Why Agile Development is More Fun

I just read this article claiming that Agile is "boring". I'm not sure how this person got to that conclusion. He also claims that Agile is very rigid and strict, although it's probably one of the most relaxed project management methodologies out there. It's certainly more dynamic and flexible than Waterfall models are.

From the article, it seems that this person works somewhere where they don't have any concept of project management at all. He talks as if he doesn't have deadlines to meet for his organization. Not sure where he's working where he can get away with this. Almost all projects have deadlines. It's very useful for business people to know things like estimates and set deadlines. Pretending they don't exist is no way to professionally develop software. Certainly not a realistic way to grow as an organization.

The writer says that Agile development gets boring after you do it for a couple projects. Not sure where that's coming from. I find that Agile development environments are much more interesting, because there is much less repetition. From iteration to iteration, you could be working on very different projects. Agile allows (and even encourages!) developers to explore other areas of the software and cross-train. You are also much less likely to be pegged as the "Database guy" or "UI guy" in an Agile project. While you might have a lot of experience with UI, your task is really whatever the project needs. If that means moving outside of your domain, so be it.

When I worked at Karos Health we practiced Scrum, a form of Agile, and I found it to be very flexible. While most of the time I was developing UI code, I also participated in all the other sections of the applications. I got to see all the parts of the application.

Also, Agile teams are encouraged to work very closely together. This interaction creates a very interesting working environment where you are constantly learning. This is certainly more interesting than working your way down an ad-hoc todo list by yourself, conversing with other developers only when absolutely necessary.

I suspect that the author has never worked in an Agile company (or at least one that's practicing Agile correctly), because his comments seem to be the opposite of what Agile development encourages.