Where "Agile" comes from

Adaptive methods have always been used in human history alongside predictive ones. When the first generation of commercially available computers was built, their limitations dictated a predictive method of development. While it was suitable to the early software development projects, as we progressed, their new capabilities changed the environment, and the predictive methods were no longer useful to the new IT development projects, although they were still forcing everyone to use them based on their past experiences.

Forcing of predictive approaches continued until their unsuitability in the new environment of IT projects became obvious, and some people started building new systems that were adaptive instead of predictive, and called them Agile. Unfortunately, these circumstances created a negative feeling in many of them toward the predictive approach, which remains in the community to this day.

The Agile methods started from a blank slate, which had both negative and positive impacts. Those systems proved that simple systems can work as well as, or even better than, complicated ones. Many of them embedded human aspects into their methods, in contrast to other systems at the time that only used to stress the important of human aspects without embedding them into the system. This was invaluable, and will hopefully become the norm in all future systems.

On the other hand, the negative feelings, along with a few people’s urge to create empires for themselves, turned Agility into a cult or religion for some, and closed their minds to everything else. Instead of learning from what other systems have experienced and refined throughout the years, they’ve limited themselves to trial and error within a limited range of options.

In reality, both approaches are valid, and the choice depends on the type of product. People who think that any project can be Agile either don’t understand what Agility is, or don’t understand the diverse range of projects in the world. People who are against all forms of Agility are also mistaken and are losing out on a great opportunity.