Why David Thomas says "Agile is Dead"

By Zhimin Zhan

David Thomas, one of Agile Manifesto author, publishd this article Time to kill Agile. He suggested: "So I think it is time to retire the word 'Agile.'". In this recent interview, David Thomas, says This is all to do with the fact that "agile" has become meaningless."

This surely upsets many agile coaches, who makes money with the word 'Agile'. There are surely a few of them are really good and know what they are talking about, but most are not. Let's put it in test, try to answer questions below:

  • How often do your project release your software?
  • How do you honestly think customers' confidence on the product?
  • How do you do regression testing?

The objective of Agile, if my still use this word, is to release software frequently to product with high quality. I think the reason that Agile word lost the meaning due to it does not quantify the "frequently" and "high quality".

  • High Quality: every release must pass full automated regression tests
  • Frequently: multiple times a day to production, yes, in a matter of hours.

Sound impossible? Facebook release twices a day, is Facebook doing Agile? Comparing to Facebook, how are you doing Agile? Have a look at the Facebook's test lab:

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