An Agile backlash
Now that teams have spent some time with agile methods, some are finding it's not the silver bullet they expected. Agile is a set of principles for writing better software but it's not the answer for every team.
In a post, Daniel Markham offers extensive remarks to "Agile ruined my life,"
Making good software is hard, and anyone claiming to have a magical process that guarantees good software is selling snake oil. I can appreciate your wanting to make a buck, but would also seriously appreciate it if you could find some other industry besides software development to go screw up
Source: http://www.whattofix.com/blog/archives/2010/09/agile-ruined-my.php
There's a bunch of anti-agile screed in the mix but to me it seems that agile is imposed on some people--and it's not always the right choice. Yet don't lose sight of the success stories: applying a discipline--agile or otherwise--to the art of development is always a good idea. The real successes seem to be there: from cowboy coding to iterative development.
My rule is this: friends build products. Collaboration is better than contract negotiation. We need something between a cocktail napkin and an 800-page MRD/PRD. How about a set of index cards with an agreement to discuss. That's the approach we take in Requirements That Work.
