To most non-technical people, the mere mention of "IT" can be a real turn off, or result in a roll of the eyes. Although traditionally associated with geeks developing code in a back room, IT - in its very broadest sense - forms the backbone of organizations today, which begs the question: why is there still such a huge communication gap between the IT discipline and the business it powers? This article provides anecdotes and advice for businesses to help them resolve the issues between business and IT, and describes how using Agile methods might just save their relationship.

Several forces in the software industry are combining to dramatically shorten product cycle times for even the largest applications. These forces also shorten the feedback loops on an application's quality, usability, and customer relevance. As feedback loops shorten and the number of software deliveries goes up, it becomes paramount to inform and collaborate with employees, customers, and partners in a community setting.

What is "guesstimating" anyway? How could it be fair to ask an agile project manager and her team to estimate an agile project in traditionally managed organization. Senior management often expects detailed and "accurate" estimates as early as during project initiation because at this point projects are funded and budgets controlled. For the agile project, this estimation exercise could easily turn into estimation paralysis.

For some lean/agile practitioners, the idea of maintaining traceability among different development artifacts is nonsense. There are times, though, when traceability is required and other times when it's highly valuable. We need to develop a value mindset of transparency in our processes and approach so that traceability requirements can be satisfied with minimal effort.