[Discuss] Agile Programming OT?

[david at thekramers.net (David Kramer)]

On 07/14/2012 02:27 PM, Mark Woodward wrote:
> We sort of had a little dust-up about agile programming techniques.
> Ruffled feathers and I hope no hurt feelings. Hop on over to Slashdot
> http://developers.slashdot.org/story/12/07/14/1242237/new-analyst-report-calls-agile-a-scam-says-its-an-easy-out-for-lazy-devs

Fully agree.  I've read several articles talking about Voke's missives
on Agile Software development.  As noted in the comments, Voke seems to
be just two ex-Gartner people trying to drum up eyeballs.  Even if you
don't like Agile, you have to agree that they don't make sense.  For
instance, they have one report called "The Agile Dilemma", which pretty
much boils down to "Agile doesn't work because it's not the silver
bullet that Managers think it is, and they don't understand it".

http://voke.blogspot.com/2012/07/agile-dilemma-who-doesnt-want-to-be.html

Dunno how that translates into Agile itself being a scam, however:

- There is definitely a large contingent of consultants and coaches who
are using the "Agile" name to generate lots of money without delivering
the benefits of "Agile".  Some of them are doing it on purpose, and
others just don't grok Agile as well as they think they do, and are too
inexperienced to know better.  At the last Agile New England meeting,
the presenter made a very snide remark about Scrum Master certification.
 Something like "you take a two week class and pay $1000 to take a test,
then you get to have 'Master' in your job title?"

Stupid Managers and Directors and CXO's are always looking for a silver
bullet.  This ain't it.  Neither is anything else.  Until someone
invents a perpetual motion machine, a time machine, or a stargate
portal, it ain't gonna exist.  But Consultants are happy to sell you
one.  What they're pushing is neither a silver bullet or real Agile.

- Agile is not right for every environment.  It takes a cooperative
relationship between the development team and the rest of the company,
works best in changing environments (either internal changes or external
changes), and requires you to not lie to each other.  Not every company
fits that profile.

- Agile is not revolutionary.  Agile did not invent anything new.  Agile
is a collection of existing goals, practices, and values that happen to
work very well together when done right

- Agile's publicized successful project rate (which is a highly
subjective measure) is actually quite low.  Last number I saw was
something like 15% success rate.  I feel strongly that much of this is
due to people saying they're doing Agile when they're not.  I have seen
a fairly strong correlation between actually following Agile for real in
the right kind of environment and project success, and a fairly strong
correlation between fooling yourself into thinking you're doing Agile
when your not, and project failure (often more spectacularly than if
they just stuck with Waterfall).