Context Constrains Compatibility

Distilled vinegar taught me about Agile.

“I got baby poo on the sheets again!”, I cried.

“Can you wipe it off?”, responded my wife from down the hall.

“No, this stuff is like chicken korma. But not the good kind - the oily takeaway kind.”

“You’re going to have to soak the sheets in distilled vinegar and soda bicarbonate again”, my wife responded.

“Wait, the same vinegar I used to descale the kettle? And remove lichen from the roof? Is there anything this stuff can’t do?!”, I exclaimed.

“It can’t stop you getting poo on the sheets, clearly.”

Whilst I struggled to devise a witty retort, something in my head clicked.

Agile, SAP, Lean, AI, DevOps, <insert flavour of the week here>, all do good things. But they only do good things in response to specific problems under specific situations. Elsewhere, these solutions are - at best - an opportunity cost.

For example, Agile may not help a technology team respond to change if it has already committed to an annual budget and a detailed long-term plan, or if teams are disincentivised from adapting their plans based on what they learn along the way.

The takeaway? Solutions are good or bad only in relation to the problem to be solved. Vinegar would not help technology teams respond to change, and Agile would not help me remove poo stains.