Business wants estimates in order to manage financial risk. Agile makes this unnecessary – we only have to fund one iteration (at a time).
Really? And business will be happy with the results of only one iteration's worth of work, when 50 iterations will be needed to fulfill the strategic objectives of the project?
This is one of those quotes by "agile thought leaders" that is basically nonsense. Why do they say this crap?
Business wants estimates of the total "all in cost" so they can budget for the total "all in cost." This is the basis of business management.Someone in the business has to ask for the funding. Someone in the business has to explain to the Board of Directors what they did with the money they were given, when they will be done with the project, and what business value will be measureable when they are done. It's called Business Management.
Imagine you're remodeling the kitchen - we did this 3 years ago. I asked my builder how much is this going to cost. He says "Oh don't worry about that Glen we're using agile, we'll do the first iteration and then see where we are." On the first week Iteration 1 - he rips out the old cabinets, knocks out a wall, and moves all the old appliances to the dumpster. He disconnects all the electrical and plumbing. Then our contractor - Doug is his real name - comes back on the next Monday and says "Let's talk about the next iteration."
Are you out of your frick'in mind.
You'd never start a kitchen remodel in the absence of a budget, a design, an architecture, management reserve for both cost and schedule, a detailed assessment of the risks and mitigation plans (what if we discover the floor joists are running the wrong way in the ceiling and we can't run the exhaust plenum through them - this actually happened).
When are we going to stop believing these "thought leaders" actually have credible comments.
