What Are Agile Software Development Ecosystems?


I began writing a book about Agile Software Development methodologies, but I kept worrying about the word "methodology" because it didn't fit with the focal points of Agile development people, relationships, and uncertainty. Furthermore, when the word "methodology" is used, Agile practices are instantly compared with traditional software development methodologies thereby using the wrong measuring stick for comparison. So I began to use the term "Agile Software Development Ecosystem" to describe a holistic environment that includes three interwoven components a "chaordic" perspective, collaborative values and principles, and a barely sufficient methodology and the term "Agilists" to identify those who are proponents of ASDEs.

Some people think that "Agile" means fewer processes, less ceremony, and briefer documents, but it has a much broader perspective, which is the primary reason for using the word "ecosystem" rather than "methodology." Although fewer processes and less formality might lower development costs, they are not enough to produce agility. Focusing on people and their interactions and giving individuals the power to make quick decisions and to self-adapt their own processes are key to Agile ecosystems.

The word "ecosystem" conjures up a vision of living things and their interactions with each other. Within an organizational context, an ecosystem can then be thought of as a dynamic, ever-changing environment in which people and organizations constantly initiate actions and respond to each other's actions. The word "ecosystem" focuses us on the dynamic interactions of individuals and teams rather than on the static lines on organization charts.



Extreme Programming Perspectives
Extreme Programming Perspectives
ISBN: 0201770059
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 445

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