Is Microsoft Going Agile? Insights from Scott Guthrie

One comment

1. Doug

   January 25, 2010 at 12:41 14 years ago

   Scott,

   Great lead in question.

   It is really not a choice so much as it is a discussion about how they can re-invigorate their very agile roots. Agile is not yours to keep, to remain agile you must practice the fundamentals. Microsoft has clearly been very agile in the past and acquired very agile organizations. How do they get it back or get it again?

   We can take it in different ways for different people but, from what I have experienced it is just a mess in understanding. There are very few good stable definitions out there from which to build a know center of understanding. Too often marketing has taken hold of the word and warped it’s meaning for personal gain. Nothing is wrong with that, it’s just good business. However, it permeates very messy understandings into the community at large.

   Clean code and clean tools allow for rapid feedback which enables a quick practice of agile understanding. Good IDE will enable rapid feedback so that the fundamentals are practiced continuously. Unit tests are a way to achieve rapid feedback but, like all of the agile practices not a panacea.

   Common mistake when people view Microsoft is too see it as one company. My experience is they are many subgroups or companies within a larger framework. Some subgroups are very agile and some are not. The agility is not evenly distributed and understood within Microsoft. No surprise there, every big company I have consulted with has this problem. Some groups within Microsoft are great agilists. Some of the best in the world.

   TDD – Look before you leap – Start with the end in mind – If you don’t know where you are goind anywhere will do – Interface first – Outside in not inside out

   Good talk, thank you for sharing.

   – Doug
   http://doug-shimp.net

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