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I love that video! It’s an expression of what lot’s of people think Agile is about. To speak freely, there are lot’s of people who have no clue that working with Scrum or Kanban has nothing to do with being Agile. In addition, doing a daily meeting has nothing to do with Scrum!
Agile is a buzzword
First, let’s have a look at the term Agile. Most common, Agile is used as a generic term for Agile practices for Software Development like Scrum, Kanban, TDD or XP to name some of the most popular. Some people also include Lean. In my opinion, this is not correct as I understand Lean as a term which coexists as an equivalent to the term Agile, or vice versa, even if Lean concentrates more on management and production. But I don’t want to mix up Lean and Agile, even if they have some common basics.
What I think is important is to know that Agile is much more than just a collection of practices, values and principles for Software Development – in my opinion!
If you have a look at the Agile Manifesto or the 12 Agile Principles, you will recognize that Agile is primary used in the context of Software Development. It was created in 2001. Today, 11 years later, the term Agile has developed further.
Agile evolution
Even if most people stille use ‘Agile’ in the context of Software Development, for me it has evolved that ‘Agile’ is much more than just practices, values and principles’ for Software Development. In my opinion, Agile is a MindSet, a worldly wisdom, a philosophy and a way of living a passionate, fulfilled and valuable life!
A base of Agile, as well as for Lean, is the core of the inspect&adapt mechanism and the continuous improvement approach. And this is exactly the point why I think that Agile is a way of living and a philosophy. If you start to map and adapt the Agile Manifesto and the Agile Principles to your own live, perhaps by starting to find a Coach who can help you by achieving this approach if you’re not Agile by nature, you will discover that you should follow your passion and use your natural talents for striving for a fulfilled and valuable life!
Stop doing Agile and start being Agile!
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If you like the video from the beginning, you will like this as well! =;-)
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And if you want to do Agile Software Development, and know why, be careful to talk to the right recruiters:
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Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!
A certification is just a confirmation that you know some rules, skills, styles or techniques. But it has absolutely no significance about understanding and living the mindset which is beyond the topic. You’ve learned some basic rules, some techniques, styles or some basic knowledge and perhaps you did some novice practice. It’s like doing the driving license. You know the rules on the street, you know the meaning of traffic signs and that you are not allowed to drive faster than 50kmh in a city. It’s like having a starter kit, not more. The statistics reveal that most accidents on the streets are made by young people between 18 and 25 – in germany. All these people have a driving license but not enough experience and practice when it comes to challenging situations in traffic or they just overrate traffic situations or even themselves. They have a driving license and are allowed to drive a car on public roads. But for participating in the Formula 1 you need more than a driving license. You need lots of practice and years of experience to be a good driver.
So, what’s the value of a certification? As already mentioned, a certification is an official confirmation, a starter kit for having some knowledge about basic assumptions for a special role or practice or a confirmation of certain characteristics of an object or an organization. But it gives absolutely no information about the mindset of a person or an organization if the values, which drives the certain special topic which is certificated has really a high level importance for them. In addition, it depends on what you are doing with the knowledge you’ve gained or confirmed by doing a certification.
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