Page - 219 - in The Future of Software Quality Assurance

The Why, How and What ofAgile Transformations 219 use when leading such a transformation. Finally, Sect. 6 presents the seven most commonpitfallsobservedinpracticeduringagiletransformation.Weroundoffwith ashort conclusion inSect. 7. 2 Agile Is AboutShort-CyclicWorkingandIterations The essence of agile is easily explained by the difference between a submarine and a dolphin (Fig. 1). Project-based working is similar to a submarine: the boat is invisible and dives under water. It can stay there for a long time—just like a big project. Only towards the end do you become restless; as the deadline approaches, urgency and activity increases. A submarine comes up at the end with the result. For the first time. You then hope that everything is okay. That customers will be happy and that your result will prove valuable. Unfortunately, in practice things are different. The hope then often turns out to be deferred disappointment. And this makes sense, because this is when the very first feedback is received. You find outabouteverythingthat’snot rightat thesame time.Andunfortunately,youdon’t reallyhavetimetodoanythingaboutitanymore.Afterall, theprojectisoverandthe budget is spent.This submarine is sometimesalsocalled the see-you-latermodel. The alternative is the dolphin. A dolphin also dives under water. But a dolphin soon rises up to the surface again. This is because dolphins need air. With the dolphinapproachyoudiveunderwater,butyouquicklyemergewith thefirst result. It is of course smaller than the total result you have in mind, but it is something you can test at least. You can test if it has value, test if it works and test if it does contribute to making the goala reality. In thisway youdiscoverwhether it delivers Fig. 1 Submarine vs. dolphin