Monday, July 2, 2012

Quotes of the Week: Agile Backfire

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The single most important thing on a project is picking the right people. If you have good people then it doesn't matter if you are using Scrum or not, it will turn out well anyway.

We were used to getting shit done … then they told us about Agile.

There are no agile projects. Nor were there ever any waterfall projects. What we had were just a bunch of guys trying to get a bunch of stuff done.

We must destroy these methodologies that get in the way of programming.

These statements make even less sense. They are just babble, and they’re not about your trade in any conceivable way.

I don't read agile books. They are a waste of time!

Agile books out there are just people telling stories about stuff. Stories are great -- love to hear them. But I can't trust the authors of most of these books to tell honest stories and learn honest lessons from them. Instead they have a theme.

The problem is, real life doesn't have a theme.

I used to be an agile consultant, but I am alright now.

2 comments:

  1. At RiverGlide, we are often asked to help companies "go agile". Our first question when asked to do this is "Why?"
    The problem with having a catchy (or at least, simple to remember) name is that people start to want Agile as a product. Agile is a means, not an end, but people still want a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all approach.
    I don't think these quotes are an Agile backlash, more that people are beginning to realise that agile is a mindset and you have to apply it within the context of your own team / organisation.

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  2. @Andy

    Of curse I completely agree with your comment.
    I don't think those quotes contain too much evidence about the value or effectiveness of Agile.

    I just find it funny how it shows the typical hype curve in our industry. As you say, we realize that agile is no silver bullet and are descending from the peak of inflated expectations...
    And after a majority has jumped on the bandwagon, the real alpha geeks have to find a new theme...

    ReplyDelete

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