Life is Agile

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters" --Epictetus

I'd like to pose a question to any parents reading this. When your child was born did you plan out every detail of your child's life? Did you attempt to account for every problem and develop a contingency plan before even leaving the hospital?  Do you parent in a vacuum, having no contact with other parents?

Similar question to those of you with active careers, be it in the job market or at home. Yes- being an at-home parent is a career. Did you plan out every step of your career before you began working? Do you work without interaction with others in your career? Did you plan for every problem to the most minute detail?

Of course not. To approach such a major endeavor in life is more like planning to fail. And this is why Agile is the only way to successfully complete a software development project of any consequential size. Because it mimics human behavior and human capabilities. At it's core, the Agile methodology is an admission that you can only do so much to plan for the future. It's a system built on the foundation of communication with others. It does not merely recommend regular and effective communication, it states that failing to do so will cause overall failure. It is built around doing what you need to now, while keeping an eye on the future. Similar to how you eat an elephant (one bite at a time), so do we manage our lives. Why should we assume that managing a development project should run so completely contrary to our fundamental behavior?

The converse is also true. It's been a very long time since I've had to defend Agile vs. Waterfall/BDUF. The reason appears very straightforward- the proof is in the doing. Agile has proven itself. It's not theoretically better, it simply is.

How, then, can we extrapolate this to our lives? Should you find yourself working at a company where you have no future, what do you do? Do you scrap the idea of working at your best capacity while you look for another job? Agile says differently in that a development team has the discipline to finish a development sprint, i.e. the work in front of them.

If you want something in your career, do you just keep working and hoping it happens? One of the foundations of Agile is communication. Do we keep grinding and hope, or do we approach others for advice? And then do we approach management and clearly communicate what we want?

Life is Agile is life. The lessons we learn from each can be applied to the other.