Agile Life

A recent conversation I heard got me thinking about Agile and how easy it is for people to misunderstand what Agile is all about. The word “agile” means to be quick or nimble. However, “Agile” is a set of principles for project management based on the Agile Manifesto.  The conversation that I heard went something like, “well, if you are really doing Agile, then you should be able to reduce or grow your team as necessary to meet whatever labor burn rate you need to.”  That is the kind of thinking that really gives “Agile” a bad name and shows a complete misunderstanding of what “Agile” really is.  A core feature that really makes Agile Project Management methodologies work is having cohesive, self-forming teams that have stable and predictable velocities that can be used to estimate work. An Agile team is retrospective and hyperproductive. The team is retrospective in that continuous improvement is baked into the process.  Hyperproductivity results from the cohesive team forming in a way that every member of the team can contribute to the absolute best of their ability without worrying about typical organizational conventions.  It should be obvious then that changing the team composition would destabilize the team’s velocity and have a negative impact on productivity.  Where does “agility” come into “Agile?” The answer is that agility is found in the ability to re-prioritize any work that is not currently in progress in the current iteration. That basically keeps good enough on the tip of the spear and focuses on what the customer needs. Agility is not found in treating people like commodities.

“Agile Life” can be taken to mean my life is agile  or that I embrace Agile.  Your choice.