Two Roads in a wood - III (Tone)

Brian Marick once wrong something to the effect of "Methodology design is an extension of personality."

There is a large percentage of the population to who having things be stable, predictable and repeatable are very important. They tend to be attracted to, and succeed it, larger companies with established "ground rules." They tend to struggle in smaller, start-up, and entreprenurial enviroments.

And, to turn a phrase, that just ain't me.

In the methodology discussions in the 80's and 90's, the stable, predictable voice was the loudest one in the room. Interesting exceptions that were'nt quote as loud were little voices like Extreme Programming, The Open Source Community, Jerry Weinberg, and DeMarco/Lister.

Stable, Predictable, Repeatable, Measured does yield a certain set of results. I'm just not sure that everyone wants that, and I think it should be okay to say that. I've drawn the images in "Two Roads" in a certain way to make the distinction clear.

My goal is not to insist that one is right or wrong, no, it's to help you decide to make a concious choice.

To help with that, I've drawn a characture, but the loudest voice in the room has been doing that for twenty-five years now, so I hope you'll allow me the opportunity. :-)