Agility

I have spent the past month digging deeper into lean (or agile) software development principles and practices. I have led many successful software projects and programs that have yielded high-quality, well-received software. For various reasons during the past four years, I have led software projects using agile development. Originally, I was trained in the classic waterfall model for software development engineering and management. I have also worked with many successful senior architects who are deeply entrenched by their successes in waterfall practices.

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Virtue

Isn't everyone looking for a virtuous cycle? Virtuous cycles seem to be close relatives to the mythical perpetual motion machine. Once a virtuous cycle starts, they create new value every day. For example, the virtuous cycle of Moore's Law, single-chip CPUs, 'standard' hardware architecture, common OS, memory improvements, Gilder's Law, and shrink-wrap application software created the PC industry. Their continuous improvements collectively created the momentum that gave rise to the high-powered, low-priced laptops that we use today.

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Vision Versus Hype

Awhile ago, Alvin Toffler's Future Shock painted a vision of radical societal change due to technology advances and attitude shifts. Toffler projected changes that would transform the world thirty years in the future. I recall how foreign and frightening his book was to the average reader who could not fathom the depth of change heading their way. Vision is seldom easy to comprehend and often challenging to embrace. Experience has taught us to be wary of visions based upon over-hyped technologies. The dot.com's boom and bust cycle was an example where the reality took longer to catchup to the over-hyped technology. The hype associated with Cloud Computing seems to swell larger with each passing day.

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