What are Agile Systems?

How many times have you gone into a bank or a store and asked for something fairly trivial, only to be told that the "system can't do that"? Do you really think that you were the first one to ask? Probably not. Maybe not even the hundredth. So why can't the system do it yet? Are the developers lazy?

Chances are, the system you encountered is like so many we see. Isolated. Hard to change. A giant, monolithic mass that inspires terror in the hearts of project managers and developers alike.

Building agile systems means building them to enable change. It goes from how they are designed through how they are developed to how they are used. The methods that we use to develop systems and the systems thaqt we develop can have a profound impact. When it becomes fast and easy to change things, we escape the fear of failure. If it isn't quite right the first time, we iterate. Fast. If the needs thchange, that's ok too. If a customer wants something that no one has ever done... well we'll pick it up on the next iteration too.

Organizations accumulate drag. Systems accumulate drag. Agile systems are one way to keep the drag to a minimum.

How do you develop agile systems

• Design big, but build small
• Build in integration points
• Deliver value early and often, correct as needed
• Deliver small increments (The requirements *will* change)
• Use open technology that plays well with others
• Require human readable data formats
• Don't be afraid of code. Having the source code, whether it is "open" source or from a vendor is the most powerful tool you can have when you failure isn't an option.