Confessions of a New Agile Convert or Technically, This Blog Doesn’t Even Exist Yet
Posted by Rod Armstrong, February 22nd, 2006
As you may or may not have noticed, our Quintextual blog here is off to a running start with some actual content. We have finally come around to the blog way of doing things.
This is partially because we are also trying to apply an Agile Approach, which has worked so well in development with our Engineering Team, in a sweeping across-the-board manner to almost all aspects of our business.
I, myself, a somewhat hesitant adopter of all things Web 2.0-ish, have recently become an
Agile Design
convert, and I think I might have been the last one here holding out. But with our new, progressively agile philosophies, we should soon be seeing the creation better things, faster.
All Buzzwords Aside
All in all, this means we will be working hard and fast on small increments of improvement, instead of turning things into a lengthy and complex process.
These smaller increments will be released as we go. This, so far, has produced quick results, and best yet, users get to actually experience the improvements out in the light of day. This means earlier use of these (hopefully) better things, instead of just hearing about them endlessly. It also means, for us, an earlier start on obtaining feedback and errors so we can refine problem areas in real-time.
If this sounds like a no-brainer, you might be surprised how much of the majority of online businesses and developers and designers still adhere to a non-agile way of thinking and doing things. It usually goes something like this: spend lots and lots of time planning, spend lots and lots of time building, spend lots and lots of time squashing theoretical bugs, and then spend lots and lots of time adding as many features your little heart can possibly dream up. More often than not, this only results in something that becomes so big (‘monolithic’ as I think our Minister of Agility, Adam Greenfield has coined it) it never sees the light of day.
Agility: Not Just For Developers (and Gymnasts) Anymore
The non-agile obsessive pitfall is not something just limited to development—I can say with ease that it is a trap that can just as easily be fallen into by visual and UI designers, webmasters/designers (see redesign vs. realignment for a companion to this concept), graphic artists, user experience engineers, et al.
In my pre-agile design days—an era of time which probably extends from say, last week back through all of my previous life—I can’t recount the amount of hours I spent at the beginning stage of a design trying to pick the right gradient or container shape to start with. I was first and foremost stuck in Graphic Designer mode (a holdover from my main experience as a print designer) and only obsessing over the final picture—which in my mind, was mostly how the final piece was going to look as a whole.
In this world of non-agile thinking, the piece you are going to finally put out there is the piece you are going to be stuck with for quite some time. That creates a lot of pressure. It leads to creative blocks and makes the work in the first place nerve-wracking and un-fun.
I now realize that the most important things to start with are the ones that build a true foundation. Things like figuring out the bloody purpose of the thing you’re trying to make in the first place, or mapping out things like the user interaction, nav structures and the basic overall framework. I have noticed that the look and feel then can develop far more organically and can truly form over the course of time.
It All Begins at Step One
I can relay these kinds of revelations with ease, because this used to be the way we all did things.
This brings us to where we are right now. This blog exists. It exists because we stopped pondering the how’s/what’s/why’s of bringing it into existence, and just did it.
This is also why, technically, what you are now reading doesn’t even exist yet, in connection with our website or the Site5 universe, anyway. We are currently working on some quick, agile ways to improve the website in terms of use and simplicity while making room for this here dynamic content.
Just doing something is a great way to start. Admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.
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