Comments on: Delivering Business Value http://pliantalliance.org/2006/10/31/delivering-business-value/ Think. Evaluate. Change. Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:04:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: tbeck http://pliantalliance.org/2006/10/31/delivering-business-value/comment-page-1/#comment-270 tbeck Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:58:05 +0000 http://pliantalliance.org/?p=62#comment-270 From Brooks: <blockquote> .... we hear desperate cries for a silver bullet--something to make software costs drop as rapidly as computer hardware costs do. </blockquote> Agile is not it. No process in and of itself is it. _People_ lower software costs (or increase software revenue, whichever way you want to look at it). Processes can't guarantee anything, let alone getting software costs dropping as rapidly as hardware costs. I'm not arguing that _some_ organizations who adopt Agile can't lower costs. I'm just saying not _all_ organizations who adopt Agile are guaranteed to slay the software cost werewolf. From Brooks:

…. we hear desperate cries for a silver bullet–something to make software costs drop as rapidly as computer hardware costs do.

Agile is not it. No process in and of itself is it. _People_ lower software costs (or increase software revenue, whichever way you want to look at it). Processes can’t guarantee anything, let alone getting software costs dropping as rapidly as hardware costs. I’m not arguing that _some_ organizations who adopt Agile can’t lower costs. I’m just saying not _all_ organizations who adopt Agile are guaranteed to slay the software cost werewolf.

]]> By: Keith Ray http://pliantalliance.org/2006/10/31/delivering-business-value/comment-page-1/#comment-269 Keith Ray Wed, 01 Nov 2006 16:35:18 +0000 http://pliantalliance.org/?p=62#comment-269 I notice your blog uses the phrase "Silver Bullet" a lot (not in particular entry, though), and I thought you might find interesting what Fred Brooks actually wrote in his landmark article "No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering". http://homepage.mac.com/keithray/blog/2006/10/23#NoSilverBullet I think "Lean+Agile" is a good combination, since Lean works on the whole system from product idea to the sale of a product to the customer. (But maybe not enough on marketing and sales?) Various Agile methods don't focus on the whole business - and rightly so. They state clearly up-front that they are about developing software, and that business decisions, including marketing and sales, are up to the business experts to deal with. The core of Agile - frequent humane feedback and adaptation with a focus on delivering business value - is useful outside of the software development process, but whether that works depends on what values are held most dear by the business leaders and owners. I notice your blog uses the phrase “Silver Bullet” a lot (not in particular entry, though), and I thought you might find interesting what Fred Brooks actually wrote in his landmark article “No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering”.

http://homepage.mac.com/keithray/blog/2006/10/23#NoSilverBullet

I think “Lean+Agile” is a good combination, since Lean works on the whole system from product idea to the sale of a product to the customer. (But maybe not enough on marketing and sales?)

Various Agile methods don’t focus on the whole business - and rightly so. They state clearly up-front that they are about developing software, and that business decisions, including marketing and sales, are up to the business experts to deal with.

The core of Agile - frequent humane feedback and adaptation with a focus on delivering business value - is useful outside of the software development process, but whether that works depends on what values are held most dear by the business leaders and owners.

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