This concludes and summarizes our winter-holiday series on the 10 common mistakes of going agile. The ten mistakes that Levent Gurses identified in the Dec 2006 edition of Dr. Dobb’s journal. Here are links to the ten previous articles, and a summary of the mistakes.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: 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.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Choose Key People Poorly
Agile projects succeed or fail largely on the strength of the team. Don’t pick people based on experience or cost. The former is backward-looking and the latter is unrelated (or inversely related) to potential. Make staffing decisions based upon the likelihood of the team succeeding.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Trash Computer-Based Tools
In short, this mistake is the mistake of not documenting. Computers make documentation tasks easier. Don’t discard them as “overhead.â€
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Overdo the Team Room
If everyone is forced to sit in the same room too early, then some people will be underutilized. At the start of a project, not everyone can start working – there is some up-front planning that has to happen before getting started.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Don’t Create a Project Plan
After doing the ‘prep work’ for the project, you are ready to begin. When “the boss†asks for a project plan, tell him to wait 6 weeks.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Fail To Define Roles
We have to define the roles and responsibilities of each person within the team. This helps both with execution and communication (to people outside the team).
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Fail to Identify The Sponsor
If we don’t identify the champion of the endeavor to convert to agile processes, we can’t keep them informed of progress. Their expectations need to continually adapt to progress just like every element of agile.
Going Agile, 10 Mistakes: Ignore the Corporate Culture
Many companies operate with each department acting as a silo. Agile techniques rely upon cross-functional contributions. When there are barriers (“not my jobâ€, “not your jobâ€) within an organization, they have to be addressed before agile will work.