So often agile/scrum becomes we can do whatever we want and change at any time. That just doesn’t work. That is a formula for getting nothing done, or something done poorly.

Admittedly, sometimes major course corrections are required mid-way through a sprint, but with good communications, and sticking to short sprints those problems can be managed without falling into too much chaos.

Melody

Yes, as you point out, companies, and teams in particular, need to be careful not to mistake a free-for-all for using agile. Agile, and Scrum, give us just enough structure to work effectively without creating a bunch of make-work.

Chaos, on the other hand, robs the team of self-direction (because they never know what they’re going to be doing), doesn’t allow for any sort of predictability, empirical or otherwise (since we have no backlog, and thus no way to measure), and I think has no good way of evaluating all the priorities the team is being asked to satisfy (because we can’t see them all in one place without a backlog).

I’m not being critical of agile here, I’m being critical of chaos-called-agile, because it really gives agile a bad name.

Thanks for your comments!

- Keith

Perhaps your point is that companies should beware not to fall into the agile trap where welcoming change is misunderstood

Jack
blog.agilebuddy.com
twitter.com/agilebuddy
http://www.agilebuddy.com