The Techdoer Times is going global, Buenos Aires, Argentina to be exact.  I’ll be giving a presentation at the first ever Latin American conference on Agile Software Development Methodologies in late October.

Introduction

It takes a lot of effort to be Agile, yet the whole notion of a conference dedicated to Agile software development first caused me to raise dubious questions over its continued importance.  Did the Agile movement only rebrand common elements that had already existed and should be part of any software development approach or did it pave the way for a new way of thinking about software development?  I’m sure I’m not the first software development practitioner who has tuned out to the nauseating hype and misguided support for Agile methodologies in recent years.  During this time, businesses and individuals used its popularity as a marketing tool to promote their reinvention and ability to keep up with the times.  It was only a matter of time before these organizations confronted the reality that stand up meetings alone couldn’t bring the success sought through Agile’s adoption.

Agile Manifesto

Seven years ago, the thought of teaching the benefits of Agile software development would have evoked real passion from me and perhaps many of you as well.  Back then, the The Agile Manifesto provided a much needed antidote to the fear that the dot-com collapse would also bring with it the return to less-empowering and less-effective software development approaches.

New Era of Software Delivery

The reality is that the Agile movement identified and continues to promote key elements that are extremely effective in this new era of software delivery.  This new era is defined by three key characteristics.  First, software delivery attracts a wider audience composed of creative and business disciplines not just the traditional engineering/management specialists.  Second, software standards and technology have evolved to permit rapid assembly and delivery of “mashups” as we’ve become accustomed to in the Web 2.0 world.  For better or worse, many non-internet related software schedules are held accountable to this standard.  Third, the historic failures of software projects remain fresh in the minds of practitioners.

Agile software development may have rebranded long-standing good software practices, but it also introduced many of its own, and more importantly, clearly communicated them to a wider audience.

This three part series will present the benefits delivered by Agile software development methodologies in recent years and suggest ways it can continue to address software development issues in the near future.   Part 2 will cover the importance of embracing change in the agile development lifecycle and part 3 will address the criticisms of agile development as well as restate the key elements of agile moving forward.