Few days back I wrote on Agile Development, but there are some myths associated with it,
Myth one: Agile means you never have to write documentation. Both sides were briefly covered by the panel. The audience was asked and 79% said it is false. However, it is documentation at can be done at the right time when the system is ready. There is less editing and revisions.
Myth Two: Agile is more disciplined than other methods. Again, both sides were briefly covered. The audience was asked. 43% said false and 41% said true. The panel believes that Agile is more disciplined but it is bottom up discipline rather than imposed discipline. There is more feedback and engagement. This is a common, and counter intuitive, aspect of enterprise 2.0. With transparency you get accountability and more discipline. It results in greater productivity. I have seen many examples of the switch to more transparent project management leading to significant increases in productivity.
Myth Three: Agile means I can change my mind whenever I want to. Both sides were briefly argued. The audience was asked and 79% said it is false. There needs to be some stability. Within the sprints in Agile development, change needs to be on hold. Then there can be times for change.
Myth Four: Agile works on all sizes of projects. Both sides were debated. The audience was asked and 59% said true. You need to recognize that there are greater needs for large projects for them to succeed. The key differential is that you can keep Agile teams small and link together these teams to handle size. One large project had 27 teams successfully linked together.
Myth Five: Agile means teams cannot be controlled by management. Both sides were debated. The audience was asked and 72% said false. Agile is about control through planning, monitoring, and adapting. Management is about getting more done by removing obstacles. There is a different style of management.
Myth Six: Agile requires detailed architecture and design. Both sides were briefly debated. The audience was asked and 55% said true. There is less architecture and design. You need architecture but it is not the driver. Architecture needs to come out from working through the problems and should not be a guiding factor. Let architecture emerge and be open to change.
Myth Seven: Agile is just the latest hype. Both sides were debated. The audience was asked and 62% said false. It has been around for a while. There are demonstrated successes. Most employees like it and there are productivity improvements.
Myth Eight: Agile works on complex projects. After the opening debate, the audience was asked and 71% said true. However, complex projects do require more management, even with Agile.
Myth Nine: Agile teams do not work hard, they just play football. The debate got more humorous here The audience was asked and 75% said false. There is balance of work and fun required. Focus is key. However, they did say that Agile developers are more likely to have fun outside work and sleep better at night as there less worries about errors.
Myth Ten: Agile is only used for mission critical projects. After the opening debate, the audience was asked and 95% said false. It works for all types of projects.