I have been involved in several projects now that had used Agile methodology for project management or a derivative of this method. In these projects I have assumed several roles - Developer, Team Lead, Designer, Architect and BA in a few cases.
Something I have realized is Agile method is similar to the notion in public companies - "creating shareholder value". Agile software development has iterations - 2 to 4 weeks long and then we provide improved version of software / product to the client. The client also prioritizes the new features to be developed and / or defects to be fixed. This is similar to what public companies do - a quarter can be considered as an iteration at the end of which the money matters are shared with the shareholders and a new iteration begins. The profits the company makes is the product the shareholders are concerned with. The shareholders directly or indirectly have a say in how the company would improve profits or make new money (similar to client deciding on new features).
This idea of shareholders value creation is dangerous as well. The company tends to focus on short term gains and loose sight on long term plans. A similar thing may happen in Agile projects where lack of proper documentation, design and architecture due to short term goals (short iterations) may plague a system in long run. Of course there are exceptions - there are well run Agile projects and there are well run public companies that make profits.
Just a thought !
Good point. I also feel Agile has been a natural response to outsourcing in a fight to provide cheaper more immediate results with less concern for long term quality.
ReplyDeleteTrue. True. Especially hard to get refactor scheduled in an Agile project since the "shareholders" can get more selling points for a new feature.
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