AGILE & ITERATIVE

Once in a while, I witness discussions held with little ratio and rather dogmatically. These discussions are between “agile persons“ and “conservatively minded persons“, such as advocators of the V-model. And then I realize that “agile” is often mistaken for “iteratively”.

Working iteratively means that you learn as you go and then actually make use of what you learned. In order to do this, you want to make your milestones less powerful, thus shortening the project cycles. The same can also be done using the V model, as well as if you use the methods that got their names from the waterfall.  All you have to do is plan several small and interlinked steps as “v”s, instead of one single, gigantic “V”. That is all it takes for you to become “iterative” – and many things will improve …

However, agile means a lot more – and definitely more than the simple term as such suggests:

• All parties involved in a project cooperate voluntarily.
• The project makes sense, all persons working on it identify with it.
• The degree of identification with the project (and its goal!) is extremely high.
• The project is more than just a means to an end, such as making money.
• Individual secondary goals get no priority over the project success.
• All parties concerned use their brains and think beyond their (individual) immediate goals.
• The distribution of tasks, as well as the time table, is worked out in the team after considerable pondering.
• Tasks are taken on voluntarily.
• All parties concerned are prepared to share their knowledge and to mutually take responsibility.
• There is a readiness to learn from each other and hand on individual knowledge at all times and symmetrically.
• The climate in the project is worthy of the term “comradely”. Cooperation is always at eye-level, respect and regard for each other are the normal state of affairs.
• The state of the project in its various dimensions is always absolutely transparent.
• There is always great clarity about the current state of affairs/situation in the project, as well as its goals and relevance.
• The work on the project always happens in a “fear-free zone”, thus promoting courage and joy.
• Every individual person working on the project has a healthy “pride in a job well done”, seeing himself or herself more as a “craftsman” than a genius or hero.

I can think of quite a few more things to add to the list.…

So how about we approach and realize our “projects” both in an agile and iterative way? And then we might manage surprisingly much in small teams and achieve extraordinary feats in huge teams (sometimes made up from small teams)!

“Agile” is lived by humans. Agile is possible for projects of all complexities and dimensions. Methods such as SCRUM or KANBAN, even  the ”good old“ V model are some help. Basically, however, they are not what determines whether or not a project is a success. Instead, the determining factors making a project a joy or a pain are the entrepreneurial culture and the understanding of leadership and management.

And wherever there is an imbalance in this area,”agile“ is not an option. Where that happens, you should terminate all projects and first and foremost re-structure the entire outfit.

RMD

P.S.
😉 If you take the word “interactively” and remove the “n” and the “c”, what you get is “iteratively”. I wonder if this hints at the fact that, basically, what matters is “interacting” and “communicating”.