AGILE Will Burn Your ARSE
Just read the following article from an AGILE evangelist blogg – Managing “Leaderful” Groups
This article made me really angry. It makes AGILE look like the Hippy Commune method for software development. “We can all be leaders, we are leaders we all work together for the common good etc etc” (sounds like new labour 
) and “Evil Managers as was rudely stated” have to be re-educated. Sounds like Pol Pot’s year zero. I KID YOU NOT there are Project Management training sites offering AGILE training entitled “how to project manage AGILE projects where you don’t have much to do.” CRAZIEST thing I have ever heard.
I have audited a number of large and small AGILE projects at one of Britain’s largest oil companies. The report conclusion >>>> “DISASTER” !!!! & what makes it worse was the fact that they were set-up and mentored by one of the founding 17 who in my view was thinking Fees / More Fees and let’s empty the clients bank rather than delivering a method /approach which would give their client value for money. AGILE was a disaster and a quagmire or expense. I would love to mention the software house’s name and the toad that was responsible for the rip-off but I have a confidentiality agreement with the client which prevents me form say much more. The project teams in my view were in near anarchy and the oil company execs were wondering what oven they had just put their head into.
Without a leader with vision, sound quality management, documentation, risk/issue managements, change control, detailed project plans you have a project resembling something like a Jelly. The problem is that with normal well run projects it’s normally in the bucket where you can see it. With AGILE it’s on the floor, creeping down the stairs and at this point its direction and location becomes unknown.
This disorganised CHAOS exists daily in the new media world where small projects despite the jelly being EVERY WHERE eventually end up in the bucket and are delivered. The problem is when the project is above 4 people and 6 months in duration. However, the crazy thing is that people are really thinking of running large software engineering projects using scrum huddles.
“CRAZY MAN!!”
Can you imagine a bridge or the space programme being run like this? I have to tell you I would not have any house extension built using AGILE. The thought of getting paints, carpenters, brickies and plasters to get to together to design and build my extension on the basis of a fag packet requirements gathering process is just plain MADNESS. However, we are asking developers to do this. SAD BUT VERY VERY TRUE.
In a future post I will explain why AGILE is a method from heaven for Software Houses and Management Consultants and hell for the poor clients who have bought into this damaging and destructive paradigm.
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READER COMMENTS:
Great post. Interesting that agile appears to work on small projects, but fails so dramatically on larger projects. I guess it’s a simple question of multiple minds and multiple complexities, multiplying themselves to unmanageable levels!
Is there a middle ground methodology between Agile and some of the more orthodox strategic methods? If not - maybe someone should develop it. You could call it Prince Agile maybe! or Agility!
Posted by Peter on Sat 1st July 2006 at 08:41 AM | #