Why Practical Agile?

In this blog, I will be sharing my thoughts on how Agile can work in a practical way, meaning in real life situations. What makes me qualified to do that? Well, they are my thoughts that I am sharing, so I guess that could be enough. A more relevant answer is I have been in the software product development business for over 20 years as a developer, manager, and coach. I have used all kinds of software process models: ad hoc, waterfall, V model, Spiral, and Agile methods like FDD, XP, and Scrum; many of these in both informal and very formal ways. I have seen projects succeed and fail with all these models. None of them is perfect. None of them provides the “silver bullet”.

What I have come to learn and value is that teams of highly motivated and talented individuals, working well together, provides the highest probability of delivering successful projects. So rather than focusing on practices, processes, templates, documents, etc., an organization should value creating an environment where the conditions support collaboration, innovation, excitement, and achievement.

That leads me to why I call this blog “Practical Agile”. I believe that the ideals expressed in the Agile Manifesto and its Principles create such an environment. That doctrine does not cite any specific practices or processes, just values. Each organization wanting to achieve excellent results should adopt these principles and then adapt the various practices that work for them. That is practical agile.

I said earlier that I have seen successful non-agile projects. Many of them do exist. Nevertheless, every truly successful one that I have seen exhibited solid teamwork, a strong sense of purpose and a focus on quality and pride. They adapted the organizational process so that at least it did not get in their way. I contend that agile practices support that process.

Over the next several entries, I will explore these agile principles, and how I have seen them implemented in real-life teams. Stay tuned…