agile work forum has gone on walkabouts?

I was looking at our forum agile work for ideas on income for my PEP badge.  And general ideas on things I can do on my downdays that might earn a bit of cash.

The problem is, the forum is not very full.  Much of what is in there doesn't actually fit with the topic of the forum, but I hate to move it and leave this forum even more empty.

The Agile Work forum needs more content and I was wondering if anyone out there would like to help beef it up.  

I started a thread exploring what is agile work and how it differs from residual incoe.  

Please pop over and see if there's anything you can add to help rejuvenate that forum.  Thanks.

I think we need a book promotion.  

And if there is a book about working from home, or getting jobs while traveling, we could double up and do the promo on permies and announce it on coderanch also.

Good idea.

Anyone recommend any books on the topic?  My googlefu isn't giving me much.

The Four Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss) is kind of all about that topic, isn't it? It's been a while since I read it but I think there were more ideas than just residual income. He did push the idea of everyone setting up a website to sell nutritional supplements. But I think there were some "work anyplace" ideas in there too... anyone remember?

Dave de Basque wrote:The Four Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss) is kind of all about that topic, isn't it?

I think the subtitle for the book could be "how to screw people and not give a shit."  I'm not interested in promoting that book here.

paul wheaton wrote:
I think the subtitle for the book could be "how to screw people and not give a shit."  I'm not interested in promoting that book here.

Well then there's that, yeah. Can't say I would disagree with you.

Sounds like there's room for a response book, Paul. Something like Never Work, All The Time: How to make money doing what you love, not screw people, and give a shit.

I am actually on the search for books on this topic, and residual incomes. I don't really have anything satisfying, but if I get a nibble, I'll post it.

-CK

@r ranson - would it be possible to insert a disclaimer somewhere in the top post of What is Agile Work? that "Agile Work" has nothing to do with the Agile project management methodology? I was super excited to read what I expected to be an intersection between Agile and permaculture --seems like a great pairing.... then I got super confused.... then disappointed. I'm not sure how widely used the term "Agile Work" is used, but "Agile" is very widely used in manufacturing and software development industries.

Possible solution:

Agile work and the corresponding forum here on permies.com, is about earning income from anywhere (and completely unrelated to the Agile project management methodology).

Could this agile project management methodology fall under the idea of agile work as we are using it on permies?  

I ask this because I don't understand the other meaning as it's outside of my regular day.  

J Webb wrote:@r ranson - would it be possible to insert a disclaimer somewhere in the top post of What is Agile Work? that "Agile Work" has nothing to do with the Agile project management methodology? I was super excited to read what I expected to be an intersection between Agile and permaculture --seems like a great pairing.... then I got super confused.... then disappointed. I'm not sure how widely used the term "Agile Work" is used, but "Agile" is very widely used in manufacturing and software development industries.

Possible solution:

Agile work and the corresponding forum here on permies.com, is about earning income from anywhere (and completely unrelated to the Agile project management methodology).

Yes! Yes! May I please hereby heartily endorse the words of J Webb? This topic is confusing everyone, even its originators. We are all trying to wrap our heads around a new definition of the word "agile" that doesn't quite fit. And "Agile" project management is all the rage these days, in software development especially but management folks everywhere have heard of this and think about using it as a model. So the word comes loaded with connotations that are not the ones we're looking for.

May I humbly suggest we rename this thread and concept for permies.com purposes "Ways to sell your labor anywhere"? Or some such simple thing? I think it would save us lots of pointless hand-wringing and get us back on the topic at hand, making helpful suggestions for people to make money and do their permaculture thing.

To quickly learn about the project management "Agile," watch the following, for instance.



It's often associated with a couple of other fashionable management terms/processes, "scrum" and "kanban."

It's all kinda cool, especially on paper, but it ain't what we're talkin about.

These are good points.

The forum title needs to be as short as possible I think that's why Agile Work was chosen.

If there was a better title that was short and had good SEO value, I can submit it to the rest of the team that looks at this stuff and see if they like it.

Sorry to put the ball back in your court.  If you can come up with a list, we can have a look at it.

---

at the moment we have a description at the top of the forum saying "Jobs that can be done from anywhere - thus freeing you from living in the city."

At the top of the forum, it will soon have a link to the threads what is agile work and big list of agile income (just as soon as I can find the time to re-learn how to do pointy bracket links.  

J Webb wrote:@r ranson - would it be possible to insert a disclaimer somewhere in the top post of What is Agile Work? that "Agile Work" has nothing to do with the Agile project management methodology? I was super excited to read what I expected to be an intersection between Agile and permaculture --seems like a great pairing.... then I got super confused.... then disappointed. I'm not sure how widely used the term "Agile Work" is used, but "Agile" is very widely used in manufacturing and software development industries.

Possible solution:

Agile work and the corresponding forum here on permies.com, is about earning income from anywhere (and completely unrelated to the Agile project management methodology).

Agree that agile as a word has a widely understood meaning which does not correlate to this topic.

Two thoughts:
1) rename thread
Ideas: opportunistic work, flexible work, anytime/anywhere work, etc
2) start new thread contemplating how agile methodology could intersect with permaculture methodologies
Ideas: formalize observation methods / frequency for biomimicry experiments. Formalize classification methods for results on guild experiments, consider continuous 360 degree feedback for woofer relationships (and marketing affiliates), etc

The "agility" in Agile project management has more to do with the production of "value" incrementally to deliver a product/project such that the "customer" gets something they can use/consume before the project is completed. With each piece of "value" delivered the production team take customer & stakeholder feedback into consideration during production of the next increment.

Possibly a relatable example:

Goal: Produce a book based on the experiences of admins on permies.com

Week 1: Team focuses on producing a blog post detailing r ranson's experiences (rr anson writes, paul stamps approval & posts it)
- Ad revenue trickles in
- Comments say there aren't enough cool pictures

Week 2: Team focuses on producing a blog post detailing Nicole Alderman's experiences... similar team efforts as above, but this time you enlist Tracy Wandling to make some pics
- Ad revenue pours in
- Comments love the pictures, want more juicy behind-the-scenes details

Week 3: Team focuses on producing a blog post detailing Steve Thorn's experiences... similar team efforts as above and this time with some juicy gossip
- Ad revenue pours in
- Comments love the pictures and juicy behind-the-scenes details
- Maybe too juicy, as some irate comments cause drama with other staff members

Week 4: Team focuses on producing a blog post detailing Paul's experiences... similar team efforts as above and this time without the gossip
- etc

Week 22: Team coalesces blog posts into a book
- ??
- Profit

The forum in question is named "Agile Work"  so I created a thread to help define what "Agile Work" is in this context.  It's kind of important that the forum and that thread match otherwise people get even more confused.

Possible new names for this concept and the related threads on permies, listed in no particular order:

Work anywhere

Work from anywhere

Employment anywhere

Income anywhere

Paid work anywhere

Paying work anywhere

Anywhere work

Anywhere income

Anytime/anywhere work

Flexible work

Flexible income

Opportunistic work

Opportunistic employment

That should get you started. I would suggest renaming the forum and pretty much expunging the word "agile" and all the threads and comments wondering and/or trying to define what it is. In the end, these are not going to help anyone find a viable income stream. To get everyone back on topic. At least sprinkle Admin or Moderator's notes liberally throughout existing thread stating it's now a non-issue. IMHO.

Decades ago, I did software development with a process I called "iterative".   Later, I became a fan of XP - especially pair programming.  

And I was the one that named this forum.  

When you hear "patterns" you might think of "gang of four" or some short list of your favorite patterns.   But the word and the branch of thought was actually started in architecture.   But I could see software engineers encouraging a shift of other industries to use a different word.  

I think "agile work" is the best name for the forum ... so far.  I wanted a forum for work that can be "nomadic work" as well as, more simply, "remote work".   Once established and getting paid, a person might be able to move anywhere in the world they like.   Or they could even go so far as to be a perpetual traveler.

this topic is bigger than ever with more people working away from the office or trying to find sustainable income streams.  

what else can we do to nurture this forum?

any volunteers?

Since people are confused by the term 'agile work,' why not rename it 'freelancing?' Doesn't that describe the same concept? Freelancers can work from anywhere: at home, in the field, contracting in someone's office...

Seems pretty agile to me. Plus it's a more familiar term. Just my two cents.

Agile work is so much more than just freelancing.

At this point, we are sticking with agile.  Maybe when the forum grows and gains more content, then we can revisit the idea of renaming it.