Agile. Hm. What can I say that hasn’t been said already? Especially here, where my credentials as a person to read and take seriously haven’t exactly been established yet?

At university, I rowed (for you Yanks; “crew”). To be perfectly honest, I probably spent more time doing sports than studying for my degree, but, well, in hindsight I’ve found about 10% of my degree to be useful in real-life, and 100% of the consequences of sports ;-) If only they’d taught us source-control, unit-tests/BDD/whatever-your-preferred-moniker, and CI in the first month, though…

Anyway. Rowing. You get eight guys in a boat all sat facing backwards. Stay with me here. Give them each an oar and a sliding seat, and tell them to row. But - and this is the kicker - in time with each other. It’s also often a good idea to sit another guy (or girl; we call both the coxswain, or cox) at the very back of the boat, facing forwards (this orientation turns out to be quite important) - their job is to steer (we shall veer away from the fact that rowing boats are not designed to go around corners…), encourage, and, if it’s not a race, coach. Oh, and tell the rest of the crew that stroke (the guy furthest back - thus the one whose blade the rest can all see - who is responsible for setting rhythm) thinks they’re rushing him.

The boat will go quicker when all of the rowers are perfectly in time (“perfectly” in the fullest sense of the word). As you row, and get good at it, it becomes obvious to tell by feel when the boat is set (balanced, not dipping to either bow or stroke-side (I’m a Brit, and shall use Brit rowing parlance!)) and the crew is in time through the evolution of the strokes. You don’t need to watch your blade; you fix your eyes on the neck of the rower in front and concentrate on it to the exclusion of all else (except the cox’ commands, naturally). Good rowing develops by muscle memory - your body gets to know how to move through the stroke; how to shift weight, how to balance, how to react to the movements of the rest of the crew, how to exert pressure on the blade - all of this becomes instinctual (er, after practise, which - frankly - hurts… ;-) ).

One has to put in a lot of effort to the training to do well at rowing - obviously, this is a competition. You have to strive to improve continuously. There is the muscles-and-fitness aspect which is pretty easy to grasp; big, strong people will pull on the blade harder - ugh! Make boat go fast! Simple. There’s also the technique part, which is harder to learn. Your body needs to be flexible, and it needs to be trained to move as the rowing stroke demands, combined with the vagaries of the boat you’re using and the rest of the crew. There are subtleties that you just don’t notice until later, and then suddenly you do and your performance receives a kick in the pants for almost no extra outlay (“push with the legs, dammit, don’t pull with the arms” at first, and then “fast on the drive, slow on the recovery”…) - a deeper insight if you will, into exactly how to do this rowing thing. Diet and nutrition play a part.

Rowing training hurts. Weights, circuits, runs; this is not a thing you do a couple hours a week. Ergo (rowing machines; usually Concept IIs) land training hurts a lot. Squad ergos can be worse still (you’re racing on an ergo to keep your seat in the crew, and you’re not even in the boat on the water - remember that’s the funpart!). I think it’s reasonable to say that there are no casual rowers in the world; everyone that rows well rows competitively - there’s just too much effort going in to not try to justify it without some kind of competitive reward. Consider the amount of sheer bloody-minded tenacity that that means the average rower has (not to mention self-discipline), to continue to row when they’re notwinning (in a six-lane regatta, five crews lost…). This is one of those sports where it really is the winning, not the taking part that counts (yet it’s still sportingI hasten to add) - I think it’s fair to say that there are no casual rowing crews (scullers are a different matter).

When you get it right, there is something … spiritual … about the experience. The crisp, sunny early Spring mornings with the morning mist burning off, when the water is like glass and you’re in perfect harmony - there is one blade clunk, not eight - with your crew, part of the gestalt as you power through the training routine of the day… I miss that. That and the feeling of winning a six lane regatta after a day of competition. ;-)

What the hell does that have to do with agile software development?

  • You’re making a commitment to your crew that you won’t ** up your part. Unlike other team sports, it’s impossible to hide slacking off training or in the boat; a well-run crew is melded into a unit that trains, socialises, and races together; there’s healthy rivalry during seat-races, and there’s camaraderie inside the boat and out. Same with agile software development; you’re making a commitment to your team that you’re going to take pride in helping the team achieve its collective goal; shipping.
  • Working in a gelled team is hugely rewarding, just as rowing in a good crew. It’s the people in it that make it a rewarding experience, though; you take out what you put in.
  • You succeed or fail together. Doesn’t matter if you did your 2k in 5:47 if the crew as a whole kept catching crabs during the race itself. Doesn’t matter if you finished your feature ahead of time but the rest of the team stumbled.
  • Healthy rivalry encourages team-members to better themselves and their peers; it’s a good feedback loop.
  • Refactoring your technique to deeper insight applies in both disciplines.
  • Training and improvement requires self-discipline.
  • Perfection makes the boat go faster. But it’s impossible to be perfect. But all crews want to be.
  • Most importantly; you knowwhen it’s going well, and when it’s not.

When I interview people, I take note of those that put team-sports on their CV, and quiz them on what they got out of it. Rowing (for all the pain it involved ;-) ) had such a positive result on my own career and development as a person, it would be a bit strange not to.