Intro
Ah, the world of Agile! So many teams dive in, eager for those daily Scrum meetings and the allure of burn-down charts. But wait a minute, isn’t there more to Agile than just these surface-level ceremonies? The 12 guiding principles of Agile aren’t just a checklist to breeze through. Meetings might be the talk of the town, but let’s not forget the cornerstone: technical architecture and design. Especially in the iterative and incremental development model of Agile, a shaky foundation will cause tremors. Keep tweaking the same software piece without a solid base? That’s a recipe for chaos. Every iteration and test will be a painful reminder. Let’s unpack the real meat of Agile and see what it truly takes to be Agile and not just act it.
The Comic
Context
An IT services company is in the spotlight. The team is trying to report their teams’ conformance to Agile/Scrum.
Meet the Characters
(read more about the characters here)
Wigss – The Bald but Wig-Wearing Don (Boss) of the Company!
Diggz – The witty sidekick of the Boss!
Waggz – The epitome of the “Yes Boss” mantra!
The Cartoon
<< From “Cirque du Biz”, A sridvana’s Comic Strip Conceived in 2015 >> — Excuse me for the PPT visuals! I once dreamt of jazzing it up with a cartoonist’s flair and a dose of humorous dialogues. But here they are, shared in their untouched charm for your blog-reading pleasure!”
Wigss: “Wagzz, CEO wants to know how are we with that Agile thing after a lot of investment on training and coaching last year.”
Waggz: “We are good Boss, we do all those Scrum calls, stand-up meetings.”
Wigss: “How do I communicate?”
Waggz: “Tell them we are following 10 of the 12 Agile principles – so 83.33% conformance to agile.”
Wigss: “That’s my man!”
Wigss: “Anyways, which 2 are you not following?”
Diggz:
“Technical excellence & good design …”
“Deliver working software frequently …”
Contrarian Views
While many tout the wonders of conforming to Agile in project management, there are some contrarian views worth considering:
- One-size-fits-all? Not every project benefits from Agile’s iterative approach. Traditional methods might be better suited for projects with set requirements.
- Scope Creep Risk: Agile’s flexibility might lead to continuous project additions, delaying final delivery.
- Team Burnout Potential: The non-stop cycle of sprints and feedback can exhaust teams.
- Speed vs. Quality: Agile’s quick turnarounds can sometimes compromise quality for speed.
- Interpretation Inconsistencies: Agile’s principles can be interpreted differently, leading to varied applications within an organization.
- Long-term Planning: Focusing on short-term goals might cause neglect of long-term strategies.
- Tool Over-reliance: Buying the latest Agile tools doesn’t automatically ensure proper Agile adoption. It might just add administrative work.
The Agile Manifesto (for reference)
We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:
| Agile Focus | Not Agile Focus While There is a Value to these too |
|---|---|
| Individuals and interactions | over processes and tools |
| Working software | over comprehensive documentation |
| Customer collaboration | over contract negotiation |
| Responding to change | over following a plan |
The 12 Agile Principles
| # | Agile Principle | Principle Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software. | Customer Satisfaction |
| 2 | Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer’s competitive advantage. | Embrace Change |
| 3 | Deliver working software frequently, with a preference for shorter timescales. | Deliver Incrementally |
| 4 | Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. | Collaboration |
| 5 | Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. | Motivated Individuals |
| 6 | The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation. | Face-to-Face Communication |
| 7 | Working software is the primary measure of progress. | Working Software |
| 8 | Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely. | Sustainability |
| 9 | Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility. | Technical Excellence |
| 10 | Simplicity–the art of maximizing the amount of work not done–is essential. | Simplicity |
| 11 | The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. | Self-Organizing Teams |
| 12 | At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly. | Reflect and Adapt |
MidJourney Prompt with inputs from ChatGPT
Illustrate a humorous comic strip-style scene in a quirky IT office environment for “Meetings and Metrics: The Facade of False Agile Conformance”. The characters should be exaggeratedly cartoonish: think of oversized heads, expressive faces, and comical postures. One character could be frantically chasing a runaway pie chart on wheels, another one might be using a magnifying glass to over-scrutinize a tiny metric, while yet another is comically stressed out, sweat pouring, as they attempt to hide a crumbling miniature foundation (symbolizing flawed technical architecture). Background details could include silly office items like sticky notes with funny reminders, computers displaying cheeky error messages, and a water cooler overflowing with paper cups. The tone should be light-hearted, colorful, and dripping with comic strip humor. –ar 16:9
Listening and Patterns 