There is an amusing little anecdote on Hacknot that criticises the agile manifesto principle:
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.
Mr Ed’s argument is that since his face-to-face communication with other developers was frustrating that it couldn’t be the most efficient or effective means of conveying information. Although funny, he’s wrong.
Lets list the methods of communication Mr Ed had to choose from since there was no written documentation:
- Face-to-face with developers.
I only studied logic at University for a few years so I might be wrong, but since there is only one option it must be the most efficient means of communication.
Now, Mr Ed might actually be trying to say that high-quality, up to date, written documentation would have been better. I agree it would. However, in more than ten years of involvement in dozens of projects at various stages in their life-cycles I’ve never seen a project with high-quality, up to date, written documentation. Its probably about as common as talking horses.
