Agile Myths and Misconceptions

agile scrum extreme-programming
Varuna picture Varuna · Dec 9, 2009 · Viewed 9.2k times · Source

What are the myths or misconceptions related to Agile?

There are lot of misconceptions related to Agile that an average new comer may fall into. What are the misconceptions in the Agile world and how do you justify that it is truly a misconception?

Update: Summary of Agile Myths

  • Agile doesn't allow documentation
  • Agile methods do not scale
  • Agile means no plan
  • TDD covers all the unit testing needs
  • Pair programming always results in better code
  • Agile is a silver bullet solution to software engineering problems (There is a silver bullet solution)
  • Agile doesn't need up front design
  • We're doing scrum so we don't need to do TDD, Refactoring Pair Programming, etc.
  • One can learn Agile from a book
  • Agile only works for trivial projects
  • Agile always uses "User Stories"

Read the following answers for more information about above myths and for more myths.

Answer

kiwipom picture kiwipom · Dec 9, 2009

"Working software over comprehensive documentation" means you do not need a functional spec...

Wrong!!! It just means that you can iron out the wrinkles iteratively with the users - speaking as a vendor, you still need good documentation to assist with the QA and sign-off phases...

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