Although I didn’t really know it at the time, I’ve long been a proponent of agile methods at work. Which is why it’s ironic that, now we’ve started actually doing agile development, my role in the company (thank you Dr. Laurence J. Peter) basically prevents me from having anything to do with it.
To fill that gap, I’ve been reading agile blogs, and listening to (and occasionally transcribing or summarizing) agile podcasts. Although agile is very much about working with a team, I’m trying to use its team-based strategies to manage my own work… although without a defined customer, a prioritized task backlog looks an awful lot like a to-do list. I go to standups and medium-level meetings about the challenges people face trying to implement agile in the company. And I’ve taken to reading books like Influence Without Authority, since I have none of either.
I think the correct term is glutton for punishment.