too far. Right or wrong, that is the perception. Changing that will be harder than changing to agile.
There is a perception that you are not working hard if you are in shorts and sandals. It looks more like vacation clothing than work clothing and some people take it too far. Right or wrong, that is the perception. Changing that will be harder than changing to agile.
@Tony — I hope you took a look at the picture of “taking it too far” =)
@Tony — I hope you took a look at the picture of “taking it too far” =)
Nayan,
I have never been a fan of a process for the sake of the process. I do not subscribe to a “one size fits all” process that worked on other projects with other teams. I couldn’t agree more that the team needs a modicum of freedom in order to figure out the best way to work together. Like you said above, the team needs to figure out for them what will “make it work”.
Cheers,
Ed
Nayan,
I have never been a fan of a process for the sake of the process. I do not subscribe to a “one size fits all” process that worked on other projects with other teams. I couldn’t agree more that the team needs a modicum of freedom in order to figure out the best way to work together. Like you said above, the team needs to figure out for them what will “make it work”.
Cheers,
Ed
I like agile methodology. It allows developers to code only for a small compononet and release it.