The Oldest Excuse in the Book

The Agile Angel often reads stuff from people about how Agile isn’t working for them, or how its not right for their situation. A common answer to this used to be:

‘You’re probably not doing it right.’

This was usually accompanied by thoughtful, intelligent advice about how to improve the situation. And this was a pretty good thing despite such advice often going unheeded.

Now it seems that things have changed. No longer is this answer acceptable and in fact it is considered by many to be a sign of weakness in the Agile argument. Its the ‘oldest agile excuse in the book’.

She is finding this increasingly irksome.

She wonders if its all about a modern obsession with the quick fix, the instant solution, the two-day-training that solves-it-all. She cannot understand why most software professionals won’t face the fact that to be skilled at anything takes time. Agile is no exception. Even if you are lucky enough to be a genetically-modified programmer with a conjoined, programming twin, learning the Agile skill set is still going to be an undertaking that’s measured in years not months.

For the reasonably gifted she estimates 2-5 years to reach a level of competence that might be bordering on ‘expert’. For the ordinary Twonk 5-10 is a more likely range, although in this case there are no guarantees. When you consider that the vast majority of developers are Twonks (and some even make a living teaching other Twonks) then becoming truly Agile is indeed a significant undertaking for any company and for most individuals. This is not a weakness of Agile. This is the nature of being a true professional or craftswoman.

Don’t be disheartened. You’ve got to learn something, right? At least with Agile you’re learning the right thing.

Practice, practice, practice. There are no quick fixes. There is no process or methodology that will make you successful if you don’t do the hard yards.

She suggests that those who doubt whether Agile works take a long look in the mirror. Just how long have you been developing and how long using Agile techniques? How much baggage are you carrying? How much effort are you actually prepared to put in to become a true professional? Most importantly are you absolutely sure you’re not a Twonk? Remember that a classic sign of Twonkiness is the inability to consider you might be one.

Peace.