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Discussion on: Does remote work make software and teamwork better?

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David Whitney

I've always favoured what I call "rituals" things people do instinctively because they work for them. Tools can help correctionally, but unless people understand why they're doing the things, they'll never engage with them meaningfully.

You can see this every time someone writes a As a / I can / So that styled user story, and is then unwilling to change it because they don't realise it was meant to be a prompt for a discussion, or every time someone does a stand up and rambles about implementation detail.

Tooling often promotes the artifact, over the process and communication style that is meant to produce it.

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David Israel

I agree with you except for the implication that we can somehow remove all tools. Email, chat, group chat, and bug trackers are all tools. Even if we exactly
"The most efficient and effective method of
conveying information to and within a development
team is face-to-face conversation."
then that's a meeting and a meeting is a tool. Its not a question of tools versus no tools but of effective tools versus less effective tools. Not understanding the tool set being used comes from not viewing them as tools at all but as some sort of gospel to be followed. If developers correctly understood their communication / process tools then they would question them like they do their IDEA or choice of Javascript framework.

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David Whitney

You can totally remove all tools, but I'd not suggest that :)
Tools are meant to make your working processes easier, but if you don't understand that process regardless of the tools, it's a folly.