What makes Agile agile?
Many things have become associated with Agile. For some Agile is SCRUM, for others it’s Xtreme Programming. For others still it’s something else entirely. Agile has come to mean alot of things to alot of people. In this article I’ll describe what I think Agile is and why.
What is Agile?
What’s the defining characteristic of Agile? When you examine the many practices that have come to be associated with Agile you will find one overriding commonality. All these practices promote Feedback. This is, I believe, the defining characteristic of Agile. Agile is the idea of maximizing feedback so as to best respond to change. As such, I do not think of Agile as a set or even a family of practices or methodologies.
What isn’t Agile?
Having stated the above I do not consider any given practice or set of practices Agile (or agile). Any set of rules or methods will not nessesarily make you, your team or your company more agile. It’s very easy to subvert the practices of SCRUM and XP to provide emphasis on status updates (dailys, reviews, etc) and artifacts (burndown charts, etc); two common pitfalls of Agile. Changing what you do does not make you Agile; changing how you think does.
How do I become Agile?
Concentrate on maximizing feedback. There are many areas in which you can do this:
Individually - I’ve had alot of success using Test Driven Development as a tool to enhance feedback. When I add a new piece of code into the mix I can know right away if it broke something I’ve already written. The number of regressions on my team dropped dramaticly when I began using TDD.
Team - Story driven standups tell the team right away where the most important story is at and what it will take to get it done. This has been very valuable to my team. Additionally, it’s alot more fun than the boring narratives you hear in status driven standups!
Project - Iterative development cycles not only increase feedback to teams, stake-holders and customers but also reduce risk by keeping the product out in the open and on course. The length of the iteration is very specific to the needs of the project and can range from one to four weeks. It’s fun to see the product evolve from one iteration to the next.
I know there are many indivduals who disparage what they call “picking and choosing” practices. Fortunately I don’t have to be concerned with their opinions. What I do have to be concerned about is getting work done as quickly and cleanly as possible. If picking and choosing is how I have to do it then so be it. Becoming married to a particular method or practice seems contrary to the idea of being agile (or Agile). It may be better for you to roll your own method.
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