If Agile is indeed an umbrella term, then the umbrella continues to increase in size. While Scrum, XP and DSDM have been under cover for quite some time, many more additions have recently taken their place in the shade including Kanban, Lean, LeSS, SAFE. Test Driven Development (TDD) and Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) are hot topics which many practitioners also include within the Agile scope.
But just as Agile is about evolving in response to change, Agile itself continues to evolve and change. Scrumban – a mixture of Scrum and Kanban – is one example of a new methodology that appears to be gaining some momentum.
Jason Bloomberg wrote a provocative article in Forbes today titled Has Agile Outlived Its Usefulness? He writes about some of the less-frequently mentioned (at least by Agile gurus) weaknesses of Agile methodologies and describes how some companies are already moving beyond agile.
The key take-away from his article is one that I’ve said many ties before. Agile is a journey and not a final destination. As more methodologies evolve, and some naturally fade way, it will become more important then ever to understand the fundamental tenants and philosophy behind Agile, rather than rote learning the steps of a particular methodologies.