Imagine How Agile You’ll Be Tomorrow

My top-tier task this week is a barely-touch-the-ground visit toMinneapolis, there to keynote the Agile2006 International Conference that addresses many aspects of agile software development.Prior to the event, I’ve had the privilege of an early look at a surveyof the state of agile practice adoption, conductedduring the past year by developer and integrator Digital Focus with inputfrom 128 organizations.

What struck me most strongly in that survey report was thestatement, “The benefits people are seeking from agile methods areessentially two sides of the same problem. IT professionals are lookingfor agile techniques to help them manage scope while being moreresponsive to change. Non-IT professionals are looking for alternativesthat will allow them to react more quickly to changing businesspriorities.”

On reading that bullet point, I had a vision that I hope I’ll findtime to translate into a photo to illustrate a presentation chart. Iimagined an electrical cable with a fitting at one end, with an adapterto make that compatible with another fitting, and yet another adapterconnected to that … until we get to the final adapter to the next cablein line, there to find that the cables were really compatible in thefirst place: that the adapters were merely adding mechanical bulk andelectrical losses to a connection that could have been made moredirectly.

That’s the image that comes to mind when I think of the businessanalyses, that get turned into specifications, that get turned intosub-specifications and test plans, that give rise to bug reports anddefect resolution plans—with results then flowing in the oppositedirection from developers back to business process owners and users. Asevery good electrical engineer knows, the longer the signal path, thegreater the parasitic losses due to inductance (opposes rapid change)and capacitance (soaks up energy that could go directly into change,but instead goes into getting the process to pay attention). Agiledevelopment shortens that path and reduces those losses.

Later in the report, I found a comment that further confirmed mythinking on this: “Participants reported the greatest value provided byagile development is the ability to respond to change. This isexhibited in the form of challenges in managing scope, increasing thespeed of delivery, responding to unclear business requirements, orresponding to changing requirements.”

So, why isn’t agile development becoming so much the norm that it no longer needs a name?

Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Imagine How Agile You’ll Be Tomorrow