I just finished reading a great rant about being on time by Greg Savage. It got me thinking a bit. I’ve been involved with Scrum and other Agile methods since the mid-90’s and in that time, my perspective on time has changed considerably.

saving time clock

I used to be the guy who was always late. And it was a completely selfish behaviour. Meetings, outings, even weddings. I just couldn’t believe how “uptight” people were about time. But gradually, over a period of about 5 years as I became more and more aware of the underlying philosophy of Agile, my perspective, and more importantly my behaviour, changed: I started being on time. For everything. Even if it meant doubling my travel time buffer. Even if it meant sleeping 3 hours instead of 8 hours. Even if it meant missing a meal or a drink or a personal to-do item.

Time is the only resource that, once spent, we can never get back.

Scrum and most other Agile methods respect this implicitly in their time-boxed iterations and meetings. But people on Agile teams often need time to adapt and change their behaviour. In many ways, timeliness (starting and finishing meetings on time) is a critical component of the Scrum value of Respect.

Timeliness is also related to our understanding of planning. The Horizon of Predictability is short in most work environments. Maybe a week or two. If you dis-respect the tkmeboxes of the Agile process, you are jeopardizing your ability to effectively use the horizon of predictability. Even the Daily Scrum, normally time boxed to 15 minutes each day, can through abuse of time, cause long-term ramifications in product development planning.

But really, I like Greg Savage’s point better than all the practical stuff: being late is rude. Period.