In the think-tank at the
APLN
Leadership Summit we were asked,
as agile practitioners what's keeping us up at night? I'll let
these people answer for me:
Tom DeMarco :
The mainstreaming of agile methods is more apparent than real. What's definitely a trend is that companies are beginning to claim affiliation with agile approaches. This is a necessary step on the way to actually changing, but it doesn't imply that any real change of method has yet happened. I see a willingness to pay lip service to much of what the agile movement stands for , to endorse it as reasonable and practical, but no great willingness to adopt it.Christine Davis :
The agile paradigm may philosophically conflict with some of the most valued strategies and processes being embraced by management. There is little management experience at the higher levels with using agile on large programs or projects, and no experience with corporate-wide adoption of agile processes. How do we reshape and reinvent to be fully agile and not simply dress up the things that we are currently doing so that they merely appear to be agile?Lynne Ellyn :
Looking at enthusiastic adoption of agile by software developers, we see a mix of motives. Many are earnestly motivated to produce high-quality code in a quick and efficient manner, while having fun doing so. Other practitioners are motivated by a desire to do only the fun and creative side of software development and are looking for an excuse to abandon all forms of discipline.Joshua Kerievsky :
Agile methods will likely fall into disfavour if corporate experiences with the agile approach are the preview of development teams motivated by adolescent fantasies of freedom from appropriate discipline.
I worry that the industry's misinterpretation of Beck 's words is leading many on a path to agile mediocrity. So many teams I visit or hear about these days are saying they are "doing XP" when they are only practicing a miniscule percentage of XP. Mediocre agile efforts aren't going to cut it on the world stage. To thrive in today's world, organisations must harness the full force of agile methods.References:
1. Agile: From Rogue Teams to Enterprise Acceptance, Business Technology Trends and Impacts Vol. 7, No. 9, Cutter Consortium
2. The Expert's Guide to Agile: Beyond the Basics, Agile Resources, Agile Project Management, Cutter Consortium
