Re: [AM] Problems ever occur in Agile?

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Steven Gordon wrote:
>=20
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>=20
> Agile software development is a holistic approach that does not have thes=
e discrete phases.  So, I guess my answer is I do not have any problems wit=
h these phases as more.


Phases are an integral part of formal methodologies because=20
of the problem these methodologies address.  Recall that
the earliest methodologies were from the gov't sector,
notably DoD.  I was a DoD (Navy) civil servant for 10 years
much of it in the software development area.  The following
are based on my recollections:

Management of DoD software projects has always presented=20
special difficulties because of the nature of the contracting=20
rules set by Congress.  The problem in a nutshell is that=20
gov't contracting agency employees are prohibited by law=20
from "managing" the employees of a contractor.  A gov't=20
contracting agency worker cannot tell or suggest (give the=20
appearance of telling) a contractor employee what to do.=20=20
That is the job of contractor management. Severe disciplinary=20
action can be taken against gov't employees who break this=20
rule.  (They also cannot buy one another gifts, and a lot
of similar restrictions.)

Of course, the gov't contracting agency must have some means
of directing and monitoring the action of the contractor.
As we all know, this need is especially acute in the case
of software development.  Given the constraints imposed
by Congress in their infinite wisdom (civil servants use a
number of such euphemisms to make their life more tolerable).
what is the gov't agency to do?

This is the _management_ problem that the infamous waterfall=20
and other formal methodologies are intended to help solve.

Which brings us to phases.

Phases are time periods during which certain tasks take
place.  In DoD and other gov't methodologies, they end
with a formal review in which documents are presented to,
and reviewed by, the contracting agency.  Usually there
are also meetings and presentations in which the employees=20
of both sides are able to get in some face-to-face without
undue fear of being hauled on the carpet for breaking
contracting laws.  The contracting agency can approve or
disapprove the work up to that point by approving or
disapproving the documents.  The documents thus serve as
a kind of "intermediary" that allow the contracting=20
agency to direct the work of the contractor without
violating, or appearing to violate, the contracting laws.

So waterfall and other formal, document-driven methodologies
are not inherently bad.  Instead, they are "best we can
do" solutions to an inherently bad situation imposed from=20
above.  In actual practice, contracting agencies typically
do whatever they have to do to get the job done, and the
methodologies serve more of a "check the box" function,
which hopefully keeps contracting layers off everbody's
back.  Other than that, the are often ignored by the
contractor working level, so their impact on the actual
development is not as severe as might be imagined.  This
is why some software developed for the gov't actually=20
works.

What is bad is when managers in industry or other=20
organizations not subject to gov't contracting laws
(Federal, state, or local) pick up these methodologies
and use them in place of more efficient management
mechanisms that are NOT prohibited to them as they are=20
to gov't agencies.  You can quess as well as I all the
reasons why private sector managers might do this.

So the first message here is that the holistic agile
approach will not work on gov't projects. If you tried
it, somebody would likely wind up getting fired, or=20
worse, for breaking the contracting laws.

The second message is to cut formal methodologies a
little slack, at least in the gov't sectors.  If it
really bothers you, write your elected officials a=20
letter and tell them how harmful their contracting
laws are.  (But don't expect anything to happen
because they have heard it all before. Congress fancies
itself guided by higher ideals such as "fairness".)

One more thing about phases.

In addition to providing a convenient point of control
for gov't contracting agencies, they can also serve as
convenient descriptive mechanisms for ANY software
development methodology.  When used in this way, the
business about ending them with formal reviews of
documents is usually dispensed with.  Freedom uses=20
phases for such descriptive purposes.  When methodologies
such as Freedom talk about phases, it should not be=20
taken to imply that a waterfall must be followed, or
formal reviews must be held, or that the phases cannot
overlap in time, i.e., requirements, design and coding
cannot proceed in parallel.  In these methodologies,
phases provide a convenient modularization function
for descriptive purposes.  If someone were to fully=20
automate the methodology at some point, the phases then
might become objects or classes or packages.  Nothing
would necessarily precludes them from executing in=20
parallel (unless maybe it was for a gov't project.)

So the third message is that, for methodologies like
Freedom that use phases for descriptive rather than=20
management control purposes, phases and agile's
holistic approach are _not_ mutually exclusive.

--=20
Rick Lutowski
Principal, JReality
[email protected]
http://www.jreality.com

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For more information about AM, visit the Agile Modeling Home Page at www.ag=
ilemodeling.com
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