Why do the next generation of methodology experts say it's best to start at the end of the project and work back towards the beginning?

When I expressed bafflement, the submitter added:

You asked for April 1st topics, did you not? ;-) << I guess I fooled you. >>

Some times humorous thoughts or topics that are so counter to mainstream thinking, when considered in a serious light, can lead to new discoveries. In older days this was one of the purposes a king's fool played -- to interject ludicrous ideas at the perfect moment to cause a collective shift in a group's thinking.

Attendees:

• Rodney Bell
• Karen King
• Randy King
• Rebecca Kun
• Diana Larsen
• Jim Shore

Notes from our discussion:

• What is the end? Is it the beginning?
• It's the delivery
• Start with delivery -- get feedback


• Do the plan last
• Do the design documents last
• It's the only way to know if they're correct
• It's not the plan that matters, it's the planning


• Is the end of the project its death?
• The end of the project is the start of the product?
• No, the product continues to change, so the project continues
• Products die due to software debt
• ...or never being delivered in the first place
• Example of pager-wristwatch: supplanted by newer technology
• "There was a point at which we should have realized it was dead
• Obsolescense is a project in itself
• "Done" is when we hand it over to support
• Some define "project" as "defined beginning and end"
• First delivery to production is typical end
• Hand-off to maintenance is one of the most destructive things we can do to a project


• Why is it best to start at the end?
• If it fails, don't even start!
• But even failures help you learn and that has value.
• Getting people to cancel
• The gambling fallacy
• Throwing good money after bad


• Concept of time
• What does it feel like to go back in time?
• Memento (the movie)
• Future is ahead, past is behind
• For the Hopi Indians, the future is behind because you can't see it
• The end of the project is when you can't see anything
• We fool ourselves into thinking we know what will happen
• It's cultural--we don't fool ourselves, it's given to us
• It's a mythology: "I know it." Our sense of self-esteem is directly based on our ability to predict accurately
• So we go down the path of nailing everything down rather than being adaptive. But it's like nailing Jello to the wall
• Envisioning works for an individual but our ability to envision breaks down with larger & larger groups


• Starting with the retrospective
• That's planning
• Looking at past projects and what went wrong
• ...and what went right!
• What about when there's no past projects, like a merger?
• Start with retrospective of everyone's past projects
• What's the outcome of a retrospective?
• Wisdom; organizational learning
• Project plan
• Working agreements
• Chartering
• Structure


• What about when it's a brand-new project? What do you retrospect on?
• People's experience
• How is that different from setting ground rules?
• It's the group, not the individual
• Retrospective is mining experience rather than blue-sky


• Starting with income, rewards, recognition
• One experience: more work, more satisfaction
• Start with the party
• The "welcome" party vs. the "goodbye" party
• Good way to break in to the culture
• How do you know if someone's a shyster?
• Why not to do pro-bono work:
• When the client doesn't pay anything, they're not invested.