Troubleshooting Agile

In this episode Squirrel and Jeffrey discuss the Second Agile Principle: ‘Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.’ We hear how the principle is closely related to Lean Startup and Minimal Viable Product, and how, at its core, it is about understanding and learning from one’s environment as quickly and as often as possible. This reminds Squirrel of the OODA loop, the decision cycle developed by military strategist and US Air Force Colonel John Boyd, and he tells us a story about fighter jet dogfights in the Korean War. Jeffrey also tells us a story, about a startup he started way way back in the first dotcom bubble in 1999, which brings to mind another military lesson that ‘no plan survives contact with the enemy.’. Finally, we hear examples of common errors witnessed over the years, such as refusals to fully embrace the Second Agile Principle in favour of misguided efficiency and an often irrational attachment a plan