Achieving Agile Software: Fail to Scale -- Prepare to Fail

by Paul Allen

In a recent Agile Product & Project Management E-Mail Advisor (see "Service-Oriented Agile Projects -- Contradiction or Necessity?" 4 June 2009), I assert that "agile projects have often struggled with delivering ... long-term quality and scalability." Cutter Senior Consultant Jens Coldewey responds, "I would consider projects that suffer from severe architectural problems not being agile almost by definition," concluding, "Well, if you don't use agile development, you won't get agile software. It's that simple" ("Agility, Architectural Quality Are Not in Conflict," 11 June 2009).