Interesting post from the new head of the Agile Alliance here.

I’ve got to admit: the most useful part of the Agile Alliance to my life has been their digital copy of the Agile Manifesto, so I like the fact that it is going to be recommitted towards user groups like Minnesota’s Object Technology User Group. I also like that they are requiring some kind of demonstrated contribution to the Agile community in order to be a member in the future.

What I find most interesting, though, is this assertion:

Whereas the number of people new to Agile who describe their project as “the best project I’ve ever worked on” seems to be declining, and we believe work should be joyful,

I think that this is because Agile is falling into the commercialization trap. In an effort to get acceptance in corporate centers, as well as provide a bit of control over the system, there is an increasing standardization of what constitutes an “Agile” practice. The classic example of this is the Certified Scrum Master course, which has gotten a reputation as another meaningless three-letter certification purchased by management consultants. By putting one of these people in place, businesses can check off Agile development on their buzzword bingo card without actually adopting the paradigm that makes it so powerful. So then you have people on “Agile” projects which don’t really resemble much different than normal business practices. This is also where you get the confused people who wonder if they’re Agile or not.

This seems like one of the big challenges for the Agile Alliance, and I like the fact that they are addressing it head on. By requiring people to be contributing members of the communtiy, it’s raising the bar for entry. Even that slight raise should help distinguish the people who are committed from those who just want to look like they are. The new trenches-based approach to the Agile Alliance should also raise their relevancy in this next phase: evangelism isn’t the problem anymore; implementations are. Given that, it’s good to see the Agile Alliance changing their focus.

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