Agile Myths

Objective
What are the misconceptions or rather Myths of using Agile in the enterprise world Widespread Myths about Agile Any other Myths exist? YES of course explore

Gayan Jayasinghe M.Sc.(Computer Science)

Myth 1: It's a silver bullet that will solve all your problems

Straight forward

Extreme Effectiveness

Radically different way

Make mistakes, but sooner This is not an answer to incompetence or poor organization Producing high-quality, maintainable code is a deliberate process There are no short cuts to excellence You also need a proper structure Product Owner/ Marketing Leadership Process Coach (Known as Agile Coach) Self Organizing Teams

Myth 2: Using Agile means that you can do what you like.

It is highly disciplined approach

Discipline is not paper pushing , compliance and bureaucracy. At any point the team is working on the thing that the Product Owner wants most. You can not violate the values in spirit. It requires much greater discipline to stay focused on high-value activities in too dynamic a context. Key Responsibility Areas: Product Owner success of the product The Team technical architecture of the product Process Coach/ Manager the team and value creation

It is highly disciplined approach

Keeping designs simple and minimally sufficient Demonstrating transparency Refactoring code to avoid redundancy and duplication Writing tests first (TDD) Continuously integrating Releasing shippable product on a regular cadence Arguing the best idea while letting go of ego

Myth 3: Doing Agile means no Architecture or Planning

Just-in-time
All upfront planning comes with a huge risk and tremendous amount of waste Requirements Change because Market Changes 67% or more features originally planned are never used Distributed planning and just in time analysis Postpone decisions to last effective moment Use Concurrent Engineering/ Set based Concurrent Engineering Approach [Lean] Concurrent engineering is a work Test the architecture upfront and regularly the parallelization of tasks methodology based on (i.e. Continuous Integration performing tasks concurrently). It refers to an approach used in product development in which Unit Testing functions of design engineering, manufacturing engineering and other functions are integrated to Shared Code
reduce the elapsed time required to bring a new product to the market.

Myth 4: Agile does not work with CMMi

Myth 5: Agile approaches means avoiding commitments price and schedule.

A different take
Agile trades the illusion of control and predictability [and crystal ball gazing] for transparency and quality. Hard dates and price control can not work with one side control. Estimates derived on basis of past projects and complicated formula's are still estimates. Use Agile Collaboration Schemas??
Collaboration schemas define the broad contours and framework of engagement http://jamesshore.com/Presentations/Beyond%20Story%20Car ds.html http://agilediary.wordpress.com/2008/03/19/agile-collaborationschemas/

Myth 6: Using TDD (Test Driven Development) doubles the amount of work.
Test-driven development (TDD), also called test-driven design, is a method of software development in which unit testing is repeatedly done on source code. The concept is to "get something working now and perfect it later." After each test, refactoring is done and then the same or a similar test is performed again. The process is iterated as many times as necessary until each unit is functioning according to the desired specifications. More: http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget. com/definition/test-driven-development

Hmm.. What is refactoring? Refactoring is "the process of changing a software system in such a way that it does not alter the external behavior of the code yet improves its internal structure," according to Martin Fowler, the "father" of refactoring. More: http://searchsoa.techtarget.com/d efinition/refactoring

Did you actually try it out?

Test suite serves as an unambiguous external description of systems intent, design, and usage. Writing tests first fleshes out uncertain designs. It provides a robust regression suite. You can make changes to the code easily. Defects introduced into the code stream are caught quickly, and are isolated immediately, preventing propagation. The resulting designs are generally simpler and easier to implement.

Myth 7: Agile is just an iterative and incremental process.

You need a reality check

Agile is tough and each role fits in like a Jigsaw Goal of Agile
Outcomes over features : Product Owner Sustainability : The Team Process Competence: Scrum Master/ Agile Coach

Agile is not a new fad

It's based in thinking and writing of many renowned people and industry experience. A recent Forrester Research report on agile development discusses that: Agile development processes are already in use in 14 percent of North American and European enterprises, Another 19 percent of enterprises either are interested in adopting agile or already are planning to do so.

Few More
Agile means no documentation You need a very experienced team for Agile Anyone can be a Scrum Master or Product Owner Refactoring is cleaning up bad code There is no role for Managers in Agile Outsourcing and Agile are anti-thesis Agile does not support diversity

agile is the widely accepted umbrella term

agile

is the ability to create and respond to change. agile is the ability to balance flexibility and structure. agile is something you strive for, not do.

Few Good Features

Early and continuous delivery of working software Welcome changing requirements Build projects around motivated individuals
Give them the environment and support they need Trust them to get the job done

Self-organizing teams Team reflects on how to become more effective Face-to-face conversations Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design Working software is the primary measure of progress Sustainable development

Any other Myths

Few can be found:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1871110/agile-myths-andmisconceptions http://www.theappgap.com/exploring-ten-myths-about-agiledevelopment.html http://www.projectez.com/Files/special%20report%20%20myths%20of%20Agile.pdf

References
Reading:
http://www.implementingscrum.com/ Interesting cartoons: Dont miss it
http://www.implementingscrum.com/section/blog/cartoons/