This year, I are be mainly posting at @technige@fosstodon.org.

Joined March 2010
Replying to @sarahwooders
brb reverse engineering a markdown file
1
3
60
5,299
The company hired me to lead their "Agile Transformation." I don't know what Agile means. Nobody does. That's why it works. I make $425,000 a year. To move sticky notes. From left to right. On a board. The board is digital now. The sticky notes cost $80,000 in Jira licenses. Progress. Day one, I said "we need to break down silos." Everyone nodded. Silos are bad. I don't know why. But destroying them is a career. My career. I introduced "squads." Squads are teams. But disrupted. We disrupted the teams into teams. Different names. Same people. Same problems. But Agile problems now. Agile problems are strategic. A senior engineer asked what we're actually changing. I said, "The mindset." He asked what that means. I said, "It's a journey." He asked where we're going. I said, "Toward agility." He asked what agility means. I pointed at the sticky notes. They were moving left to right. That's velocity. We have velocity now. The VP of Engineering said two-week sprints don't fit their work. I said, "That's waterfall thinking." Waterfall is bad. Like silos. I don't know what waterfall is. But I know it's bad. She stopped talking. Waterfall accusations end conversations. We had a retrospective. In the retro, we discussed what went wrong. Everything went wrong. We put it on sticky notes. Then we moved the sticky notes. Into a column called "Parking Lot." The Parking Lot is where problems go to die. It's full. We don't look at it. That's agile. Velocity is up 40%. I defined velocity. I also defined the points. I also defined the stories. We're crushing it. At the things I made up. To measure. Ourselves. The CEO asked for ROI. I showed a chart. The chart went up. Charts should go up. This one did. I didn't label the Y-axis. Nobody asked. Leadership is confidence. We do standups now. Every day. We stand. For 45 minutes. Standing is agile. Sitting is waterfall. My legs hurt. But we're transforming. The transformation is now "Phase 3." Phase 1 was assessment. Phase 2 was implementation. Phase 3 is "continuous improvement." Continuous means forever. Forever means job security. I'm very secure. My contract was extended. Three more years. For "cultural impact." The culture is confused. But impacted. Agile transformation isn't about being agile. It's about transforming. Continuously. Toward more transformation. The destination is the journey. The journey is billable.
997
2,841
583
21,401
1,484,509
Demand for Guild Wars Reforged blew past our projections, causing long downloads for some non-Steam players. We’re adding servers & exploring new options to fix this before the weekend. Thanks for your patience!
59
50
8
832
28,872
Nigel Small retweeted
Everything they are doing to the NHS, they did to British Rail: • Underfunded it • Exhausted the service • Got the public angry Then said privatisation is the only solution.
273
2,883
87
6,320
321,043
Nigel Small retweeted
A list of words rarely seen without a prefix... 10. Gruntled 9. Peccable 8. Shevelled 7. Advertently 6. Sensical 5. Couth 4. Kempt 3. Trepid 2. Combobulated 1. Whelmed
85
172
26
1,057
76,725
"UK silicon startups to share £1.3M chump change as part of chip strategy" 12 firms get to split just £1.3 million in government funding. Meanwhile, the EU is throwing €43 billion (£37 billion) at its own chip sector. That's over 28,000x more. theregister.com/2023/10/13/u…
11
61
3
100
6,704
Joke in a German paper. ‘You want to know what life was like in East Germany? Take a holiday in the UK.’
54
864
47
2,116
76,802
Best way to see Van Gogh's "Starry Night" is to stare at the center of the spiral for 20 seconds and then look at the painting
171
2,016
183
8,689
1,805,745
19
128
5
928
88,899
📢: THIS IS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THE NEW DOCTOR WHO THEME TUNE!!!
785
6,313
3,487
25,792
2,653,359
Eurostar. Kent stations at Ebbsfleet and Ashford destined to remain closed indefinitely? The Covid- & Brexit-hit cross-Channel train operator is focusing on London, Paris and the new wider network to the Netherlands and Germany following the Thalys merger. independent.co.uk/travel/new…
97
207
40
473
130,912
Nigel Small retweeted
Etymology of the day is ‘poppycock’, meaning ‘nonsense’. It came from the Dutch ‘pappekak’, meaning either ‘doll’s excrement’ or ‘soft shit’.
75
655
71
4,213
420,759
Govt will stop policies that don’t exist And now… They will also extend tram lines that have already been extended. — “Govt has pledged to extend the Metrolink network in Manchester towards the Airport - despite the fact it was built 9 years ago” itv.com/news/granada/2023-10…
93
634
18
2,523
120,302
Attention all folks purchasing #Ads on Twitter. While it might seem I’ve engaged with your marketing campaign, it was actually a misplaced tap before I permanently blocked you. My apologies. 🟦❌
6
26
4
125
11,122
Sunak didn’t just cancel HS2… He authorised the sale of the land that would form part of the cancelled route So no other leader could reverse his decision. This major decision One he took unilaterally Without consulting parliament …without anyone having voted for him.
835
8,688
467
32,266
2,660,153
Nigel Small retweeted
3
123
11
682
49,695
5
23
1,745
Personally, I prefer to increase the spacing for each successive indent according to the Fibbonaci sequence:
109
4,190
448
8,563
HS2. From the wreckage of a world-beating example of how to foul up a giant infrastructure project, surely the winners are travellers between Birmingham and London? Wrong. The very last thing the nation needs is a stand-alone link between these two cities. independent.co.uk/travel/new…
88
201
32
1,031
210,738
Does Spain have a unified pack of media shitheads who spent the last 15 years *screaming* at the public on every available channel that investing in services and infrastructure was utterly insane, the kind of thing only hated Commie traitors would do? If not, there’s your answer.
14
176
4
1,048
33,413