Think For Yourself
Ravi is at it again and he really hits the nail on the head. In this post he discusses Steve Yegge’s now infamous Good Agile, Bad Agile post, the wrath that post has incurred from the Agile community and his thoughts on the whole mess and Agile in general.
He sums it up like this:
Ok folks, listen up. Agile/XP is no panacea. It is just what worked for Kent Beck in certain contexts. The fact that there are a whole bunch of “agile consultants” both individuals and companies, out to part you from your money in exchange for the arcana of “True Agile” does not absolve you for thinking for yourselves.
That last part is really the key to all this. We must think for ourselves, because no one else will. The only people who are going to be able to determine what is best for your organization and how your organization should develop software with the people, culture and environment you have is the people who are in your organization. If you don’t have the expertise, then hire it. You can still ask for advice from consultants or books or whatever but it is your responsibility to distill and evaluate what they say and how that impacts on your context. Remember, everyone has their own agendas and your organization’s well being is not everyone else’s top priority. No one is going to do your work for you. Think. Evaluate. Change.