What Agile Really Means
/I exchanged some great email with Alex Deaconu as part of a regular quarterly review we do and his insights into our adoption of a truly agile development methodology really struck me. First, true confessions, we have been proclaiming to be an agile shop for years. We lied. Or at least we fooled ourselves really well. I think we are just starting to understand the power of short burst iterations. Alex summed up what this means perfectly:
We're hunting bigger game while expending less energy, at this point a miss doesn't hurt as much.
In the end, it's obvious the only enemy is time; keeping ahead of the curve.
More steps forward than steps back; more calculated lunges towards our intended target; more agile.
To keep stepping forward, and a step back to not hurt as much:
- build fast
- build well
- reduce
- reuse
- recycle
Calculate lunges:
- no shortcuts
- no excuses
- bounce off obstacles while recovering cleanly
More agile:
- no shortcuts
- no excuses
Well said Alex! Thank you!