DownsideThis book is generally well written in a clear style that is easy to follow, and the text is well supported by diagrams and illustrations. However, there is a tendency to write in long paragraphs. We found numerous paragraphs exceeding 20 lines, or say well over 250 words. This makes for dense text on a page that becomes difficult to follow, or otherwise gets skipped in frustration by the reader. For example, while the book is trying to be an Introduction, in the closing stages of the Case Study provided by the authors, we encountered a paragraph of 26 lines, involving well over 400 words.[14] These concentrations of text are especially egregious considering that the book is dealing with a very complex subject, typically involving vital communication and coordination amongst so many players — see Figure 2. Figure 2: The roles of Disciplined Agile DeliveryIn extoling the merits and benefits of Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) our authors lay to rest a number of myths surrounding this general methodology. Here are examples:[15]
Myth | Reality |
Agile teams don't do requirements or planning. | The average agile team spends about one month doing some upfront planning and requirements modeling. While DAD seeks to minimize this work, we acknowledge this reality and suggest that teams new to agile spend a few weeks in an Inception phase to complete the work in a minimal yet sufficient fashion. |
"Governance" is an agile dirty word. The agile concept of self-organization means that enterprises should not interfere with how agile teams deliver their software. | Governance is actually a good thing when it is done in an agile/lean manner. Sponsors and the enterprise as a whole deserve to know their investments are being properly spent and that the risk of delivery is monitored and controlled, albeit in a lightweight agile fashion. DAD provides specific guidance to fulfill the responsibilities in a relatively painless fashion. The DA tool kit also includes explicit advice for enterprise-level governance[16] that augments and supports the team-level governance within DAD. |
DAD is complicated and would be disruptive to adopt. | DAD is quite simple to adopt especially if your organization is familiar with common agile practices. The good news is that DAD provides guidance that addresses why some existing agile implementations are struggling and DAD can help to bring these implementations back on track.
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14. Ibid, p69.
15. Ibid, p3.
16. See pmi.org/disciplined-agile/process/governance.
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