I saw a Coeur d'Alene logo today and it reminded me of another dude that I think of when I think of David: John Goodsen.
My last connexion with David was absolutely emblematic of him. I hadn't attended The Big Enterprise Scrum Conference for several years for a variety of reasons immaterial to the story. David wanted to try remote presence, so he had one of those pedestal wheel tablet robots and he asked me if I wanted to try participating from afar. I jumped at the chance.
We tested it out the night before the conference started. We established some ground rules, like no spying on private conversations and just generally Don't Be An Asshole. Easy choice. I started rolling around and he'd accompany me so that people didn't wonder who the weirdo was on the tablet. By then, the conference was a mix of dear old friends and people who'd never heard of me. Better to be safe than dickish.
He walked. I rolled. It was really cool. I got excited to be there without having to enter the country and deal with border guards on power trips.
Maybe 6 minutes in, someone from security approaches David and understandably inquires. David handles it in David fashion: here's what we're doing and why. We cool?
We wuzn't cool. I was a security and privacy risk. We offered to sign waivers or whatever to attest to our intentions. But no. Rules are rules.
And David lost it, at least as much as David did: he adopted the whole Disappointed Parent affect. Really? You're going to do this? You're going to treat us like this, who spend $1.5M at your hotel for this conference? This guy's a titan in the field. Dude, do you even business?
We reached an agreement that frankly sucked. I could stay within 6 feet of DevJam's vendor booth. What a waste of time! Almost all the people who passed by had no idea who I was and the people who knew me wouldn't hang out in the vendor pavilion! I stood there for like 15 minutes like an author at a book signing where nobody showed up. (There's a reason I choose that analogy, but that's for a therapy session.)
David and I retrospected. Typical low-trust bullshit. What a shame! Stupid. Everything that's wrong with Enterprise Scrum As She Is Spoke.
All how. No why.
And that's why I loved this fucking guy: he got me and he got _it_.
And in the names of David Hussman and John Goodsen and Mike Beedle and Jean Tabaka and the other mentors I can no longer go to for advice, this is why I'm a #Lightweight and no longer "an Agilist". Anyone who knows me knows that it _kills_ me to say that, but I can't deny it any more.
If you want to measure yourself by outdated Maturity Models and who has grown the most Scrum Masters, then good luck to you. Someday, I hope, following someone else's rules and rewarding others individually for the same won't be enough for you any more. When that day comes, I will welcome you out of the cold, give you coffee (or something stronger), and we can get to work.
I'd love it.
#dudeslaw #xplives #doitforyounotforthem
Remembering David Hussman today. This pic is from a conference we had a booth at in 2012. We had fun, although I think we scared people off with the kilts :) I still appreciate David's non-conventional, no-nonsense approach, especially with all the BS that's out there.
