Thomas E. MurphyAgile project methods are continuing to become a standard with many organization (though “Agile” itself doesn’t denote a standard method) and the results are generally positive. As we work on the update to the Integrated Quality Suites MQ, data is matching what I see on client calls.
Agile is still often loosely defined in many companies with the core concept being an iterative approach to development that plans the project details in monthly (roughly) chunks. There are still wide variations as to which specific processes are being brought in beyond the planning process and reporting. This leads to mixed results and can increase stress and chaos among team members but generally is producing positive benefits.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Alex Turner August 3, 2010 at 10:09 am
This article is much like those tooth paste adverts which say ‘your teeth will be 20% whiter’. THAN WHAT?
I propose that nearly all the supposed benefits of agile can be accounted for by the fact that introduction of agile requires everyone this think about planning. Once an organisation gets used to agile, the benefits tend to dissipate.
Most of the benefits I have seen are in the early phases of adoption. Long running projects do not show much benefit with agile. Once the product owners start to loose interest in all those meetings and marketing go back to golf, agile is just another way of putting pressure on developers to get more for less.
Conclusion – change the process you use every 2 years. Which process really does not matter – it is change that matters. Alternatively, line up all the senior managers and marketeers against a wall each 6 months – if they cannot give the detail of the next months delivery plan – give that trigger a long hard squeeze.
If – for one second – you think your process is the problem – and not your people – you have already lost the game. After all who write software – people. Not resource – people, humans.
2 Tweets that mention Agile Gains Strong Presence and Delivers Returns -- Topsy.com August 3, 2010 at 10:35 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Micro Focus, Walter A. Mena H. . Walter A. Mena H. said: RT @microfocus: Agile gaining presence and showing results http://bit.ly/a777tw [...]
3 Thomas Murphy August 3, 2010 at 5:29 pm
Very valid comment it is people not process that produce software and getting to a “new” process can produce a value but the sustainability of the benefit I think can continue. There are two issues that I see:
1) After agile projects are the norm – while velocity may be better than past it won’t be fast enough, we always want more
2) Sustainable agile requires more than I am doing Scrum
This second item gets at what you talk about: I need good people and with Agile this can be more true that with traditional development. However I also believe that a big chunk of it is that to really make Agile work you have to embrace the practices and the organizational changes as well. It can’t just be developers do iterative plans and have daily stand-ups. You must train on patterns both design and behavrio, you must refactor not only code but people and you have to pick up the practices that drive quality upstream. These changes will reduce the number of LOC produced by a developer per year but will drive sustainable overall project velocity.
Leave a Comment