I came across an article titled “‘It’s time to question agile’s cult following’: Doubts cast on method’s future, with 65% of projects more likely to fail” that discusses the effectiveness of agile. Agile is a popular software development methodology, but this article suggests that it may be time to try other methods. It talks about how projects using agile are more often unsuccessful. For example, it states that research shows “agile software projects are 268% more likely to go wrong than those employing other methods.” It also cites other research that suggests projects using agile fail more often, decrease productivity, and adds unneeded stress to those working on the project. On top of that, the article suggests agile is inefficient. According to more cited research, major companies are starting to get rid of the use of agile in their software development.
This article is incredibly relevant to the subjects discussed in my Software Process Management class this past week. We went over software development methodologies, specifically agile. I wanted to read up on something relevant and educating. When I had come across this article, it caught my eye. when we had discussed agile in class, it had seem like the best option of the methods presented. However, this article suggested that, perhaps, agile isn’t the best method out there. In fact, it suggested that it shouldn’t be used. I was intrigued as to why it would be considered ineffective.
This article opened a door of questions about agile and software development methodologies. However, I did not feel as if they were all answered. I was shocked to see the amount of research and data that suggests agile is ineffective. I only recently learned about agile, and it seemed as though it would create a well-designed product through constant communication and reflection on the project. While reading the article, I became curious what other methods would be better to use than agile, but the article did not answer that question. I believe if you are going to critique something, you should offer a solution as well. One thing I personally liked about the article was all of the research data cited. I am a big numbers guy, so being able to see numbers to communicate the purpose of the content was nice to see. I am curious to learn more about other methodologies. I think this article was a good mind opener for me, and it reminded me that everything has room for improvement.
From the blog CS@Worcester – Auger CS by Joseph Auger and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.