After attending a conference on a new methodology for software development known as Agile, Shel Skinner, CEO of Blue Cloud Development, a small software development company located in Mountain View, California, hired consultants to introduce the methodology.
By bringing together business people, developers, customers’ representatives, and other concerned parties in a disciplined, face‐to‐face encounter, Agile methodology was intended to simultaneously increase efficiency and improve quality.
After a year of applying Agile, Skinner asked his engineers to evaluate the effort. “Wonderful,” said some, “what’s new?” asked others, and “this is a definite step in the wrong direction,” complained a few. Skinner remained unsure about whether to continue with the Agile methodology or look for a new approach to software development.
use these questions as a guideline for the submission.
Questions
- What was the trigger event that led Shel Skinner to adopt Agile?
- What is your evaluation of the change implementation steps followed by Skinner?
- What behavioral changes, if any, does Agile require of employees?
- How do you account for such widely varied responses to Agile among Blue Cloud employees?
- What should Skinner do now?
