Incompatible

Ever wondered why so many “Agile Adoptions” end up in the crapper?

Here’s the thing: Agile development, as described in the Agile Manifesto, and as aspired to by the gullible, is fundamentally and irredeemably incompatible with traditional management approaches (commonly known as command and control, Taylorism, Scientific Management, or some such).

This is neither a matter of opinion nor of experience (although I have many such experiences to relate), but of logic. I’ll not make the logical connections here, although I’m happy to do so if anyone is interested. I predict no one will be so interested.

This fundamental incompatibility is the reason we see so many failed Agile adoptions. Management is almost never going to swap out its existing mental models of how an organisation must be run, and so almost never will we see effective software development. (And almost no one seems in the slightest bit bothered).

BTW This incompatibility accounts for the approximately 80% failure rate of Agile adoptions we now know of.

The Gullible

The real kicker, though, is how Agile, as a local optimisation of the first order, will never deliver the benefits its proponents claim. Even those instances that have some impact on the traditional management worldview will only ever serve to enhance, and only marginally, the effectiveness of the development silo. And have little to no effect on the wider organisation. So much effort and risk of failure for so little gain.

The Alternative

I’m often asked “What’s the alternative, then, Bob?”. In a kind of despairing tone, as if it’s impossible to imagine a viable alternative at all.

I suggest at least one alternative is to look at the organisation as a (whole) system. And apply the precepts of flow to bring that system towards the Quintessential. If you need help with that, I’d be delighted to assist.

– Bob