Revisiting Agile: A Call for Agility in Software Development Practices

In his thought-provoking blog post, “Agile is Dead (Long Live Agility),” Dave Thomas, one of the original signatories of the Agile Manifesto, reflects on the journey of Agile methodology and its current state. He begins by reminiscing about the creation of the Agile Manifesto thirteen years prior, a document that emerged from a gathering of seventeen software development practitioners in Snowbird, Utah. The manifesto, with its core values and practices, was a significant step in liberating developers from the rigid and often counterproductive practices of the 1980s and 1990s.

However, Thomas expresses his disengagement from the Agile movement post-Manifesto, citing his absence from Agile events, the Agile Alliance, and Agile consultancy. He explains this by highlighting his perception that these activities did not align with the spirit of the original manifesto. He criticizes the commercialization and dilution of the term “Agile,” which, in his view, has been co-opted by consultants and vendors for marketing purposes, losing its essence and becoming a mere buzzword.

Thomas argues for retiring the word “Agile” due to its misuse and proposes a shift in focus back to the basics of practical software development. He outlines a simple yet profound approach: understand your current position, take small steps towards your goal, learn from these steps, and repeat the process. This approach, he asserts, encompasses all one needs to know about practical software development.

In conclusion, Thomas advocates for replacing the term “Agile” with “agility” to describe the practice of software development. He emphasizes that agility is more challenging to misappropriate and should be protected from commercial exploitation. The essence of his message is that the actual value lies in the practice and experience of software development, not in the labels we attach to it.

For a more detailed exploration of Dave Thomas’s insights on Agile and the proposed shift towards agility, you can read the original post on his blog: Agile is Dead (Long Live Agility).