"I have a mind like a steel... uh... thingy." Patrick Logan's weblog.

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Wednesday, September 05, 2007

My Agile Failed - pause - NOT

OK, here's the deal: "agile" *cannot* fail!

Preposterous?

Here's why "agile" cannot fail: it is a set of tools that can be adapted to your needs. You may do better or worse with them. In that sense you may fail to benefit from them, or you may simply prefer not to use them. Or you may benefit from them. In either case it is you suffering or benefiting, not "agile".

If you think "agile" can fail, there is a different problem to talk about.

But "agile" cannot fail in the same way "hammer" cannot fail. (Thanks, Ed, for the analogy.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Flight control systems and medical software aren't programmed with "agile" methodologies, and they don't necessarily fail either.

So "agile" succeeds on projects where "agile" succeeds, especially when it's changed and redefined as whatever you succeed with. Mmkay.

Well, at least it's better than the breathless all-or-nothing demands of XP (I have the original XP book -- it makes good comedy now)

Patrick Logan said...

I don't know about flight control, but there is a ton of medical software 'programmed with "agile" methodologies'.

No reason flight control could not be 'programmed with "agile" methodologies'.

What would lead you to think otherwise?

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About Me

Portland, Oregon, United States
I'm usually writing from my favorite location on the planet, the pacific northwest of the u.s. I write for myself only and unless otherwise specified my posts here should not be taken as representing an official position of my employer. Contact me at my gee mail account, username patrickdlogan.