6 ProductManagementJournalVolume 7 AGILE Agile is not the answer to everything ApureAgileapproachdoesn’tworkallthetime.IntheTelecomsand ITindustriesmostdevelopmentisaboutmorethan‘cuttingbrandnew code’.It’saboutknittingtogethercomplexsoftwaresystems,hardware andservicecomponents.Offshoredevelopmentrequiresco-ordination withotherdevelopmentteamsindifferentlocations,time-zonesand companies.Other departmentssuchas marketingtypicallyhave longlead-timessoneedto knowalaunchdateand releasecontentsmonthsin advance.Forallthese reasonsthetop-down planningofmoretraditional approachesisstillneeded. Water-Scrum-fall Thereareveryfew softwaredeveloperswho areunfamiliarwiththe conceptsinAgilehowever adoptionbybusinessisnot universal.Fromour2017annualsurveyweknowthat50%ofcompanies usepureAgile,42%usebothAgileandWaterfall(sometimesmixed together,e.g.Water-Scrum-fall)and8%justWaterfall. Thereportgoesontostatethatwhendevelopersareaskedabout whichapproachisusedtheyoftensay ‘I’musingScrum,but...’ Thisis becausemostcustomiseandadaptAgilepracticessuchasScrumtofit withtheirorganisation’sexistingprocessesandtofitthetypeof projectstheyareworkingon. Thismatchesourexperiencewheretherealityisamixtureof traditionalandAgileapproaches.Forexample,anupfrontpieceofwork onanalysisandrequirements,developmentusingAgileandafinal phasewithcustomertrialsandalaunch.Thetermthatoftengetsused todescribethisis‘Water-Scrum-fall’. Agile development methods explained Kanbanmeans‘signboard’inJapaneseanddescribesmanaginga processbymakingtheworkflowpubliclyvisibletoall.Developers regulatetheirworkbypullingtasksfromaqueuewhenready. Lean software developmentisasetofprinciplesthathelpsoftware businessesoptimisetheirprocessesanddevelopmentmethods.The aimistogetproductstomarketfasterandwithhigherqualityby deliveringtheminimalsetofrequirements. ScrumisthemostwidespreadandpopularAgilesoftwaredevelop- mentapproach.Itisaprojectdeliveryframeworkbasedonshort, time-boxed,incremental,developmentreleases(seearticleonp.8). XP (Extreme Programming) isanapproachbasedonshortdevelop- mentcyclesandtaking varioussoftwaredevelopmentpracticesto extremelevels,e.g. writingthetestfirstandthencodingandtwo developersworkingatthesameworkstation(pair-programming).