Week 5: the agile why

It's not a concept that's bound to agile methodologies, but it is appropriate none-the-less. "Why am I doing this?" It's appropriate to agile because in an iterative process it's easier to get sidetracked. Detours, getting stuck on minor details, can potentially damage the timeline of a project.

More important than the time allocated and even the quality of the work is a consideration of the purpose of what you're doing in the context of the project. Is what you're doing working directly to achieve a goal?

A thoroughly planned out and managed team should have less trouble identifying work units on the critical path. Identifying those work units when you have your head buried in the software in the middle of an iteration is tricky. But if the answer to "why am I doing this?" points directly to a requirement then doing that work now is likely to be justified.

This is particularly useful in our BSE team project. With 12 people and loose management & requirements, it's important to frequently ask why you're spending time working on your work unit and how much time you're allocating to it in the context of the iteraction. Without asking the 'why' question, it's all too easy to put your head down and later discover that you've wasted a day's work and you're no closer to the goal.