Assessing the Agile Approach in Software Development

Philippe Kruchten shared very interesting point of view on the Agile approach in the context of software development. Here are some quotes from this article.

My first claim is that agility is not a technology, science, or product but a culture. ´[…] One of the implications of this definition has to do with the function of culture. More specifically, besides being an influencing factor on people’s behaviors, culture also affects how people interpret others’ behavior. This interpretive function of culture is especially important in intercultural situations, as the behavioral norms of one culture may be misunderstood or regarded as incongruous by other cultural groups.

Decontextualization happens when something being studied is removed from its usual environment. When we cut out the relationships with the natural or original environments, then things start to be different or behave differently. For agility, decontextualization is carried out through large numbers of very short books, short presentations, blog entries, slides, e-mail threads in telegraphic style, etc. Ideas (the memes) are replicated, but in shortened forms where only one small aspect is being carried out, and reiterated—pounded out for memorization—to make the meme stick. Most often, what is left out is the exact context where the idea, concept, or process applies, or the context in which it was created and found useful. These short forms of the meme gradually become caricatures of themselves, little icons, or mere slogans.

I have been distraught at the level of dogmatism, bigotry, contempt, or just plain ignorance that I witness in the agile world. I am not blaming the topnotch agilistas, though they sometimes, and just for effect in writings and presentations, reduce their messages to their essential bones, to the slogan level, and they omit the context—both source and applicability.

As agility is crossing the chasm, however — as you can see if you attend any big software synod such as SD East or West or OOPSLA (Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages, and Applications) — many more people say (or repeat) rather uninformed messages with a strong conviction and little background, scoffing at anybody who dares to question their claims, even if it’s just a clarification about scope or context.

For writing these words, I’ll be shot dead as a traitor to the agilism cause, a defender of the waterfall church, a dinosaur, the über-curmudgeon, though I do value agility or agile practices in the proper context, and with the tainted glasses of my own 33-plus years of experience. But I would like my friends and colleagues to keep cooler heads, to question assumptions, not assume too much of a common, shared mental model, and contextualize what they hear, read, say, or write.

Source: Philippe Kruchten, Voyage in the Agile Memeplex

These are word of experience from Philippe Kruchten about Agile approaches to software development. It should be repeated that there is no silver bullet in software development and that many approaches will fail in specific contexts when their essence is not understood, but rather people are just trying to apply some recipes without intelligence and common sense. Every new approach will have its share of zealots that will apply them as strict religious rules.

I strongly believe that the success of software development depends more on adapting existing tools and processes to specific situations and not the contrary.