Agile is a methodology that incorporates old practices used in software development projects (and other businesses). The resulting
methodology has the potential to decrease the time and ultimately the money needed
to complete a project. This methodology also allows for more creativity and
flexibility from the teams that are following this practice because they are
not as harshly bound to a set plan, as other methodologies require. The Agile
methodology allows for flexibility because the customer is part of the project
development process (compared to other practices where the customer is only a
part of the process at the beginning and the end); thus if changes in
requirements arise teams can deal with them while they are small instead of at
the end when the project is “finish” and the changes have become large and difficult.
With all its positive aspects, Agile has a possible Achilles’
heel and it is this possible weakness that makes Agile such a great tool to use
in businesses. Agile works under the assumption that teams do not need “strict”
supervision, which improves creativity and decreases needed resources. For a
discipline team that can supervise itself, Agile is perfect for them. However for
those that are not as disciplined, such as those new to their field, Agile
could lead to struggles to complete projects, met deadlines or even failure.
This post is a very good summary of the Agile methodology. In this limited word count, you focused on the important advantages such as its flexibility (,which the picture tells very well) and boost for creativity, and you compared Agile with the other methodologies on the disadvantages they may have. You also stated when it is a good occasion for a project team to use this Agile methodology and when it is not. Every word counted and nice post overall.
ReplyDeleteHi Jonatan,
ReplyDeleteYour blog post on Agile is very interesting. I agree with you completely on how the customer’s involvement in the project development process allows for a lot more flexibility because the customer can give his or her input after each deliverable phase allowing for changes to happen when it is still a smaller project and thus easier to change.
What attracted me to your blog post on Agile was your remark on the possible weakness of the Agile methodology and here I have a slight difference of opinion. While I do agree that those not as disciplined could lead struggles in the Agile methodology isn’t that true for other management systems as well? Doesn’t the smaller time frame to deliver a working product which forces the team to keep up to date with each other to finish the sprint make the Agile method in a sense more strict?
Great post, keep up the good work!
Of all the Agile posts I have read, I think you clearly define the bottleneck the best. Agile can be a good tool, but as you said it takes a discipline to implement it yourself. Perhaps you could have talked about any experience you have yourself with Agile. You had a good twist focusing on the downside I give, good job of thinking outside of the box unlike a lot of others posters!
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