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Agile is often thought of as a development methodology but I think this is a misconception. Certainly, a development team can adopt Agile practices like iterative delivery, user-stories, TDD and pair programming and these may prove useful. However, I believe it is only when the business as a whole is realigned along Agile principles that the benefits of all the ‘techy’ stuff are fully realised.

A business behaving in an Agile way is likely to achieve things more quickly. The key is to spend only a short time thinking about the solution and then get on with implementing it. Learn quickly from what you have done and improve as a result - this is the classic feedback loop of Agile. Crucially, you’ll also give yourself the opportunity to fail early if the idea is not a good one. This scenario is preferable to one where you spend a long time trying to craft the perfect solution only to discover that it’s flawed by the time you get to market.

The truth is that no-one can come up with the perfect solution in isolation. Most people have ideas about what’s good and what’s bad but they’re all essentially subjective and cannot be proven until they’re tested in the market. In recent times new tools and techniques have emerged to allow businesses to build and evolve products in the way I describe. We use things like Google Website Optimizer, Tealeaf and clickdensity to ascertain whether our solutions are successful and to make changes to them in a structured manner. We’re still learning this approach and it’s often not easy for an individual to let go of the idea that it’s their responsibility to craft the best solution. In this respect I see parallels with the introduction of TDD for developers. That innovation meant that developers had to learn to allow the tests, rather than personal opinion, guide the structure of the code. That called for a lack of ego and I think that a truly Agile business must demand the same of every employee involved with designing a solution.

- Mark Durrand, Development Manager