Levent Gurses has an article, 10 Mistakes in Transitioning to Agile, in the Dec 2006 Dr. Dobbs Journal. He writes about the most common mistakes that companies make when transitioning from “legacy development methodologies†to agile ones. In this series of short articles for the winter holidays, we’re looking at each of the ten mistakes he identified. Enjoy the light reading, and don’t think too much about work.
Mistake 10: Make Agile the New Religion
Don’t over-hype the approach. Don’t be one-dimensional in your message. You will lose credibility. And if you over-promise, you risk making agile the scapegoat.
Our Addition
Organic growth is the most effective. Move from a pilot to a single product line, or division using agile. Change the company the same way you would eat an elephant – one bite at a time. Messaging should therefore be fact-based, and limited. “We’re trying this out now.†“We’ll see how it scales.†“This is working, and we have ideas about how to improve that.â€
