I stumbled upon a blog entry from Jeff Langr today in which he challenges the concept of »chickens and pigs« in agile development.

His line of reasoning: Having a rule which forbids communication is not agile at all. He suggests to sustitute an other agile value instead: courage. Simply ask people who are not helping in the daily to stop. And talk about it.

You can read his full view here.

I like his suggestion for dealing with chicken-rule-fetishists:

The next time someone calls you a chicken, let them know that there is a new animal in agile. It’s the ass. The ass is the person who dictates how things must be. They are stubborn, controlling animals. Perhaps the best thing to do with an ass is to give it a good swift kick.

I think Jeff has a valid point there. Nothing is more tedious than being constantly remembered by a Scrummaster(tm) that something »isn’t following the Scrum rule book«. On the other hand these rules are necessary scaffolding for beginning project managers without a lot of experience under their belt. Maybe the truth is somewherein  between again. If you need this rule, use it. But get rid of it as soon as possible.

What do you think of this rule? Do you use it?