Agile Development Blog

I have been told repeatedly that my brain thinks in pictures, and as a result I have to work hard to communicate my logic effectively in words. Recently in my argument against an Agile Process Maturity Model, I made a comment that Agile is an instance of Lean.

One of the replies on the Agile Alliance Group of Linked-In countered that my statement isn’t accurate – and in fact a team being both “Agile and Lean” is an oxymoron. So, I looked in the mirror and said this must not be clear. I need to communicate better in both words and pictures.

“The term Oxymoron originates from the Greek oxy (”sharp” or “pointed”) and moros (”dull”). Thus the word oxymoron is itself an oxymoron.”  Wikipedia’s Etymology for Oxymoron

Instead of trying to figure out which is sharp and which is dull, I thought I would present my mental model on the evolving Agile software development ecosystem.

Agile as an umbrella term

First and foremost, Agile as an umbrella term was hatched in 2001 to represent a “way” of developing software that is focused on rapid value delivery, collaboration with a customer, face-to-face communication and measuring progress in working code.  It casts a wide net of iterative and incremental process frameworks including RAD, Spiral, Extreme Programming (XP), Scrum, DSDM, Feature-Driven Development (FDD), Lean Software Development, OpenUP and Kanban. These methods stand in contrast to highly structured methods that tend to measure success based on meeting plans and following the process.

My rendition of the geneology of Software Development Approaches

Agile has evolved both bottom-up and top-down based on the evolution in technology infrastructure, tools and guiding ideas of our industry. It is symbolized by increased productivity, speed to market, response to change and craftsmanship.

I believe it is not a fad, but a natural by-product of the increasing scientific as well as craftsmanship approach brought to this critical industry.

Lean merges with capital-A Agile

I see the pictured genealogy tree merging Lean software development methods together with capital-A Agile methods. This is because the physics behind Lean design and production are the same physics that make Agile deliver impacts like we see in the Agile Impact Report from QSMA – 50% faster time-to-market and 25% increased productivity.

Though the principles of the Agile Manifesto do not sound like the principles of Lean, the patterns are the same. (For a great overview of Lean software do not miss Corey Ladas’ guest post on Shaping Software.)

• Small batch sizes, short cycles that create rhythm
• Reduction in queues through pull
• Reduction in work in process inventory
• Design quality in
• Stop-the-line defect control
• Value streams the link to the customer
• Integrated learning through reflection
• Last responsible moment decision making

These patterns are the same for an effective Lean effort or an effective Agile effort. This thinking has me advocating that Agile is an instance of Lean, not just a ground-up new tree that was born solely from the roots of OO, Spiral and RAD.  I am having a hard time seeing the black and white separation between agile and lean. This is all grey, maybe I should say blue and red based on the diagram, to me. 

What do you believe – is Agile is an instance of Lean, or together are they are an oxymoron?

This last week I was with a number of our extra-large customers and prospects.  A common theme with these large and very successful high technology companies was the statement “growth hides all issues.” 

When we are growing rapidly, we all tend to focus on investment and hiring just to keep up and not limit the growth.

I remember this same feeling at BEA Systems in 2001 as the tech bubble popped. In our Boulder office, we found ourselves staring at 10 times more people than we started with in 1999.  Even though we took Extreme Programming (XP) teams into that growth, we ended up with a 100+ person and multi-location, waterfall process.  Our team reacted by putting back in XP engineering practices and large-scale, nightly, integrated builds to increase visibility and feedback.

Picture from Pegasus Communication - Leaders in Organizational Learning and System Thinking

A Two-Pronged Approach to Agile Adoption in a Recession

What is critically different about Agile adoption in this recession is the need for a two-pronged approach. In December, I wrote for Tech Target on two-pronged approaches to cutting budget while implementing Agile development. This is a systems thinking approach that is effective at breaking myopic thinking.

I was thrilled to see this approach used in the President’s stimulus package – short-term tax cuts to stimulate and provide relief coupled with future-looking government investments in more sustainable and equitable infrastructure. Without this type of approach, myopic thinking tends to increase the chances of “Fixes that Fail.”

It was a really good week last week.  As a result of this positive feedback, our team is going to devote a substantial amount of blog space during early 2009 to covering the strategy, approach, myths, and success stories around the use of Agile development to cut costs and simultaneously prepare for future growth.

Please stay tuned, link back your stories, comment, subscribe and consider your actions.

Further Reading:

• Agile Cuts Costs Through Productivity Improvements
• Where to Turn in a Down Economy?
• Sustainable and Successful – Top 10 Characteristics of an Agile Organization