Behold! I have discovered that I am an Agile Knitter!!
Knitting while performing aerobics? Standing on one leg while performing impossible feats of fairisle dexterity? Urm, no…
Let me start at the beginning, at work – I don’t normally talk about work because it is “work” and this is a knitting blog and what I do for a living can cure insomnia if you’re not in IT  đ
So… I attended some training as we are changing the way we do software development (WTF has that got to do with knitting? – bear with me…) We are moving to “Agile” – and away from “Waterfall” software development.  We had the training because no one really likes change and we are trying to avoid the “Grumpy Cat” reaction…
Awful!
In the training, I managed to prove it’s always worth having a knitter on your team – We were practicing  using Agile methods to create a Lego city out of basic bricks. We were given the impossible task of  creating a suspension bridge out of bricks. Knitter to the rescue! I had some scraps of sock yarn in the bottom of my handbag (don’t we all??!!) This is what I came up with…
I was SO proud of that!
Halfway through the training it dawned on me that the basic tenet of Agile “limit the number of  WIPs so you can deliver finished useful  stuff quickly” might have a parallel in my knitting….I limit my WIPS!
Hmmm – this explains why so many people think I’m a quick knitter!
I know lots of you have “startitis” and have a dozen projects on the go and do a little bit of each one here and there. (Nothing wrong with that, after all this is our hobby and not business so do what makes you happy.)  But for me, I get the buzz from finishing a thing and being able to wear it. I get depressed if I go months with out a lovely new knitted thing to show off…
So here’s the parallels I spotted – love to hear if any of my lovely readers know of any more!
Agile Software Development |
Agile Knitting |
| Have the whole team in one place | OK â itâs just me â that one is silly! |
| Limit the number of WIPS the team is working on | Yes ,they use WIPS!!I try and limit my WIPS to two â one for my commute and a more complicated one for at home. |
| Cycle Time – Deliver Finished âstuffâ quickly â ie short time from start of a WIP to finish of a WIP | Iâm often told Iâm a quick knitter but Iâm not â I just focus on one or two WIPS at once so I âdeliverâ finished WIPs quickly. |
| Have a backlog of work ready to start on as soon as you finish a WIP | Pfft!Like that is hard for a knitter! But that does sound strangely like my Ravelry queue… |
| Have a âKanban boardâ so anyone can look at the progress and status of the WIPS and see all the completed items. Great motivational tool! | Erm â my Ravelry projects page is my Kanban board â you can see my WIPS and my progress and all my Completed Items â it motivates me! |
| Have âdaily stand-upsâ (team meetings) so you can discuss anything blocking you making progress with your WIPS and help out your team members… | Not daily but I do have weekly meetings with the Guilty Knitters where I get and give help with my WIPS … |
| Â Responding to change over following a plan | Â Don’t all knitters change the pattern (plan) because of changing requirements from the lucky recipient of our knitwear?”oh it’s lovely but couldn’t you make the arms longer…” |
I could go on but this would get dull… Are you an Agile Knitter too?
UPDATE: 1 May 2013 – I have just realised – these are both ways of producing “SOFTwear”!!
I am not an Agile Knitter. I knit loads more WIPs at a time. I think it’s because I don’t work, so I knit for longer each day. This means I get bored it I only work on one or even two projects at a time. I do always have a “this is next” plan with projects though. I start planning before finishing a project so I can sew in the ends, get a project on the blocking board and cast on straight away. I like have stuff ready to just GO!
I am! it didn’t take long to learn that I don’t like small projects (socks, hats, mittens, babywear), I don’t like casting on and I like to concentrate on one thing and finish in a month or less. I joined a KAL recently without finishing the shawl I had on the needles first and found that having two WIPs at once was very frustrating as it slowed my progress on them both. One at a time from now on.
I love the comparison – I limit myself to 5 WIPs but prefer 3.
I have just realised â these are both ways of producing âSOFTwearâ!!
What a great post! My partner “does IT” for a living and I’m afraid I drift off every now and again when he talks about it. Just found your blog as I return to knitting after a long break, and am loving your stash. I’m a sewer with an embarrassing hoard of fabric and don’t want to go down that route with my wool purchases, one project at a time (?!)
Where did you get those super needles? I’m using my grandmas and am replacing slowly as I need a different size. They are making my knitting dirty and some are bent beyond use!
Hi PinQueen
Glad you enjoyed the post – I worried it was a bit “nerdy”!!
By “those super needles” You must mean my fabulous Signature needles?? They are fantastic to work – I blogged the lovely Ben treating me to a set here :
https://susancrowe.co.uk/2009/01/04/the-good-the-bad-and-the-fabb/
They are made by signature needle arts – expensive but I use mine all the time – worth the investment IMHO.
Take a look here (mine are always stilleto points BTW)
http://www.signatureneedlearts.com/
Enjoy!
Susan