Agile is Like Sex

I’ll get back to software development economics, there are more posts in the works, but right now I need to say something....

I have blogged before on the subject of “What is Agile” - I’ve even expanded on that blog in an unfinished piece of writing called “What is Agile? Perspectives on Agile” - but sometimes I think it's just sex....

(OK, this blog just got filtered out of lots of feeds and stopped by lots of firewalls but lets continue.)

In the software development world there are, broadly speaking, two groups of people: those who create the software (coders, testers, etc.) and those who manage the process (project managers, development managers, etc.). When discussing "Agile" I find that both sides think the problem is with the other.

To put it another way, if I'm talking to developers they think its managers who are the block to adopting more Agile techniques and improvement. But when I'm talking to managers they say its the developers who resist Agile and other improvements.

Which always reminds me of the old Philip Crosby quote:

"Quality has much in common with sex. Everyone is for it. (Under certain conditions, of course.) Everyone feels they understand it. (Even though they wouldn't want to explain it.) Everyone thinks execution is only a matter of following natural inclinations. (After all, we do get along somehow.) And, of course, most people feel that all problems in these areas are caused by other people." Philip Crosby

Lets bring it up to date and make it Agile specific, substitute the work 'Agile' for 'Quality':

"Agile has much in common with sex. Everyone is for it. (Under certain conditions, of course.) Everyone feels they understand it. (Even though they wouldn't want to explain it.) Everyone thinks execution is only a matter of following natural inclinations. (After all, we do get along somehow.) And, of course, most people feel that all problems in these areas are caused by other people." Allan Kelly after Philip Crosby

You see? It fits.

Agile isn’t someone else’s thing, it doesn’t belong to another person: Its yours. You are as likely to be the block as the person you think is the block.