Bob the BuilderYes, we can! (Thanks, Bob!) ... this is a typical answer from project teams that get too involved with the how of their project.  To me, as a member of many good & bad projects, I care more about these questions:

  • For who are we building it?
  • Why are we building it?
  • Are we fullfilling the needs of the customer? 
  • Who's going to maintain it?

As a developer/designer/architect/team member, we should be caring more about the needs & requirements of the customer than the way we use tools (Agile, .NET/Java, etc.) to try to solve the problem.  The moment we lose sight of those needs, are we really producing any business value?

A couple of days after posting my blank checks post, I found out that another team is heading down the same direction as mine did...sad, sad, sad.  When will management learn that tackling a problem without knowing the root cause and having a plan of action gets you nowhere.  I guess that's why they make the big bucks.