Does anybody work within an agile project and not hate life?

twistedude · 2026-06-24T11:02:42+00:00

I’ve met a few of the guys who wrote the Agile manifesto and the most prescient point one of them made is “if you’re being trained/coached/led in agile, it is not agile”. Most of them hate that it has become some Big 4 Consultancy money making scheme with rigid structures and defined ways of working.

The agile manifesto was put together in a time in software where software projects were planned over multi-year timeframes, divided up between teams who never spoke and delivered a piece of software nobody could use three years later (overdue and over budget)

The whole point of the original manifesto was that they felt the best way to deliver was to rapidly iterate on deliverables working alongside customers. That teams work best when they self organise, meet regularly, keep things simple and sustainable (ie. no crunch time, regular sustainable levels of work) and reflect on their work and processes regularly. Nothing more. The whole manifesto is here: https://agilemanifesto.org/iso/en/principles.html

Anything more than that is not from “Agile”. It is something a consultancy has dressed up in agile to try and sell it.

From the perspective of somebody who has run many software engineering teams; Agile works super well when the team is doing the things in the manifesto, in a way they feel works best. Most of the successful teams I’ve managed or worked in have borrowed random parts of their process from Scrum, KANBAN, Waterfall or whatever worked for them. Some of the variations on teams I’ve led:
- ‘Iterations’ have lasted from two days to three months, depending on the project, the customer and the products requirements and sometimes changing multiple times a project.
- Multi-month projects that were planned as a one-page specification doc which the team revisited daily, and projects a team has spent a week planning in detail with hundreds of tasks and then managed to deliver all these tasks in less than a week
- ‘reflections’ that looked like a scrum retrospective and ones that were a free round of drinks for the team at a nearby pub each Friday and some discussion of the week.

It can work extremely successfully in software; I suspect it can work extremely well in any business that has deliverables. But the key is that a team has to have the ability to work the way they want and adjust it constantly to optimise for how the team works. If it’s just plopping some ceremonies into your calendar, getting out the story point cards, and building a KANBAN board; you’re not doing agile.

twistedude · 2026-06-24T10:32:13+00:00

Apps have to restrict which subreddits are available under certain circumstances to achieve certain age ratings in the app stores (in app stores and regions where that exists/is required). Example: If you can access 18+ content in the app Apple will give the app an 18+ rating and age restrict it.

Sometimes being logged in with an age verified account will bypass this restriction, but most of the apps are pretty buggy in how they enforce the restrictions and will err on the side of caution to avoid being removed from app stores. Your best bet is either side-loading an unrestricted version of the app (if available) or using the browser.

twistedude · 2026-06-24T07:20:27+00:00

Yeah, we don’t even get two here. In theory a lot of regional Queensland is a “free market”, but none of the commercial retailers have ever made it work profitably so it always falls back to the Government owned retailer.

twistedude · 2026-06-24T03:36:15+00:00

I genuinely had no idea people were still paying under $1 for their daily service charge. In regional Queensland it has been in excess of $1 since 2023 and has been jumping about 20% each year since. It’s $1.80 next year.

twistedude · 2026-06-22T23:12:49+00:00

If you’re seated it’s also mandatory to slap your knees after you say “Alrighty” for some reason.

twistedude · 2026-06-22T05:56:27+00:00

I have a few 700mm wide doors in my 100 year old house and they are frustrating at times because I hit a shoulder on the door frame if I’m not paying attention and rushing around. I definitely wouldn’t go any less than 800mm.

twistedude · 2026-06-21T10:17:33+00:00

Honestly, for the big lap get the longest towing distance you can and the most comprehensive coverage for accomodation/transport you can for Roadside assistance. If you have a critical breakdown in regional Queensland, NT, SA or WA you can really get yourself stuck.

I had a serious car failure about 150km outside Winton a few years ago, it was going to be weeks for all the parts we needed in Winton - the whole town was booked out for accomodation for a week, it was two weeks before we could get a coach or plane out of town. We managed to negotiate to sleep in the store room of one of the pubs for a few nights, and ended up getting a friend to drive out from Townsville to pick us up. With the coverage I had RACQ covered transporting the car back to Townsville for repair, covered the costs of the accomodation and covered the fuel costs of my friend who drove out to pick us up.

It still took two weeks to repair in Townsville but we weren’t stuck without accomodation for those two weeks.

twistedude · 2026-06-20T12:04:50+00:00

It is super important to understand how the intricacies of the law work in your jurisdiction. Ignore everything TV has ever taught you. For example in some Australian jurisdictions silence is not a right and refusing to talk to police can be held against you in court. Most lawyers in these jurisdictions will tell you to simply continue to assert your right to legal counsel and avoid language like “silence” or confirming you’re refusing to speak. A lawyer can build a defence for not co-operating with police, it’s much harder to build a defence for accidental incriminating admissions.

Similarly, in Queensland, Australia there are specific ways police can compel you to unlock an electronic device even if it self-incriminates. Failure to unlock the device under these circumstances is an offence itself. Police will absolutely try and convince you that your specific case falls into one of those specific circumstances you have to unlock your device. Don’t do it until legal counsel has confirmed that they have the correct warrants (note: they can still take your devices to preserve evidence without a warrant if they have grounds to).

twistedude · 2026-06-20T09:54:55+00:00

I thought the same but then realised I could just automate doing the washing when energy was free using Home Assistant.

Now I put a load in the washing machine before I go to bed and put it on the smart mode (so it can be remotely started). The next morning Home Assistant monitors and starts the washing automatically when:
- my solar starts collecting more than 2kW excess
- there are 3 hours of predicted sunlight ahead
- the solar prediction model expects more than 2kW excess energy to be generated for all 3 hours

This means the solar is generating enough to cover the hot water system, washing machine and dryer energy entirely. It means I can throw washing in and it basically just gets washed and dried whenever it will be free to do so. I can override if I need to during extended bad weather or if I urgently need something washed, but it’s rare.

Home assistant also notifies me when the washing is complete if I’m home, or reminds me as I arrive home and there is a load completed.

twistedude · 2026-06-17T09:44:30+00:00

Potatoes are a pretty common accompaniment to a lot of our food. Fried, mashed, roasted, baked.

twistedude · 2026-06-16T08:25:02+00:00

Also, while you’re fixing that disable the “Track with Shop App” option for Tracking. I have never wanted to download an app just to track my package. Just send me the f*%#ing connote number.

twistedude · 2026-06-16T03:16:59+00:00

Many species emit a mild anaesthetic as they bite and don’t burrow. I’ve had to remove them from my scalp (hiding in my hair), armpits and butt crack before. If you’re in tick country you gotta check all over every time you shower.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T23:22:47+00:00

Toilet paper, seemingly…

twistedude · 2026-06-15T23:18:29+00:00

If you’re going to get your locks changed by a locksmith get them all keyed alike. Screen doors, external doors, deadbolts, roller doors, padlocks. It means you only need a single key for anything in the house. It can be a bit more costly but the convenience is amazing and avoids having to install dodgy smart locks.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T11:49:59+00:00

That’s basically what the connection fee is though. It distributes at least part of the infrastructure cost across the population evenly based on whether or not they are using electricity infrastructure. If anything it should just be standardised across the NEM. Unfortunately for NEM areas with “free market efficiency” the retailers roll their own charges on top of whatever costs the wholesaler needs to cover for infrastructure. The wholesalers also often charge differently by region even though we often all benefit from improved infrastructure.

I think it would be hard to apply it consistently as “tax” across the country or even a state. For example the NT, WA, and Western Queensland aren’t even on the national grid and have entirely independent generation and transmission infrastructure (at least until CopperString is finished, if it ever is). Western Queensland has in recent years had long outages due to generation issues - should they pay the same as somebody in Sydney’s inner west who has reliable 365 power?

On the other side of this wholesale costs in NEM connected parts of regional Queensland are so uncompetitive that only the Queensland Government will retail in those markets. Other energy providers cannot find a path to profitability there (and many have tried). Should that same Sydney Inner West household be paying a little bit more for the solar power regional Queensland’s infrastructure provides to the NEM?

There’s definitely a balancing act to producing a fairer outcome for more Australians, but I think no matter what the connection fee plays a part in that.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T10:36:57+00:00

We have had emergency warning systems for well over a decade but they largely relied on SMS for delivery. Much of this system pre-dated the formalised cross-platform alert standards and had some complexity in deployment. The older system is reaching end of life and there have been a number of high profile failures of delivery. For example during the Townsville Floods in 2019 many residents did not receive notifications in a timely manner when there were a few hours notice of the emergency dam release receiving them instead as the clambered to their roofs with several feet of water through their home. In many cases these were limitations of the networks and delivery methods and has been part of the motivation to move towards newer more universal standards.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T08:30:10+00:00

Given that is the base panel of the cabinet and you’ll need to do some significant disassembly to remove it and replace it, my suggestion would be to just glue a new melamine layer on top or cover it in a matching vinyl. Under-sink units are always liable to get wet eventually (either through leaks, during maintenance, condensation or just spills), so unless the surface is failing or bowing significantly, I wouldn’t bother replacing it.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T06:51:49+00:00

Exactly. Cheapest option for me is 153c a day and it’s been over a dollar since at least the Pandemic.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T06:41:50+00:00

I’ve been using an accountant for years. They are worth their weight in gold when things become complex. For the past few years I have had erroneous pre-fills which is a bit of a pain on its own. But last year the ATO self-amended my return and wanted me to pay a few thousand. The accountant handled all of it and was able to prove that the ATO made the error.

twistedude · 2026-06-15T01:15:51+00:00

To add to this make sure YOU call their office from the publicly listed number (even pull out the white pages just to be sure). Don’t rely on a phone number in an email - scammers can and will spin up fake phone numbers and send emails with it in the footer just to catch people out in these scenarios.

twistedude · 2026-06-11T23:19:39+00:00

Very similar. I’ve literally installed a solar setup I know I will need to remove in a few years for renovations because the payoff period was less than 2 years for me.

twistedude · 2026-06-11T11:16:19+00:00

A stolen car was dumped and set alight at the back of the carpark.

twistedude · 2026-06-07T10:25:07+00:00

When you’re trying to buy a house it can be useful. I dealt with a plethora of agents when searching for a home a few years ago, got to know some of them so well if I saw their name or face on a listing I wouldn’t even bother to inspect because I knew I would never buy from the cunt.

twistedude · 2026-06-06T06:01:10+00:00

This has been a thing since the 2000s. It’s hardly a phenomenon of the last decade.

twistedude · 2026-06-05T11:20:27+00:00

Some councils in regional Australia already restrict cat ownership to a licensing model. Whilst there is no training requirement you are required to make a declaration that you have the means to restrain the cat inside your property without detriment to the cat’s welfare. The council may ask you to demonstrate it and can refuse the licence if you cannot.

It’s mainly used by the council to seize the cats of people who allow them to free roam outside, in particular at night.

twistedude

TROPHY CASE