[koliber]

That's like me trying to get my son to wash his hair and him responding by saying "We have shampoo in the shower."

I am right and my son is right, but his hair is still not washed.

I became a more effective manager and a better father when I learned how to talk to him better.

[pdimitar]

Would you share how? Your comment leaves with a cliff-hanger.

I also don't get your son's response at all. How is he contradicting you at all and how does that lead to unwashed hair?

[koliber]

It's clearer if you deconstruct the conversation about Jira and then think about the washing hair and shampoo comment. It's a stretch, but when you see it is should make sense.

I ask my team to clarify requirements better. They say that they already have Jira. It's as if they were implying that the presence of a tool (Jira) should be enough to provide clear stories. But it's not about the tool. It's about them not using the tool properly but pointing at the tool (or process) as an excuse.

I ask my son to wash his hair. He says there is shampoo in the shower. It's as if the presence of the shampoo implies that his hair should be clean. It's not about the lack of tooling, but about the fact that he did not wash his hair with the tool that he had available.

People often blame tooling or methodology, but most often its that they don't know how to use the tooling or methodology well. They will say things like "if we only used X our problems would go away." Most likely, they won't.

I posted a lazy comment earlier because I did not have time to type it out. Apologies.

[pdimitar]

I see, thanks. All analogies are flawed and that's a fact of life but your clarification made it crystal clear.

RE: your work, I would probably fight hard to reduce all the bureaucracy-inviting tools (like Jira). That removes the excuse "we have tools already, why don't we have clear stories?" -- though I am aware that for many people this fight would cost them their job.

[consz]

He's saying that there's shampoo in the shower but he didn't use it (implied) -- however, the question wasn't about the presence of shampoo in the shower.

[pdimitar]

Aha, but that's not a rebuttal at all. The son is just stating a rather very loosely connected fact. If I was the father I'd immediately respond with "Yeah, and?".