Your Path through Agile Fluency
August 6, 2012
Agile methods are solidly in the mainstream, but that popularity hasn't been without its problems. Organizational leaders are complaining that they're not getting the benefits from Agile they expected. This article presents a model of Agile fluency that will help you achieve Agile's benefits. Fluency evolves through four distinct stages, each with its own benefits, costs of adoption, and key metrics.
Your Path through Agile Fluency
A Brief Guide to Success with Agile
by Diana Larsen and James Shore
For over twelve years, we’ve been leading and helping teams transition to Agile. The industry has changed a lot in that time. When we started in 1999, methods with names like Scrum, Extreme Programming, and Crystal were gaining visibility under the banner “lightweight methods.” Programmers looking for faster, simpler, and more effective ways of working were the primary drivers.
Throughout the next decade, Agile grew. In 2001, prominent members of the “lightweight methods” community met in Utah, coined the term “Agile” and created the Agile Manifesto. In 2005, the XP/Agile Universe and Agile Development conferences merged to form the Agile Alliance’s “Big” Agile conference.
The community grew, too. From a programmer-centric, Extreme Programming focus in the early days, to a more inclusive approach in the mid-2000s, to a project management and Scrum focus in more recent years. What was once a grassroots effort among early adopters is now solidly in the mainstream.
Growth hasn’t been without its problems. Programmers, once the drivers of Agile adoption, are increasingly turning away from what they see as a bloated, ineffective project management methodology. Agile luminaries are posting articles such as Martin Fowler’s “Flaccid Scrum” (2009). Organizational leaders are complaining that they’re not getting the benefits from Agile that they expected.
We’ve been helping teams transition to Agile since the beginning. We’ve learned a lot over the years about what it takes to achieve the benefits promised by Agile. In this paper, we share what we’ve learned.