Seconding Dave’s thoughts here, and I wanted to note that Prof. Miriam Posner of UCLA (who may not be on this list) has a new piece coming out about this in an upcoming LOGIC issue. It’s titled “Agile and the Long Crisis of Software.” Best, MH ______________________ Mar Hicks, Ph.D. Associate Professor of History of Technology Humanities Department Illinois Institute of Technology marhicks.com *Programmed Inequality <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/programmed-inequality>: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing *(2017) *Your Computer Is On Fire <https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/your-computer-fire> * (2021) On Mar 26, 2022, at 6:57 PM, Dave Foster <dwfoster1@outlook.com> wrote: Luke Scrum and agile are absolutely new forms of Taylorism. This was not original intent but it is what they have become in the corporate world, a new universal program management religion that has gone far beyond software development purposes. In school we studied the oldies of Gantt and PERT, then in my working experience I have gone through various fashion waves spanning TQM, Earned Value, Lean/Six Sigma, etc. crazes during their respective heydays and most recently scrum/agile. We have spent a lot of time over the years and continue to spend a good deal of planning time setting up our stories, features, epics, etc. and working the plan. Software development has always been a sub-task so I don't have any direct experience with the comparative value on those types of projects - I've always worked in higher levels of overall systems development where, IMO, a waterfall or whatever is as good as anything else, thought this is heresy in the scrum/agile. I think it is the organizational pressure to institute a consistent framework, which is certainly a fair objective. But to me, the framework has never made any difference - we are fundamentally tracking progress and dollars. Note, my experience has been on technical development projects in the Defense Dept and in private sector consulting. I don't have any specific references in mind. I think that you may find that the primary challenges to the way of scrum & agile come from outside the software development world where, nevertheless, the concepts have been enthusiastically adopted and adapted. Best/Dave Texas Tech University (PhD student) and Accenture AI ------------------------------ *From:* Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Luke Fernandez <luke.fernandez@gmail.com> *Sent:* Saturday, March 26, 2022 12:44 *To:* Schmitt, Martin <martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de> *Cc:* Sigcis <members@sigcis.org> *Subject:* Re: [SIGCIS-Members] CfP: „Flexibility“ and „Agility“ Strategies, Practices, and Ambivalences of a Key Concept since the 1980s What an interesting conference. And what interesting questions it poses! For example, this one on page 5 of the CFP: "How did agile software development shape the concepts of work and employment?" If anyone from this listserv has some cites that speak to this question I'd be psyched if you shared a few. I make no claims to know anything about this subject apart from recently finishing Cal Newport's *A World Without Email *where he touches on these concerns. Among other things, Newport wishes for a productivity revolution in knowledge work. And he thinks that it might happen if we replace email with some of the productivity tools and techniques that are used in software development like kanban boards and scrum and agile work processes. He insists that this can happen without knowledge work suffering the same forms of regimentation/acceleration/dehumanization/surveillance that happened to many forms of manual labor with the implementation of Taylorism and Fordism (cf. page 119). But how plausible are Newport's claims? Are scrum and agile new forms of Taylorism? Or are they something altogether different? Is it even helpful to view these techniques through the lens of Taylorism? Best, Luke Fernandez Weber State University On Sat, Mar 26, 2022 at 8:23 AM Schmitt, Martin < martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de> wrote: Dear SIGCIS, We will host a conference on „Flexibility“ and „Agility“: Strategies, Practices, and Ambivalences of a Key Concept since the 1980s (together with Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History Potsdam (ZZF), Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Federal Armed Forces Hamburg (HSU), SPP 2267 “The Digitalization of Working Worlds. Conceptualising and Capturing a Systemic Transformation.“). Keynote speaker is Richard Sennett. Date: 17/18 November 2022 Location: Darmstadt You will find the call for paper here( https://www.geschichte.tu-darmstadt.de/flexibility <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.geschichte.tu-darmstadt.de/flexibility__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!7sGpzhf1Qw30f4UTimKQ8Tk8T0a9Y0f9OQw6SCuqmqL6IgPuZvKwlO5JU4M29uo$>). Please submit your proposed papers by 30 May 2022. For the SIGCIS community, especially the parts on agility/software programing and digital automation are the most interesting one. Best Martin Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter | Post-Doc | digital enthusiast Technische Universität Darmstadt Institut für Geschichte Fachgebiet Technikgeschichte Mail: martin.schmitt@tu-darmstadt.de Tel: +49 6151-16-57327 http://www.computerisierung.com <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.computerisierung.com__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!7sGpzhf1Qw30f4UTimKQ8Tk8T0a9Y0f9OQw6SCuqmqL6IgPuZvKwlO5JphCCEh4$> & Assoziierter Wissenschaftler LEIBNIZ-ZENTRUM FÜR ZEITHISTORISCHE FORSCHUNG | POTSDAM Vice Chair IFIP WG 9.7 „History of computing“ Zuletzt erschienen: *Die Digitalisierung der Kreditwirtschaft*. Computereinsatz in den Sparkassen der Bundesrepublik und der DDR 1957-1991, Göttingen: Wallstein-Verlag 2021, https://www.wallstein-verlag.de/9783835333710-die-digitalisierung-der-kredit... <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wallstein-verlag.de/9783835333710-die-digitalisierung-der-kreditwirtschaft.html__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!7sGpzhf1Qw30f4UTimKQ8Tk8T0a9Y0f9OQw6SCuqmqL6IgPuZvKwlO5JLr9b4Jw$> _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://sigcis.org__;!!LIr3w8kk_Xxm!7sGpzhf1Qw30f4UTimKQ8Tk8T0a9Y0f9OQw6SCuqmqL6IgPuZvKwlO5J-D7hcB8$>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. 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