The Trouble With Agile

This book is not a detailed plan of how to introduce Agile but more of an executive summary of what can go wrong and aspects you need to consider when trying to make the agile methodology work in the real world. I was the founder and CEO of a successful British software company, which converted to the Agile methodology with an existing development and test team - and an existing code base. The transition was extremely painful and resulted in a significant productivity hit. The constant velocity promised emerged as a sedate stroll rather than the sprint we had anticipated. I ended up stepping in personally to work out what had gone wrong and how to put it right. I interviewed technical management, all developers and all testers to understand the issues and asked them how they thought we could regain the lost productivity. This book covers my learnings from that experience and what can go wrong if you follow a purist approach. Agile has advantages and disadvantages. It is certainly not a panacea which will solve all your problems. Please note: Much of the material in this book is contained in my more comprehensive book: Software Company – Advice on how to start, grow and exit a software company. A couple of people complimented me on the Agile section in Software Company (telling me it matched their experience) so I thought I would make it available as a separate targeted book.