What Is Agile?

Simply put, Agile is an approach to solution development that embraces, rather than resists, change. In the late1990's a group of thought leaders in the area of organizational effectiveness and project execution began to examine why projects in information technology, especially large projects, fail far more often than not. According to research by the Standish Institute, published in 1995, only about 16% of projects actually were seen as successful - on time, on budget, delivering what was wanted. (A 2004 repeat study shows a success rate of 34% - poor odds on investments that often reach millions of dollars).

The fundamental reason for this high failure rate is simply change. Agile recognizes that it is rarely possible to truly capture, analyze, document and prepare all requirements, constraints and conditions under which a project will operate over it's lifespan. Business conditions change rapidly. Customer demands and product pipelines are not static. Often one idea seen in actual practice will trigger many new ideas. Often a function that seems critical will be revealed as adding little value when put in practice. Agile allows these changing conditions to become ways to improve the end product, rather than factors in failure.

By using a method that uses short cycles of value driven deliveries rather than an all at once, everything that was asked for approach; that favors active customer participation and continuous input over massive design and requirements documentation; and that favors group ownership over well defined project roles, Agile has been shown to be a much more effective methodology for many types of solution development challenges.

Although Agile has deep roots in many earlier ideas, Agile is considered to have formally been "created" in 2001 with the publication of the "Agile Manifesto", (http://agilemanifesto.org) which lays out in simple form the key principals of Agile thought. Now, just a few years later, Agile is growing very rapidly in Information Technology, and is being applied effectively to many other types of processes and project as well.