Re: Is Agile truly scaleable?

I have left a comment to what, I consider, an ill-informed article but for
those of you not inclined to read it, I copy my comment below:

 

It does seem that the author has been 'exposed' to very poor Agile
implementations!

 

Firstly, the word 'methodology' is defined as 'the study of methods' (well
on this side of the Atlantic it is!!).

 

If the word is being used as a synonym for 'method', it implies that the
author is looking for a 'recipe book' approach ie take specified amounts of
ingredients, use specified techniques to produce your perfect dish.

 

This is not what Agile is all about.  The Manifesto and Principles are the
only 'defined' aspects of Agile; the named Agile Frameworks (not methods or
methodologies) seek to give advice about various aspects of development.

 

Scrum makes no mention of governance or technical practices - on purpose!
It expects organisations and teams to make their own decisions in these
areas.  I have no idea where the author gets the idea that Scrum has added
all these extra roles; not in the Scrum Guide now and never had been.

 

eXtreme Programming concentrates on the technical practices.

 

DSDM gives the most advice about governance and the responsibilities that
should be covered; the development process framework advice is very similar
to Scrum but was first published 6 years before Scrum.

 

'New kid on the block', SAFe, extends the Agile concepts of team-based Agile
to the Enterprise. it isn't perfect (what is?); I have some reservations
about the vocabulary but it is a great attempt at codifying Agile for scale.

 

The whole point of Agile is to provide a Philosophy (Manifesto) and
Principles to work within and now an 'Agile Toolbox' of techniques (for
governance, and technical) and expects people to use their intelligence to
adapt them to their specific situation.

 

If you expect Agile to be the 'silver bullet' 'recipe book' so that you can
start on page 1 and work through things step by step, then you will fail;
don't blame Agile for your own failure.

 

What the author is proposing is just another Agile Framework to address what
he sees as shortcomings of current Agile Frameworks; a worthy exercise but
it will never be the answer to all situations; it will need to be configured
just as all the other Frameworks need to be configured.

 

My own view is that his effort would be better spent getting rid of the
concept of 'projects' and promote the concept of 'product development' and
the implications of that.

 

Steve Ash

 <http://www.dsdm.org/certification/apl_practitioner.asp> Agile Project
Leadership Practitioner and Examiner

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Owner

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Practitioner (Advanced)

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Provider

 




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