Agile

Hi,

Dave Thomas never tires of mentioning that “agile” is an adjective - and not a noun. It is not capitalized.

The legendary document we have been referencing for nearly a quarter of a century is not called “The Agile Manifesto.”

It is called the “Manifesto for Agile Software Development” . 👈

Agile is not something that can be bought. The manifesto describes how to develop software in an agile (as an adjective!) manner. It does not describe a product.

And yet, over the past 25 years, a product has emerged from it. There are “Agile Coaches,” “Scrum Masters,” “Agile Certification,” “Agile User Groups,” and much more.

As always, it is important to understand the time in which the manifesto was written. The context is important.

When the initial signatories of the manifesto met in Snowbird (Utah), the frustration was great. Very very many software projects were failing.
The methodology of the time: waterfall.

First, planning for months. Many documents and diagrams are created - but not a single line of code. Then, implementation begins - again for several months. And after a year (or so), integration and testing start. Of course, this did not work.

That was the frustration out of which the manifesto was written.

The authors of the manifesto were already working “agile.” They had already experienced it.

Kent Beck introduced Extreme Programming two years earlier. The ideas existed.

It was an attempt to simplify things, reduce overhead, and focus on collaboration instead of processes.

This simple idea has been lost in many teams.

We have processes. Very many.

Something goes wrong? Then let’s introduce a process for that.

Management wants us to quickly deliver a feature to seize an opportunity? Impossible - we have our processes.

Don’t take things so strictly. Focus on the actual work that needs to be done. Focus on collaborating with your colleagues. And focus less on the process. The process is just an anchor. It is not set in stone.

Every team consists of different people. And they work together differently. That’s okay. That’s efficient.

That is agile.

Rule the Backend,

~ Marcus