The agile software development approach includes a core set of principles, practices, and disciplines that help teams build software projects. It offers a shared language and clear expectations for how people behave toward each other, the project, and the deliverable.
Some of the practices seem odd at first, but they’re the backbone of success. Over the years some of the practices have become common place and others have been left by the wayside. I’ve seen teams shrink their focus and efforts on TDD, Refactoring, Simple Design, or even Pair Programming. And so resulting team becomes a weak shell of its true potential.
It’s best to treat the practices as core habits, rather than optional rituals.
Discussions for your team
- Which practices should we revisit and consider putting more focus into? (TDD, Refactoring, Simple Design, Pairing, etc)
- As a team, do we consistently take actions actions that result in us meeting our preferred end-state?
- Are we taking shortcuts and sometimes choosing convenience over discipline?
- Which practice should our team focus on more this week?