Humanity is not dead: Italy and Mare Nostrum

Humanity is not dead

Italy and Mare Nostrum

In these days of social unrest, corporate power and terrorism, I thought about Italy and the Mare Nostrum operation they've been running in the Mediterranean sea – patrols that try to save struggling refuges at sea.

The fact that Italy is trying to extend this operation (before a much more limited EU operation starts in November) is admirable. I thought “Wow, they are good people.”. Italy is in crisis but still spends 25 milion Euros on this operation every month.

Today I read that the UK withdrew the little support it has given the Mare Nostrum operation. Well - it's hardly a surprise. The UK doesn't participate in any EU policy fully: it has a web of opt-outs and exceptions; it’s a country where business reigns supreme.

It’s a separate question what to do with all these refugees short, long and mid-term. I don't blame people trying to cross illegally into Europe. If bombs were being dropped where I live - I am sure I'd be fleeing too.

The thought, though, that that there exists a country in Europe that would still put people in front of business and profit - and this as a fact has made me feel positive for humanity*.

P.S. * (God knows my positive belief has been shattered lately.)

Integration in modern societies

Integration

I got to think about integration this afternoon while walking in a park. As a person who’s lived in 4 countries on 2 continents, I feel that full integration is impossible. Yes, it’s nice to get along and have common interests, perhaps common background but is that really that important? I remember it used to be important for me to “fit in”. Then again, even in a more tolerant to diversity country such as the USA, I used to be a bit on the side. Yes, I was successful but how many American friends did I have? Zero. I was aware of the differences.

Now in London, living around blocks of social housing, I got to think about diversity, society and integration. The people who live next to where I live don’t seem integrated at all, they basically live in their own little society. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with that but shouldn't there be at least some connections, communication channels? As a foreigner as well, I feel that maybe I don’t have the passion to “fit in” anymore. I have friends, expats as well that suits me just fine now. I never felt discriminated in the UK, but I don’t feel I will ever be accepted either.

A French friend of mine who’s lived in London for 16 years, recently told me that he feels happy here but that “we (perhaps he meant people from continental Europe) and they (the British, the English) will never quite be on the same page – we’re simply made of different dough!”. “Hm, so true”, I said – I always felt the same way.

Nothing personal though, I don’t have a problem with the British. I didn't have any problems with the Americans. Neither with the Portuguese. Everywhere people are formed in line with the society within which they have been raised. Yet, in all these locations, I’ve experienced different levels of “integration”. Perhaps that’s how things are. We choose our friends (within our own nations), we choose who we want to hang out with so it only makes sense that integration is a concept achievable to a certain degree. The other day a British colleague of mine stated that he used to work in country-side England and found it unbearable that his co-workers used to talk all day about cars and other subjects that were of no interest to him. He said that he found work environments back in London much better (due to the diversity). I used to entertain similar dissimilarities with teens when I was a teen living in my own country. I was happy to be an individualist. Then in later stages of my life, I wasn't so happy, especially after seeing the staunch individualism in the American society. I felt it’s not the right way.

So maybe we’re so concerned about integration because we live in nation states. They amplify the notions of “ours”, the known and the “foreign”, the unknown. If we lived in one world borderless society, nobody would have cared.

The only important thing is that there is dialogue, understanding and to build bridges with the “unknown”, never ostracize and ignore.

Agile has become like religion in the dark ages

Agile vs… Waterfall – the wrong debate

I have always been not-so-sold on Agile. The reason is that I remember my textbook in Software Engineering Project Management (http://www.amazon.com/Software-Engineering-Project-Management-Edition/dp/0818680008/) that what people call agile is actually the Evolutionary Development Model. (p.108). So, essentially – nothing new - we are using small versions of the waterfall model. We just decreased the time frames.

The problem though is that Agile has become like religion in the middle centuries. Even to express some doubts about it equates to calling the Earth not flat in the 1600s. It’s like heresy. One day I ventured to a colleague who sits far from me and we spoke about software development methodologies. I expressed some of the thoughts I am expressing here. He said “what then, doing waterfall?”. I said that the whole “debate” has become Agile vs Waterfall which is so wrong.

Googling "Agile software" I have found that one of the first websites states: "The Agile movement proposes alternatives to traditional project management.”. Traditional? I guess, yes, again it’s Agile vs Waterfall – a model that is not responsible for the software crisis. It’s all about a disciplined approach. Things were programmed and done excellently before all the Agile talk. Simply by following a plan and applying discipline (and desire).

I maintain that Agile is just a buzzword to sell consulting. Essentially 17 developers gathered at a winter resort in 2001 and started calling an existing methodology "agile".

We all know what happened next - almost the whole industry takes it on, spends millions on consulting with some success stories and some not so. It's not the silver bullet to the software crisis and it is unlikely to become. It’s ok for shorter and not so complex projects but try to create the GSM (cellphone) system (created in Europe in the 1980s) on that! So first we'll say - we need a controller - voila - version 1. Then oh, no, version 2 - let's add SIM (subscriber identity module). Developers go rework, refactor, redesign and add SIM. Then they add security, then interoperability. It’s clear that all these aspects should have been though about upfront.

Agile Waste

Since all those builds and testing are done at each iteration there is so much in-built waste. Yes, there is an inherent waste built-in. Doing a build every 2 weeks (takes 1+ day of activities at the place I currently work at) means that a team member has to do the same over and over again. So much work, so little gain, but well we can say “we delivered”.

Yes, I work in a company where we practice Scrum and we play this game – the “answer what you did yesterday, what you're going to do today”. We often don't even work on the same things and still talk and answer those inane questions. It's like kindergarten for adults. The success of scrum seems to me is due to the fact that everything is very visible and controllable by management. It’s not about quality, engineering or creativity or innovation. It’s about control.

Creativity Killer

Agile can produce good results but often they also kill creativity. (Nobody, being constantly under the projector, is going to be creative. Creativity comes from mode B of our brain - when we relax or think about other things for a change or when we’re allowed to “play” with things.).

Consulting, consulting…

I got into a 1-day Scrum training. The guy was not from the software field, yet he stated: for hardware (bridges) we can use waterfall, but for everything else agile is the way. If only those people stop and read some textbooks!