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A handful of years ago, some of my clients began to ask me, “How are we doing?” My replies were always something like, “You’re doing pretty well at pair programming, and I like how teams have shifted from writing requirements documents to talking about user stories. But teams really haven’t embraced the idea of automated testing yet, and that’s where we need to focus most.” But this wasn’t the type of answer they wanted; they wanted to know, “How are we doing compared to our competition?”

Early in 2004, Chris Shinkle's company began adopting agile practices. Unfortunately, agile did not have the desired cultural impact within their organization-and the adoption floundered.

Scrum frameworks deliver working code in time-boxed sprints. Many communities find Scrum to be a wonderful balance between discipline and agility because it tames turbulence and focuses teams.

Agile methods emphasize trust, empowerment, and collaboration-moving us away from command and control project management to harness the passion, creativity, and enthusiasm of the team.

Have you noticed that similar stories appear over and over again as you develop a system?

Many teams have a relatively easy time adopting the tactical aspects of the agile methodologies. Usually a few classes, some tool introduction, and a bit of practice can lead you toward a somewhat efficient and effective adoption.

Lean production has made it possible for many industries to develop products faster and more profitably, building a loyal customer base while lowering business risk.