Being agile without Agile

Aug 22, 2018
2 min read

Agile is all the rage, but when some development teams look into switching to Agile as a development methodology, it seems overwhelming. However, you can be more agile without adopting the full methodology of Agile.

It is true that every company and development team is different. Many companies have been developing software for a relatively long time. Unlike what you may read, there are very few brand-new, cutting-edge development organizations which are in a position to start a development project adopting Agile in its entirety. Also, the most brand-new, cutting-edge development organizations are generally so small the bureaucracy of Agile is too much for them.

Never despair, you can be agile without Agile.

First, we need to get on the same page about the goals of being agile. Primarily, I see these as:

Being able to respond to customer requests and issues as quickly as possible.
Showing your customers a constant stream of small improvements to keep their attention in our very attention-deficient world.
Reduce the size of each development project to the minimum to reduce the effort of DevOps along with the possibility and scope of defects.

Once you set the goals for your agility, you can start to make plans for how to get you there. Here is a starting list of some of the topics you should be reviewing:

Your product management team may need to reduce the scope of the requirements for each release.
You may need to reorganize your source code into smaller deployable parts.
You may need a different version control system which allows your development staff to work on multiple versions at the same time.
You may need to change your DevOps to allow for faster release.
You should have a way to easily rollback if necessary.

Agile has solutions for each of these areas, but they are not the only way. If Agile's mechanism does not work for you, all you need to do is find a mechanism you can put into place in each of your functional areas to implement each of these which achieves the need and fits your company's culture. Of course, if Agile's solutions work for you, then by all means use them.

The ultimate goal is to increase the pace of innovation and provide as close to "instant gratification" for your customers as possible.