Re: [AM] Unfounded assertion

On Wednesday, January 28, 2004, at 02:36  pm, Scott E. Preece wrote:
[snip]
> I think the problem is that we're sitting here, in a community that
> talks about various aspects of agile methods, and none of can point to
> a set of rules for defining what "an agile method" is.  The Principles
> are generally good rules, but they're too vague to be a measuring stick
> for saying "This process is agile, that one isn't," at least, not in 
> the
> sense that XP's 12 rules let you say "This project used XP, that one
> didn't."
[snip]

Perhaps it's just me, but I've never really thought of agility as a 
is/isn't divide but as a spectrum.

I can imagine saying things like:

	"We were less agile when the customer worked offsite"
	"We became more agile once we started doing continuous integration"

I can't imagine saying things like

	"We stopped being agile when the customer worked offsite"
	"We became agile once we started doing continuous integration"

At one end of the spectrum we have processes like XP at the other end 
we have BDUF throw-it-over-the-wall waterfall. Any discussion about an 
agile/not-agile divide seems likely to end up as a pointless argument 
over where to draw the line in the middle.

The principles of the agile manifesto (or the XP/ICP values) don't give 
me a measuring stick to say whether my process is/isn't agile. I never 
thought they were intended to. What they do give me are some ways to 
think about how to compare and contrast practices and processes to see 
how they fit on the agility spectrum.

Here's hoping this makes some vague sort of sense :-)

Cheers,

Adrian

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