Onboarding Documentation
The Dephion Novel
Chapter 1: Actually Agile
The Agile manifesto was created when a group of “organizational anarchists” met and somehow came to an agreement about how software development could overcome the increasingly overwhelming push of document-driven software development processes. It put forward four simple principles that were supposed to change the way we work. Forever.
That didn’t quite happen. Agile became SCRUM in a lot of people’s minds because it was easier for them to contain change within a controllable framework.
And yet, where SCRUM begins, the true freedom of a truly Agile organization becomes endangered. Agile is a much more flexible concept. Sure, we have adopted traces of SCRUM methodology when we do standup meetings or section our work into epics and sprints. But our aim is to avoid being trapped by those walls while still managing to keep our eyes on the ball. And that’s why we find the term SCRUM so restrictive.
The manifesto is simple and open. It’s an ideology rather than a set of hard rules. And it is the burning core of how we aspire to work at Dephion.
We are uncovering better ways of developing
software by doing it and helping others do it.
Through this work, we have come to value:
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.
The last two lines are key to understanding our point of view. Processes, tools, comprehensive documentation, contract negotiation, and following plans are still necessary and unavoidable components of our daily work.
To be completely clear, let’s break them down one by one:
When it comes to the tools we use, we all have our favorites. At Dephion, we use Adobe Photoshop for image editing. If you, as an artist, decide that you need to use Krita, present your case to your team lead. You have a voice too.
Documentation is necessary, and you will need to provide it in due time. But what makes you part of Dephion is your ability to build software with clean, functional code. Get it right and we’ll worry about the documentation right after.
Dephion is a completely self-funded company with no investors to please. However, even when it comes to intrateam transactions, we work by collaborating with each other. During a negotiation, each party stays in its own corner, preoccupied with its own interests. When we collaborate, we seek to find the best way forward together. If you are in the process of building a tool that organizes tasks by date, but you feel they should be organized by priority, keep talking with your stakeholder about what you’re truly trying to accomplish to determine the best way forward.
Plans provide us with a clear view of the path ahead, but plans will change. We must adapt to obstacles, unforeseen revelations, and even new technologies as they come. Consider a suspension bridge, which is designed to bend and wobble. It might make you a little nervous and you might think it’s unstable, but it is in fact safer—because as long as it’s bending, it’s not snapping. This is where one comes to appreciate true flexibility.
We place our trust in the individuals working at Dephion and their work ethic over micromanaging time spent at the office. This is how we truly measure production. Likewise, we have scrapped middle management and most of its painful accessories in favor of appointing craftsman stakeholders to keep us on the same page.
We wanted Dephion to be a truly Agile company. And for lack of a preexisting framework that suited our needs, we made our own way. Not quite SCRUM, but seeking that balance between function and the four principles to which we chose to adhere.
Your success and happiness at Dephion rely directly on how comfortable you are with these ideals. Their purpose and our goal are for you to be the craftsperson you have always meant to be.