Agile is Broken

Well, in the current software development market it is. Let me explain.

People are changing jobs more now than ever before in the development world, making relationships more transient. With remote work, the relationships are becoming shallower. This is bad for Agile, because the Agile framework fails when developers are frequently being swapped out. Consider these principles stated in the Agile Manifesto:

“Individuals and interactions over processes and tools”

When there is little focus on processes and tools, roll-ons take a long time. Not helpful in a market of job hopping. Getting a developer up to speed is very easy when you can tell him exactly what your processes and tools are. And since everyone on the team uses the same tools, they are all able to help.

“Working software over comprehensive documentation”

Have you had a key developer leave your organization and leave little documentation about the great software they wrote? How’s it going for that new developer? How will it go for the developer who replaces this one next year?

“Customer collaboration over contract negotiation”

Customers love it when work gets done. Do you know what they don’t love? Constantly meeting the new developer they’ll be working with.

“Responding to change over following a plan”

Responding to change PRODUCTIVELY often requires the person who is responding to have a good understanding of where you have been. This works great when a developer has been on a project for years and understands its background. But when there is employee turnover, it’s very valuable to have a documented plan to show them where you’ve been, where you are, and where you’re going.

The more consistency you have within your team and the processes they follow, the faster they can change the product they are building.

A key feature of Agile is the ability for the team to give somewhat accurate estimates of when features can be delivered. This depends on a good velocity measurement, which depends on consistency within the team.

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