Agility Not Always a Success

"Agility" is the latest buzzword among product and project managers – accordingly, product marketing and product management departments are showing great interest in the topic. However, the hoped-for and targeted goals, such as cost savings and short development cycles, are often not achieved in reality. This is due to a misunderstanding of the concept of agility and – as a result – poor implementation.

The article published by mm1 in the 9-10/2010 issue of the journal "manage it", which is available as a download (in German), sets out the advantages and disadvantages of conventional and agile software development, and also explains how and under which conditions agile methods can be put to profitable use in a company. This information is underpinned by an example of a specific project, as well as a checklist that can be used to assess a company's level of organizational maturity.