So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut on Project Management
"I was the victim of a series of accidents sprints, as are we all" - Kurt Vonnegut
Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) was an American author and humanist. In his book of autobiographical essays, A Man Without Country, he breaks down famous stories using graphs charting the main character's good or ill fortune as a factor of time. From a story about a character with good fortune who loses it all, then recovers it for a happy ending, to one where the protagonist wakes up to a bad day that only gets worse. In each of these stories the character goes through a series of changes between good and bad events. The satisfaction of the audience often depends on a well-meaning character winding up with a positive ending.
Similarly, aren't developers satisfied when they encounter their happy ending? Like fictional characters, we face obstacles and struggles with our work, but getting through those issues together is important to give us an opportunity to learn from them and feel satisfied. Was your last project The Wizard of Oz or more like Franz Kafka? My goal is that with this talk + Kurt Vonnegut's wisdom people will gain a new perspective on their own rising and falling attitudes, and think about ways to get the ending they deserve.