scream, scram, scrum

(this post was a belated post referring to last week's lecture on software engineering)

I can still remember, when I was a student of CS3216 2 years ago, we had a lecture on the principles of software engineering as well. What I remember distinctively wasn't so much of what was taught, but the difference in reaction.

The lecture was conducted by a guest lecturer. It was very much technical, filled with jargons. I remembered feeling lost while the programmers in the class has a enlightened grin on their faces. The contrast couldn't be more obvious.

Fast-forward to 2 weeks ago.It was these feedbacks that resulted in Prof Ben revamping his lesson apparently. I don't know if his approach is really at the sweet-spot middle-ground approach, but I thought I learnt a lot more.

But anyway, the most interesting thing that I've learnt from the lecture was the different project management methods. My encounter with project management methods hasn't been so varied. In fact, it can be summarised in a simple if else algorithm.

If group consist of only one person (aka work with yourself),
work yourself to death!

If group consist of more than one person
find good friends whom you can trust to work with

else
someone has to be a bitch/auntie (usually it's me. Where do you think I got my nagging-training from?) to get the group moving.

But things changed when I took CS3216 2 years ago. I joined the course with the superpowers of a lone ranger, so I was forced to work with strangers. Thankfully, I had the luck to work with passionate and driven people, and no one had to be a bitch/auntie to get things moving. At that point in time, I think none of us has heard of SCRUM, so there wasn't a deliberate method of managing the project. It felt more like we are working with people whom we can trust and get things together rather than having someone who deliberately manage the project. I thought as long as you're working with driven people, things will fall in place.

I couldn't be more wrong. Things do work sometimes, but things do fall apart as well.

When SCRUM was shared, I wondered: is it really the magical antidote to project management? Wei Man and Justin thought it was, until they tried it out in NUS.

But does SCRUM not have any value in NUS? Not entirely true.

If you strip SCRUM off the SCRUM board, daily meetings, excel spreadsheets etc, what lies at the core of SCRUM is 2 things that is seen across almost all successful project management methods: Communication and Accountability.

Different people operate differently. As long as you ensure that there is communication and accountability, who cares what methods you use, be it SCREAMing like a bitch/auntie, threatening people to SCRAM from your group, or SCRUM? Or for the case of my final project group, working side by side, updating each other all the time, along with jokes and fun. And of course, with a bit of management, however we're going to do it