I'm working on proposal for deploying agile in a federal agency. They have a need to integrate Agile on the development of standard business systems. The first steps are to determine what existing software development processes are in place, what processes can be introduced, and what processes are imposed by the Federal Acquisition Regulation on their set of programs.
So now the real issue. This is not an environment where we can experiment with other peoples money, since that money belongs to the United States of America.
By Battle Tested, I mean a method that has survived the engagements of actual battle in developing software in the current paradigm - federal acquisition. There are many proponents of agile out there who have all kinds of suggestions. A classic suggestion is celebrate learning, not success or failure.
In this celebration approach, who pays for those learning processes? The citizens of the United States of America? Probably not. This notion that we get to experiment on other peoples money, is unique in the domain I work. The domain of being the fiduciary of other peoples money.
It's fine if your spending your own money, or you have written permission to experiment with other peoples money. No problem. Do it. Write up the results, so the analysis of how your experiment might be extended to other domains and contexts in those domain.
But there is this really annoying little problem with spending other peoples money and then trying our new ides.
Do you have any evidence what so ever - beyond personal anecdotes - that your idea will actually work in the current situation?
No? Then maybe you should try it out on your own money, do some peer reviews, have someone elses try it out on there money, do some more peer reviews, then get someone to fund the experiment to see if this wonderful idea actually does work outside your own personal experience.
I know is an annoying, very annoying approach. But when we're assigned to help out and the money needed to do that work comes from a sovereign or a board of directors, it's just that we have an obligation to actually improve the situation, not just use that money to celebrate our learnings.
Unless we got paid to learn something, we probably should show up with a solution in hand. A solution that has worked in several, if not many, similar domains and contexts. Annoying I know.
