Not to take all the good points away from this article, but I found these two statements contradictory:
1. If you do have a fixed time, then scope is variable
2. If you have to give a fixed date for delivery - it's very, very difficult to be agile.
I've found that #2 is possible as long as you allow for #1. When you have a deadline, you actually become more agile - decisions on what should and shouldn't be done are quicker and the cut off line between "must have"s and "nice to have"s is more obvious - simply because decisions have to be made. Think of moving out of an apartment: are you surprised how productive you get in those last few days?
I have also see misuse of #2: teams take #2 as carte blanche to hold the business at ransom to the "it'll be done when its done" mantra.
It almost seems like there's three kinds of agile nowadays:
1. Big A - the agile that the manifesto became for whatever reasons
2. Small a - the agile that the purists conjure up in reaction to Big A
3. Reality - where when it happens, you can look at each other and say "We were really agile right there - and shipped something right!"
1. If you do have a fixed time, then scope is variable
2. If you have to give a fixed date for delivery - it's very, very difficult to be agile.
I've found that #2 is possible as long as you allow for #1. When you have a deadline, you actually become more agile - decisions on what should and shouldn't be done are quicker and the cut off line between "must have"s and "nice to have"s is more obvious - simply because decisions have to be made. Think of moving out of an apartment: are you surprised how productive you get in those last few days?
I have also see misuse of #2: teams take #2 as carte blanche to hold the business at ransom to the "it'll be done when its done" mantra.
It almost seems like there's three kinds of agile nowadays:
1. Big A - the agile that the manifesto became for whatever reasons
2. Small a - the agile that the purists conjure up in reaction to Big A
3. Reality - where when it happens, you can look at each other and say "We were really agile right there - and shipped something right!"