Thread regarding Wells Fargo & Co. layoffs

BWAHAHAHA!!!

We're not gonna take it
No, we ain't gonna take it
We're not gonna take it anymore

I once explained to the Head of Technology why our large projects fail yet merger projects are done on time. She was missing the main point. There are three things you control in any project time, resources (money) and scope. In mergers only the time or due date is set. Money and scope are changeable to accomplish making the date. How many things we wanted to do in a merger got pushed to a "post merger" project without any senior leadership griping. In large projects, like replacing the commercial loan system, we set all three at the beginning and somehow think we will hit the date. Nothing wrong with waterfall but it needed then, and still does now, the ability to make iterative value added steps along the journey. We had to be all in big and bad projects because that was the only way to get funding. Remember BHAGs (aka big, hairy, audacious goal) And I'm sorry, no version of Agile will work for this all alone. You cant put iterative steps in to build a mainframe application until after it is there in the first place. So again, iterative. Set up the system and as it is built out and features added then Agile works great. You just need people more knowledgeable of the business side of a system so you don't install the code for the debit side of a transaction without the credit. That's where all the layoffs and coding offshore scare me. I am in tech but closely work with the business. Some areas have had no meaningful change in years because fixes from previous Agile installs take priority and new development displaced. When the business is longing for waterfall you know you have a problem.

The next methodology, or "silver bullet", is generative AI. I bet Sal is bringing in Service Now AI as we speak. They have modeled the Wells "customer", sent it to India, and have the offshore team play with all the new tools.
Now that the bank is digital the next is the digital services.
Glad I am almost retired.

https://www.analyticsinsight.net/artificial-intelligence/servicenow-collaborates-with-nvidia-to-launch-ai-service-agents

"It's sad to see this much miss-information about agile. With out it, millions upon millions of $$$ are wasted in huge requirements writing session, that become stale before development even begins. Worse yet, when development does begin ops is too afraid of a major change and sh**cans the whole thing anyway.

Agile is tough to truly understand, I get it. Things need to be put into place to answer to the OCC, I get it. But it's over 20 years ago, it's time to learn something new. Agile is no longer the new thing, it's the old thing, that just happens to be new then waterfall.
10 years from now we'll be onto something else, and people like me will be saying, that new thing su-ks and agile is better :D"

There are too many people are WF that are behind the times

It's sad to see this much miss-information about agile. With out it, millions upon millions of $$$ are wasted in huge requirements writing session, that become stale before development even begins. Worse yet, when development does begin ops is too afraid of a major change and sh**cans the whole thing anyway.

Agile is tough to truly understand, I get it. Things need to be put into place to answer to the OCC, I get it. But it's over 20 years ago, it's time to learn something new. Agile is no longer the new thing, it's the old thing, that just happens to be new then waterfall.
10 years from now we'll be onto something else, and people like me will be saying, that new thing su-ks and agile is better :D

Oh, but the documentation is in all of the Jira issues, stores, epics. /s
Good luck bring that all together to know WTF was actually developed.

FYI folks there are a variety of control/audit issues in tech and there are efforts to bring back various design/solution documents

@1dgy+1spWZEv More accurately management hears it will speed up productivity and getting things to the market. They completely don’t hear the initial work that’s involved to make it happen.

@OP your thoughts are valid. Parts of Agile are worthwhile, unfortunately, the way it has been cherry picked by “the firm” leads to a lot of frustration for everyone.

“Wells Fargo is the problem, not Agile. Any process not followed leads to a failure.“
Hahaha. We all know about Wells, but as has been pointed out by many comments, agile is overused and worthless for most situations.

As for those of you who want to report to OCC get some b@lls and do it now while employed. It’s against the law to hide something if it exists. You are part of the problem if you do hide it. Integrity is not worth giving up for a job plus whistleblower penalties can be huge now.

A - Another
G - Great
I - Inefficient
L - Lie
E - Exposed

Wells Fargo is the problem, not Agile. Any process not followed leads to a failure.

That’s what I did on my way out … dropped a dime on the company with the OCC. The examiner our team normally deals with. He was interested.

Shart's primary objective is maximizing the feeling of "I've had enough" across the domestic workforce to increase the likelihood that people will quit without severance. It guides every single decision he makes.

@op.. You are anything but boring. Agile failed at WF. Did not scale it correctly. (Gemini "What is role/deliverable for an agile architect"). Give agile to facilitators you get micromanagement.
Cloud certification failed at WF. Outsourcing is/or will fail at WF. Current management spoiled. No product strategy, design, management, or product concept testing. Just putting in "stop-gap" measures like "migrating to cloud", "agile", offshoring, and risk management will only solve part of the problem and may exacerbate it.
The new management WF has hired must manage and kick out the old crew of product support facilitators and replace them with technical product design, delivery and support management.

Not every build is suited for agile. You are right! Executives hear scrum or agile and think they're getting waterfall work fast.

It's frustrating - I discussions. with the business constantly to remind them that we build iteratively. They keep reporting defects when I already explain that each release only includes increments of the entire request. Those discussions slow refinement.

You're.

Everyone complains but I see your still here 🥱 boring

Trying to think of the last time, regarding any one thing, had so many people come to openly share in their frustration.

Agile is the instant-classic example of disruption gone awry.

Don't get me wrong, Twizzler sticks can be tasty. But maybe, let's not use them as stents for heart surgery, ok?

Submit a tip to the OCC on your way out. I’m toying with the idea of notifying regulatory agencies about the brokerage division’s recordkeeping when I make my exit.

Can’t imagine how many ellipses those patents must have

Agile works in product development only. U build a product and deliver. Wellsfargo butchered and ra--d the AGILE process so much it cannot be salvaged anymore.

Agile is a joke! A big fat failure!

Agile drowns in an incredibly burdensome sea of red tape.
The heavy controls in place is like throwing an anvil to those projects swept away in the current.

Few engineering teams have much of a clue how their systems actually work. System documentation is nonexistent or out-of-date. There is no traceability as to why design decisions were made. Major outages and security breaches are certain to be on their way.