About failing agile projects

There's a trend in the blogosphere showing an increasing number/percentage of agile projects failing. We believe that the reason for this is quite simply that many projects are attempting to use agile methods.

Some of these can be expected to fail, either because (a) the method is abused or misunderstood, or (b) the project was doomed to fail anyway.

In theory, agile methodology is not to blame for the failing of agile projects. Projects fail (b), but an agile project will fail sooner than later, and cost less than a long death-march project.

We wish to ensure that fewer projects fail for reason (a). By extending the agile manifesto, and by documenting Agile in this wiki, we are doing what we can to turn the tide of failing agile projects.

See also

• Common reasons for agile project failure

Resources

• Agile/Scrum Smells, by Mark Levison
• Jonathan Kohl's reflections
• Why would anyone want to become agile?, by Joakim Ohlrogge
• Lean is the new Scrum, and it will fail for the same reasons, by Rob Bowley
• Staying Agile by Going off "Agile", by Shane Duan
• When Agile Projects Go Bad, by James Turner
• Seven Years Later: What the Agile Manifesto Left Out, talk by Brian Marick
• The Decline and Fall of Agile, by James Shore
• Estimate Inflation: A Cautionary Tale, by James Shore
• You might not be Agile if..., by Johannes Brodwall
• Traps & Pitfalls of Agile Software Development