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Agile safari
Written by Gilad ManorPosted on May 29, 2009 ongiladmanor.com
A giraffe, which I hold dear, once told me that agileapplication development is all about pace, straight forwardthinking and relevance. I can’t help thinking that ushumans, like to make things all so complicated, even whenwe intend them to be ‘agile’.
We adore rules and regulations, and a static algorithm isfantastic when your target is motionless. The nature of things isnot as static and rigid and not having a timely response mightlose us the patch. “Follow your own heart”, the giraffe would tell me, “it should be asgood as anything else you might find, and you can always change the rules and adaptto the new situations as they present themselves”.I couldn’t help noticing that there was a wide nose rhino, staring at us from the other side of a patch of coffee.Grasslands and software projects usually exist within a particular window of opportunity.The grazing has to be finished before the grass disappears: the problem has to beidentified, addressed and delivered before it becomes irrelevant. “It has to be done andover with before the dry season” the giraffe would say. Managing software projects withagility is all about keeping up with the changing seasons, and the other moving animals.The rhino was eyeing us ferociously. He wasn’t going anywhere.Sitting there, leaned against a baobab tree, I heard the ‘agile of three points’ comingfrom above, straight from the giraffe’s mouth.
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Always deliver functionality
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Develop in short manageable cycles
 
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Make use of the customer These three principles form the conduct and rhythm of agile development: Combinedtogether, they insure the growth of the product in relevance, while maintaining a steadyflow of fresh capabilities under close supervision and immediate acknowledgement of the customer for every step.“Is it clear yet?” asked the giraffe. Here is some more:
Delivering functionality
Delivering functionality has to do with the continuous effort of implanting new businessideas and capabilities into the product by way of every software drop. Functionalitydelivered alongside other non functional changes.The principal has two immediate benefits.From the customer’s point of view, each code drop brings some fresh and new solutionshe needs for his business. After all, new functionality is exactly what he paid for.From the development standpoint, the proper prioritization for new functionality preventsthe product from freezing while the development team works in full capacity in revisingand rewriting already working code.I’m not saying that code maintenance is irrelevant. Software releases should be abalanced concoction of improvements both in business relevance and in code quality.
Short development cycles
Development in ‘short bursts’ is an all too familiar concept to the Agile advocates. This isa principal that has to do with the pace of the development and of the software delivery.Having short and manageable development cycles insures close proximity for eachissue between the time it is developed and the time it is tested. Nothing is lost by time or forgetfulness.Another byproduct is by having pending and immediate deadlines; it is easier to keepthe developers in check and optimal production.Of course I’m letting go of many other aspects, but I think this captures the essence.
Customer involvement
This principal has to do with relevance. Nobody knows the business better then thecustomer. Hence, customer’s involvement in the application development is an asset.
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