This is my dad.
He was a master of DIY and woodworking genius.
But Agile. He knew nothing about Agile.
Or did he?
Hi, this is Gary
Welcome to Development That Pays
Take a look at this
What I want you two to do
just to confirm you do know the basics
Cook me a [..] omelette
Show me something I can eat and be happy with
Slightly overcooked
Slightly?
Tastes like [..] rubber
Both over-cooked
That was sh!t. By any standards.
Mr Ramsey's omelette test has the dual merits of
a) sounding easy and
b) being not easy at all.
The equivalent test for the DIY world must be hanging a shelf.
So that's what we're going to have a crack at today.
Here's the shelf ... and here's the wall.
I'm going to hang it twice
Once using a method that made sense to my 19 year-old self.
Then I'm going to hang it again, using the method my dad taught me.
It sounds mundane,
but what it can teach you about AGILE
may just BLOW YOUR MIND
Just before we jump in, please be assured that
I know that DIY isn't the world's greatest spectator sport, so I'll be fast-forwarding
through the boring stuff.
The shelf is to be positioned so that its "top Middle"
On this mark.
Here's a more technical view of the shelf, showing the 4 screw holes.
I'm going to start my taking a couple of measurements.
Distance between the screw holes horizontally
Distance from the top to the top screw hole
Distance between the screw holes vertically.
Now to transfer the dimensions to the wall.
I'll use a spirit level to draw a perfectly horizontal line through the centre mark.
Now measure HALF the distance between the screw holes
... in both directions.
Spirit level again for two vertical lines
Measure down from the top
Then again for the vertical distance between the screw holes.
repeat for the other side.
Next time for a spot of drilling...
which is hard to draw, so I'm going to cheat and switch to a side view.
Two holes for the left side
Two for the right side.
In with the wall plugs
Offer up ( - think that's the technical term)
offer up the shelf
In with the first screw
In with the second...
Oh dear.
Perhaps I measured incorrectly
Perhaps I made a mistake when I transferred the measurements to the wall
Maybe it was the drilling:
the walls in my house are more than 100 years old...
It's hard to be accurate.
Chances are that each of the holes is a bit off.
And Murphy's Law dictates that
they won't all be off by the same amount in the same direction.
No, Murphy will see to it that they are off
in distance and direction such as to maximise my displeasure!
Even if a do manage to to shoe-horn all four screws in...
I would be surprised if
No. It's not level.
I'll bring my dad in a second.
but before I do, here's a list of the steps I just went through
I measured the shelf
Transferred the measurement to the wall
drilled the holes
fitted the wall plugs
Fitted - or attempted to fit - the screws.
Then - and only then - a final check for level.
Is is just me, or does this looks a tiny tiny bit...
WATERFALL?
Hmmm.
Let's move on to look at my dad's method.
It's only fair to warn you that my dad had
a super-power when it comes to DIY projects.
He was better than anyone I've known
in spotting the ONE thing that is important in any project.
For this project, it would take him a millisecond to realise
that the ONE thing that's important is that the shelf be level.
Oh... and he was pretty good at NOT measuring.
Keep an eye out for how often he DOESN'T measure.
First step... mark the of the middle of the shelf.
(He'd do this without any form or rule or tape measure, believe it or not.)
Shelf onto the wall.
Align the marks.
Spirit level
Perfectly flat.
mark the position of ONE hole.
Drill the hole
Wall plug in
Offer up the shelf
Screw in the screw. But not tight.
Spirit level again.
Adjust the shelf until it's flat
Hold in place
mark position top hole on the right hand side
rotate the shelf
drill the second hole
press in the wall plug
rotate the shelf
and screw in the second screw.
Tighten both screws
CHECK FOR LEVEL
Not quite right?
Loosen the screws.
Gentle tap
(My dad called this "offering encouragement")
CHECK FOR LEVEL
Tighten both screws
CHECK FOR LEVEL
From here on it's all downhill:
mark the positions of the last two screws.
Off with the shelf
drill the holes
in with the plugs
Back in with the TOP TWO screws.
Check for level / offer encouragement as necessary
tighten the screws
CHECK FOR LEVEL
in with the bottom two screws.
And one final check of level
At this point, a formality.
Spot on.
Nice one, dad.
If I show you all the steps...
it's quite clear that there are a lot of them
There was very little in the way of mass production.
The last two screws were handled together... but other than that...
If a I squish up the tasks, I think you'll notice something interesting.
There's a pattern:
a bit of work... followed by a check for level.
repeated again and again.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks...
AGILE!
To me, this is nothing short of a revelation.
My natural inclination - as a rank amateur -
was to hang the self using a WATERFALL PROCESS
My dad's natural inclination -
as a craftsman with 60+ years experience -
was to hang the shelf using an AGILE PROCESS
Mind. Blown.
I'm tempted to leave it there.
But first self -- the the fitted-by-Waterfall shelf - is still wonky.
Clearly, something went wrong.
I know I screwed up... But I don't know where.
Did I go wrong measuring the shelf?
Did i go wrong with marking out?
Did I go wrong drilling the holes?
No idea.
This puts me in the uncomfortable position of having to do better..
Without knowing where to do better
Contrast that with my dad's process.
If at any point the "check for level" fails,
it's OBVIOUS what has gone wrong.
It's clear what has to be re-done.
And it's a small amount of work that has to be re-done.
Thanks for watching.
Talk to you next time.