Comments on: On Being an Agile Critic http://agilethinking.net/blog/2006/07/09/on-being-an-agile-critic/ Tobias Mayer's Blog Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:33:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 by: Paul Oldfield http://agilethinking.net/blog/2006/07/09/on-being-an-agile-critic/#comment-5 Sun, 09 Jul 2006 13:47:13 +0000 http://agilethinking.net/blog/2006/07/09/on-being-an-agile-critic/#comment-5 Being a critic has a wide set of responsibilities, some of which I'm sure I don't know about so I'm not a good critic yet. I find having time to reflect is important, so 'interactive' criticism has a different feel; more immediate but less well considered. Here I was definitely taking on a role, hoping Boris and Tobias would take it in good part.  Criticism can be fun, both to give and to receive. Probably the main prerequisite for it being fun rather than just painful is having some reasonable understanding of what was being attempted. Yet having perfect understanding will not result in effective criticism, in my opinion. I try to make my reviews entertaining (this is the 3rd attempt - I'll get better at that later, maybe?). Okay, I'm prepared to take it on the chin - anyone want to help me improve by criticising my crit? I'd urge other attendees to attempt the exercise. My views are really important, of course - if you're Me. In the ideal world, all courses would be tailored to My needs. If you want the course to be better for Your needs next time, do your duty to yourself and your colleagues, and respond. Do I still stand by what I said? To some degree, yes. The niggling details were niggling details; they don't matter. Some of the main concerns can be addressed directly; some are legitimate trade-offs whose symptoms might be capable of being addressed. I'm just putting my priorities on the backlog, and hoping to phrase the requirement at a level abstract enough to allow creative solutions. Being a critic has a wide set of responsibilities, some of which I’m sure I don’t know about so I’m not a good critic yet. I find having time to reflect is important, so ‘interactive’ criticism has a different feel; more immediate but less well considered. Here I was definitely taking on a role, hoping Boris and Tobias would take it in good part.  Criticism can be fun, both to give and to receive. Probably the main prerequisite for it being fun rather than just painful is having some reasonable understanding of what was being attempted. Yet having perfect understanding will not result in effective criticism, in my opinion. I try to make my reviews entertaining (this is the 3rd attempt - I’ll get better at that later, maybe?). Okay, I’m prepared to take it on the chin - anyone want to help me improve by criticising my crit?

I’d urge other attendees to attempt the exercise. My views are really important, of course - if you’re Me. In the ideal world, all courses would be tailored to My needs. If you want the course to be better for Your needs next time, do your duty to yourself and your colleagues, and respond.

Do I still stand by what I said? To some degree, yes. The niggling details were niggling details; they don’t matter. Some of the main concerns can be addressed directly; some are legitimate trade-offs whose symptoms might be capable of being addressed. I’m just putting my priorities on the backlog, and hoping to phrase the requirement at a level abstract enough to allow creative solutions.

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