Esther Schindler recently published an article in CIO magazine entitled Getting Clueful: 7 Things CIOs Should Know About Agile Development. The article starts well enough, but quickly falls into the Agile trap with headers like:
Agile Creates Better Software
and
Agile’s business value comes from organizations’ ability to focus on which projects to do, what features to include in those projects, and which processes to use…
My main objection is solely based around the term “Agile” (with a capital “A”). It doesn’t exist. We have agile methodologies (e.g. Scrum, XP, Crystal). We have agile practices (e.g. Test-Driven Development, Pair Programming, Onsite Customer, Daily Standups). We can even have agile data and agile code. But these don’t magically roll up into a tidy package called Agile, and I think it only muddies the water when this does happen.
If we want real change to happen, we have to stop looking for a single band-aid to apply, and start discussing the real issues we are having. The real takeaway I hope CIOs get from that article is that, if they want to introduce real change, they should talk about what is in the way, and what the pain points are, and address practices and strategies to get them on track. That’s what agility is all about.