Agile Doctor

Retrospectives are my favorite of all the scrum activities because they represent the opportunity to reflect on how we are implementing and to adjust our behavior to be more effective. I have said to my teams on many occasions that if I were forced to choose only one scrum ceremony that my choice, without hesitation or reservation, would be the retrospective. Without it, how could we ever expect to improve? What essential difference would an “Agile” project have over the many death march projects that teams have come to accept?

I have often argued that the founders of Agile did not provide reasons why their approaches worked just that they did. Their was empirical evidence, proven by doing the work, or, as they state in the beginning of the manifesto - uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. From their very pragmatic approach, they figured out that better software was created by following the values and principles. One of those discoveries was that better software was created by self-organizing teams.

In 2002, Jim Johnson of the Standish Group (made famous by their Chaos Report of software project “success”) presented findings of features and functions used in a typical system. The number of features that were never or rarely used totaled a whopping 64% while sometimes, often and always weighed in with 16%, 13% and 7% respectively. For those acquainted with the Pareto principle (80/20 rule), notice how the often and always used features - those things we should concentrate on building for our customers and those things things that bring us the most value – is exactly 80%. In other words, a great deal of our effort is generally spent creating things that customers do not use or want.

This principle is much like the one previous about sustainable development. Agile doesn't ask us to shortcut quality and increase technical debt in an effort to deliver software faster. It is precisely because we do not shortcut quality and incur technical debt that we are able to move faster. I have worked with many teams to introduce Behavior Driven Development (BDD) because, among a great number of other advantages, BDD allows developers an easier way to access the practice of Test Driven Development (TDD). And, in my experience, TDD is the only way I have seen out of the practice of “Big Up Front Design”.

Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. When I think on this principle I cannot help but think about the potential "dark side" of agile and how it can be misunderstood and implemented incorrectly.

Metrics. Metrics. Metrics. We love numbers. We measure and put numbers to all kinds of things. We use these numbers to mark our projects as red, yellow and red (of course, the project is always green until there are a few weeks left when someone finally blinks and acknowledges reality and begins to use yellow or, god forbid, red). Unfortunately, in our headlong rush to create metrics we tend to forget the why of what we are doing. Numbers and statuses become an end unto themselves.

The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and with a development team is face to face conversation. Since there are so many misconceptions about miscommunication around agile, I created my business cards to contain the entire Agile Manifesto so that when people confuse scrum framework with agile philosophy or say, "This is agile blah, blah, blah," I can hand them my card and say, "This is agile." Then I let them know that agile is nothing more than a philosophy, a series of values and principles.

If I had to take exception to any value or principle this would have to be the one. While I have the utmost of respect for the original Agile signatories, they made a slight mistake because this principle refers to only projects. I have ranted often enough about the distinction between project and product management (See this post for more), but it is important to understand that Agile works best when we build a product (not a project) mindset. By having a principle that mentions projects might hinder folks from transforming their thinking to product-centric thinking.

I quote this principle verbatim to all the teams I coach constantly because it is the only completely prescriptive principle. While other principles use more vague words like "early", "late" or "shorter", "daily" is not open to negotiation or interpretation. The word "must" is also unequivocal as are the roles described. That prompts the following question - why were the founders of Agile so strident with this principle while allowing for broader interpretation with all other values and principles?

While there are many people who believe that the key reason to adopt agile frameworks and methods is for increased productivity, I tend to find this to be more a healthy byproduct of a team working together over time (and thus could be found in other methodologies). The real benefits of agile lies in greater transparency, predictability and faster time to market. The third agile principle speaks directly to these, especially quicker time to market.

The world changes fast. The software development world changes faster. Locking into a long term plan and remaining steadfast to that plan might bring comfort when the world around us is awash in change, but it doesn't give the flexibility necessary to remain competitive.

As an Agile coach I am in the Agile transformation business. Coaches are rarely employed when an organization “gets” the philosophy and properly implements an Agile framework or methodology. In my experience those that are most challenged are those who seem to concentrate on the ceremonies while failing to focus on the bigger picture concerns – those more interested in “doing” rather than “being.”

The interesting thing about big upfront design is the gall it takes to even begin to believe that all can be known at the beginning of a complex endeavor. This harkens back to some of my earlier posts, including Software Development is Communication, where I argue that those in charge of software development decisions (like team size, composition, physical location, etc.) have no clue about software development. Software development is most often a complex undertaking.

We all have customers. If we didn't there would be no reason to do what we do. If we didn't their would be no one to pay our invoices. And when someone agrees to pay you for work, they generally want to have some kind of agreement on the nature of the work for the money that is being paid. This agreement is usually put in writing and voila, we have a contract. This is an important part of the process and as everyone knows, contracts are valuable documents for both the customer and yourself. But as the Manifesto states, it's important to not get caught up in negotiation fever.

Of the four agile values, this is probably the least understood and most often misinterpreted. It certainly does not say that there should be no documentation as some (the less ambitious developers and teams) propose. It says that there is more value to actual software than comprehensive documentation.

The Agile Manifesto is best seen as a reaction to the environment at the time. Many authors are saying that software development values have gotten out of whack because the majority of companies now value processes and tools more than individuals and interactions. Obviously in order to create better software this needs to be corrected!

I am pleased to announce that my first book, Understanding the Agile Manifesto: A Brief & Bold Guide to Agile is now available as a podcast. Over the next few days / weeks I will be releasing the book, chapter by chapter, on this website and through the iTunes store under my "Agile Doctor" podcast.

Between these presentations and my daily coaching practice, I am reminded yet again at the importance of forming a good scrum team. This, along with proper backlog compilation and maintenance, can make the difference between success and endless frustration. In my experience, proper scrum team formation is the area where companies who are unsuccessful in Agile transformations fail most often.

Companies complaining that they cannot find good people, so much so that they have to go outside to United States through programs like H1B (or worse yet, ship work completely offshore), while there are over 200 people actively looking for work. There are so many good people looking for work that there is a waiting list to enroll in a program that helps them to find work. Hate to veer to political, but if anyone is still mystified by the Trump and Sanders “phenomenon” they should look no further than a ProMatch meeting in Silicon Valley!

Perhaps malpractice litigation will not affect the realm of software development as I anticipate, but that does not mean it is not appropriate. In some cases, people who with authority to make decisions regarding software development show a willful ignorance of the nature of software development. I believe their behavior is not only detrimental to the production of quality software and the satisfaction of customers and employees alike, but certainly borders on the realm of malpractice.