Jack Vanlightly

AgileTM

AgileTM vs Real Agility - The Constant Rush

Being in a rush is counter-productive. It is stressful for the people doing the work and the quality of the work suffers. In software development that translates into an ever increasing amount of spaghetti code and an architecture of quick fixes which then leads to a slow down. This slow down then leads to greater time pressure, and the rush gets worse.

Real deadlines do exist, and sometimes out of necessity a team has to pull out all the stops and make a short-lived dash. The big problem arises when this mad dash is the normal state of affairs.

AgileTM vs Real Agility - Truly Self-Organizing Teams

Empower people to act responsibly and they generally will. Exercise empathy and people will trust you. Give people the information they need and they will reciprocate. Agile development was an attempt at doing these things better, but it has been reduced to a collection of code words and empty rituals by managers who don’t realize that it is actually their philosophy about the purpose and nature of management itself that needs to change, and not merely their choice of techniques.