A friend of mine, an electrical engineer, and I often talk about software design when we go skiing. He is a skeptic about Agile Software Design, calling it “software design by trial and error.”

 

I share his criticism.

 

Yesterday I took a two-hour LinkedIn Learning class on Agile Software Design.  It was an introduction only.  My first impression is that Agile is, at one level, moving a to-do list of sticky notes around on a bulletin board, assigning programming tasks to the programming team with verbal instructions and discussion about how to program something.

 

I have a bias against Agile. My experience with Agile is from working with two companies that used variants of Agile. In my judgment, Agile did not work for them. Their shipping programs had many defects.

 

Much exceptional software, like the software that controlled the Space Shuttle, was designed, coded, tested, and deployed long before Agile Software and legions of Agile consultants appeared.

 

I would welcome any comments about Agile Software design. If you have success with Agile, please tell me about it (michael.jablonski@hey.com).