Here’s a talk I gave at Agile Austria Conference 2018, that explains things quite well ๐Ÿ˜‰

The comic was born largely of frustration.

The frustration of being passionate about agile in a world of philistines who don’t/can’t appreciate the beauty of agile. But because we’re so busy being systemic and respectful, we appreciate that it’s our customers’ God-given right to ignore our best advice and to refuse to see the light. I can’t talk – I still don’t get jazz improvisation. That’s life!

Still you can dream – which is where the agile drill sergeant came from. I didn’t even need 3 beers to come up with the idea! (Epiphanies normally happen around the third beer, which is therefore called the “epiphi-pint”)

But I’ve rarely been short of ideas – I’m just usually to lazy to do anything about them. Particularly when it comes to drawing. Once I have the idea for a strip there’s so many ways I could draw it, that I get paralysed by all the options and nothing happens. Then the artwork is never as good as I’d like it to be. So no strip.

Except this time I decided to practice what I preach. This comic is created using agile principles: iterations, time-boxing, sprint goals, inspect and adapt, strive to get something done rather than striving for perfection! Not as easy as it sounds ๐Ÿ˜‰

Still from my point of view, the results speak for themselves. I don’t mean the quality – though I am learning to live with imperfection. What I mean is, the comic is actually there – it may not be working software, or always be very funny – but it is out there and I am learning as I go along!

The plan is to manage 3 months worth of comics – so about 12 to 14 strips. I’ll expect to be out of ideas by then…