What is agile?

I recently sat in the pub with a couple of colleagues and the subject came up. It soon became apparent that, while we do things in very similar ways we do differ on the use of the word agile. We had views expressed from “stop using that word” to “it’s just good practice” and others I don’t recall.

So, it’s sad talking about this stuff in the pub but it has prompted me to dig a little deeper into my own perspective.

So, what does it mean? In a training course I run I refer to it as an umbrella term for a whole bunch of approaches many of which pre-date the use of the word (think SCRUM, XP, TDD, FDD …). In the same course I offer the definition

“To be able to deliver business value quickly and respond to change”

But still this doesn’t provide us with an ability to recognise “agile” when we see it.

At XP day in November I recall two conversations. The first was with a manager who proudly told me his team were running text book XP very effectively and had been doing for some time. I questioned him on the output of his last retrospective. I recall someone saying about XP; “If you’re still doing it by the book after a month then you’re not doing it”. I believe that while XP, SCRUM etc. are helpful we should be constantly looking for a better way. On the same day I spoke to a developer from much more traditional background who’s team were making small steps to improve the process. So which team was the agile one?

I see constant striving for a better way as a fundamental. Compare this with the Toyota attitude to perfection.

The word “better” is the crux of this. Where better for this team is in line with the agile manifesto they will evaluate practices according to the teams ability to collaborate, their ability to deliver value (i.e. the right balance of software, documentation and other artefacts), their ability to collaborate with the customer obtaining feedback and their ability to respond to change.

So, given this definition, the team is, for me, agile independent of their current state.

So what about all of the practices we see, don’t they contribute? My perspective on an effective agile team is that they should keep sight of how practices evolve and select new practices in line with their current constraint or pain.

Given my definition above, it makes no sense to state that I have an agile team. Rather I have a team that is delivering effectively and is constantly striving for improvements. Agility offers a continuum and the manifesto proposes the direction of travel.