I have previously considered Scrum applicability by project characteristics, identifying key project attributes that enable successful use of Scrum and others that recommend against it. Are there other conditions where Scrum might not be the methodology of choice?
Over the years I have seen a number of writers and speakers claim that military units are an example of or perhaps a model for Agile teams. To evaluate these assertions, let us consider the problems faced by military units, specifically those in combat, that might lead them to adopt some Agile-like behavior: Highly dynamic environment Need for independent decision-making based on timely situation assessment Need for role flexibility as conditions require Focus on obtaining Read more…
I have in a previous post, considered a possible origin of the idea of self-organizing team in Agile methodologies, concluding that I had not found the philosophical source for the practice. Continuing research has taken me back through a number of sources as illustrated below, with the lighter boxes being sources I have not yet studied in detail. The earliest resource I’ve considered to date is Morgan’s Images of Organization. The book is a study Read more…
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive,nor the most intelligent,but the one most responsive to change.”– Charles Darwin “If you want to make enemies,try to change something.”– Woodrow Wilson In the current business environment, the term “change management” has come to have a spectrum of meanings. One end of the spectrum, as illustrated by the books Leading Change by John P. Kotter and Making Sense of Change Management by Cameron & Green, Read more…
I have discussed the topic of metaphors for software development before (in transportation, rugby, and house construction) but there seems to be no end of authors using the outside world to help communicate points about software development. Today I turn to a metaphor in Becoming Agile in an imperfect world by Greg Smith and Ahmed Sidky. Early in the book they say, “Like a Sunday paper delivered on Monday, all the quality work and effort Read more…
I have in previous posts (here and here), critiqued commonly used metaphors intended to illustrate Agile philosophy and benefits. Given those critiques, a question left unanswered is, what is a good metaphor for software construction projects? I think of house planning and construction as a suitable metaphor for enterprise system planning and construction. As motivation to think and act differently, I consider the Winchester Mystery House as a cautionary tale of the house that undisciplined Read more…
I’ve often wondered where the idea of self-organizing teams originated and why the approach is considered essential to Agile methodology (see also post on Nonaka & Takeuchi). The idea is stated as the 11th Principle supporting the Agile Manifesto: “The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.” The principle is enigmatic in that it doesn’t define the term nor provide any clues as to what drew the authors of the Manifesto to believe Read more…
Fans of the Prairie Home Companion radio show will recognize the closing statement from the show that the community of Lake Wobegon is “…where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.” The last part, while appealing to its fictional residents, demonstrates both a biased self-interest and a statistical impossibility. In a number of ways, Agile practitioners set a similar expectation for Agile teams, which Read more…
Perhaps the most cited reference defining and supporting Agile thinking is the 1986 Harvard Business Review article by Takeuchi and Nonaka, “The New New Product Development Game” (the first “new” is for the new process, the second “new” is for new products created by the process). It is this article that is credited with tying the word “scrum” to product development methodology and describing for the first time several principles which have become associated with Read more…
Business generally seems drawn to simple models and metaphors for understanding and communicating complex principles and organizational behavior. This leads us to everything from Porter’s 5-Forces Analysis and Myers-Briggs personality dichotomies to Who moved my cheese? and “peeling the onion.” Certainly, software development is not immune to this behavior and so we would expect Agile thinking would have its share of models and metaphors (see also A Misleading Agile Metaphor). Foremost among the Agile metaphors Read more…