Lightbulb experience

I had a lightbulb experience a few years ago  when I took a careful look at the agile values and tried to compare them to the traditional business values.  There really was no traditional set of values, so I had to construct my own version. 

I came up with: 

1) We develop processes and tools to standardize our interaction and maximize individuals’ productivity.

 2) All of our software has comprehensive documentation so that anyone can understand it quickly and easily.

 3) In order lock down a plan and cost for project, we enter contract negotiation with our customers.

 4) We follow a plan in order to minimize and control change.

 All of these are the exact opposite of the agile manifesto.  I now understood that the traditional techniques of developing software were based on control and came from a domain like construction, where the exact layout of the product under construction could be fully understood before beginning.  Software changes too quickly and it usually is a matter of “I’ll know it when I see it” for the end user.  

I began to see that a lot of what we do these days is a waste:  determining full requirements at the very beginning when they will change after a short time, estimating everything to the lowest level of detail at the beginning when the least amount was known about the project, putting together one-size-fits-all methods and then tailoring them down to the project at hand.  It’s all too much to just develop software.

I now use agile for software, running businesses, writing, creating all sorts of non-software related products.  It’s great.