Don't blame the Manifesto for Agile Software Development

From time to time I hear people saying that Agile is not "technical practices" and software delivery, that the Agile manifesto have no sense for the whole company...  And I agree and disagree entirely.

A bunch of software developers created the famous manifesto. And the complete name is Manifesto for Agile Software Development. The title is not Agile Manifesto or Manifesto for Business Agility. It was created by developers, to improve how we develop software. And it was an excellent improvement to create software 20 years ago. Right now it is not good enough and should be adapted to the industry evolution (perhaps including DevOps, Continuous Delivery or ideas from Modern Agile).

If you want an adaptable business that optimized for this VUCA world, you need business agility and in a lot of cases these days agile software development. The good news is that all of this concepts are based on the same roots, and principles and need a common culture (respect for people, continuous learning, continuous improvement, etc.).

So don't blame the Manifesto for Agile Software Development or the agile software developers for not solving problems that are outside the original scope and need other skills and practices. Complement this way of doing software development with other great disciplines that have common roots and principles and are very compatible.

When you are trying to do the right thing, learn about lean product development, design sprints, lean startup, customer research, dual track agile, etc. When you need to do the thing right (assuming software based company), learn about Extreme Programming (XP), DevOps, Continuous Delivery, Scrum, etc.

So focus on Continuous Incremental Improvement and Respect for People. Do the right thing and do the thing right.

References and Related posts

Agile is not a recipe for success...

The two pillars of agile software

Remove the excuses for not being a professional

http://www.extremeprogramming.org/

http://modernagile.org/

Continuous Delivery

Interesting talks/podcasts 2018 March (I)

Some recommendations for the Easter Vacations:

• WIP: why limiting work in progress makes sense (Kanban)
• How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day Tristan Harris
• LISA17 - Scalability Is Quantifiable: The Universal Scalability Law
• SE Radio Ep 287 Success skills for architects with Neil Ford
• Serverless Design Patterns Yan Cuim (@theburningmonk)
• The Forgotten Ideas in Computer Science - Code BEAM SF 2018 Joe Armstrong. A good index of other talks and computer science resources.

Next stop: Nextail

Since February 1, I have been working in Nextail, and the same way I have done in the past when I joined TheMotion, I want to comment the reasons that brought me here as well as my new challenges...

Except for a small period, I have always worked developing product/software systems. However, a few years ago, I also wanted to gain the experience of working in Startups and helping the process of growing a product and the team that makes it possible.

In that sense, the opportunity I have now at Nextail is perfect because at this moment we are in the process of accelerating the growth of the company, customers, and teams. That alone makes it a significant challenge to learn together and to make it happen. For that reason, I think I've arrived at the right moment to help and to be involved in this great adventure.

Regarding the scalability of the core of any company; the team, we have a lot of work ahead to improve technical practices, automate and eliminate - as much as possible - manual work which is not very rewarding and prone to errors. In general, improve the quality, pay some technical debt - generated during the validation phase - and prepare the bases for sustainable growth. In other words, create an excellent tech culture using the principles and values of  Agile Software Development and DevOps.

Another exciting challenge is the technical scalability of the product since the data volume, and the functional/algorithmic complexity is high. Fortunately, Nextail has a robust and growing base of customers and a great team.

In the technical team, there are fantastic professionals, with all the necessary skills and talents to tackle any challenge.

Personally, I have a lot of topics to learn and deepen my knowledge at (Big Data, RoR, Machine Learning, statistics, retail, scaling a startup, remote team culture, etc ...) and as all those who know me well know, that learning is one of my core motivations.

I almost forgot... one thing that impulsed me to make the change is that we worked remotely. Although I have had partial remote work experience, in this case, I get to go one step further in this matter. Remote work requires specific skills and work practices, which I am acquiring step by step.
Luckily, the technical team already had an excellent remote work culture, and the communication within the team was working quite well.

So, here we are, many changes, a lot of learning and good challenges on the horizon. Very excited to be part of this team...

Like any other decision I made, this one follows my personal mission and is aligned in mind with How we are working.

The hardest thing was to leave the day to day with a great team, the Honey Badgers... luckily, I do not consider them workmates for now, but friends, so the relationship continues forever. :)

Related content:

• Personal Mission
• How vs what
• Honey badger Team blogposts
• the two pillars of agile software development

Bodyboarding photos

2011-2016 These are some photos of mine practicing Bodyboarding at different spots from the Basque country... 

Recursos Talleres Factory Startup Valencia

Cambios Paralelos

Presentación original: Taller Parallel Changes V0.3 (Factory Startup Valencia 2018)

Fitness Function Kata

Presentación original: Kata Fitness Functions v0.1 (Factory Startup Valencia 2018)

Architecture Kata

Presentación original: Kata Arquitectura v0.1 (Factory Startup Valencia 2018)

Slides Taller Parallel Changes (We Code 2018)

Slides que he usado para el taller sobre cambios paralelos en el WeCode 2018

 

Presentación original: Taller Parallel Changes (WeCode 2018)

Esta ha sido la segunda versión de este taller. Gracias a todos los asistentes por el valiosisimo feedback que me habeis dado y que me va a permitir mejorar el taller.

Muchas gracias a la organización del WeCode por haber contado conmigo y por el gran evento que han montado.


Relacionado:

• Version previa del taller en la Software Crafters Madrid 2018