Shorthand

Shorthand is helpful to communicate faster (benefit). To be effective, the use of shorthand requires participants to unpack the shorthand in the same way; otherwise, we are not “on the same page” (drawback)

When Custom Inkers (we) say “PL”, we most likely mean “Personal Leave”. However, if the receiver interprets “PL” as “Public Library”, there is a disconnect.

Communication is hard because language is soft.

In the previous sentence, “hard” means “difficult,” and “soft” means “easy to mold.” But, those aren’t the only possible meanings of those words.

• Agile Software Development (or Agile) is shorthand for:
  • a set of values and principles outlined in The Manifesto for Agile Software Development.
• Scrum is shorthand for:
  • a set of values and practices aligned with Agile and outlined in The Scrum Guide (UKR and Czech).
  • Where we get “Sprint,” “Retrospective,” and so on.
• eXtreme Programming (XP) is shorthand for:
  • a set of practices aligned with Agile and outlined in the “White book” (shorthand for eXtreme Programming eXplained by Kent Beck).
  • Where we get “Pair Programming,” “User Stories,” “TDD” (shorthand for Test-Driven Development), and so on. (“Iteration” in XP is “Sprint” in Scrum.)
• Design Thinking is shorthand for:
  • a set of practices with an overview outlined by the Interaction Design Foundation.
• DevOps is shorthand for:
  • a set of practices and tools, many of which are used in eXtreme Programming (Wikipedia article, Agile section).
• Jira/Monday/Trello/etc. are shorthand for:
  • a set of tools and features used to facilitate individuals and interactions.

Sometimes, shorthand is recursive. TDD, for example, is shorthand for a set of practices:

• Test-first development
• Refactoring

These values, principles, practices, and tools are not exclusive to the label used; see “iterations” in XP—same practice, different shorthand.

You can “be Agile” (or any of the other labels) without knowing the terms or reading anything about them.