Reduce Costs the Agile Way: Keep Value in View

by Jim Highsmith

The Agile Triangle way of measuring performance can be useful in looking at business goals in new ways (the triangle involves value, quality, and constraints -- as introduced in my Advisor, "Flex Your Agile Triangle and Add Value," 30 April 2009). If the goal is reducing schedules, for example, metrics from agile projects have shown that improving quality has a great impact on schedule reduction. Focusing directly on schedules often has the direct opposite impact on schedules. Admonitions to "go faster" result in cutting quality corners, which in turn ends up lengthening schedules. So ironically, focusing on schedule yields longer schedules while focusing on quality yields shorter schedules.