Here’s something I ran across the other day while trolling through my backup files. After four years of adopting an agile (XP-based) approach internally at Digital Focus, we decided to start selling agile coaching and transition services in early 2005.

As a way of defining what we considered “agile,” I put together a little true/false quiz as a marketing blurb. Agile as a thing was still gaining traction, and I was trying to find a quick way to show people quickly both benefits and potential areas for improvement in their adoption of an agile approach.

It was interesting to read this over and see how my perspective has both changed and not changed over the past ten years. One of the biggest differences for me is an emphasis now on agile as a “means” rather than as an “end.” Something that has remained constant is the need to clarify exactly what we mean when we say that a team’s or organization’s methodology is “agile.” If I were to re-write this test today, there might be a few tweaks (e.g., reflecting advancements in Continuous Delivery). But I think a lot of it has stood the test of time.

I don’t believe we ended up ever putting this on our website in 2005. Now it can live in in perpetuity here, for your enjoyment.

The Digital Focus Quick Agile Test

January 10, 2005

“Agile” has become a buzzword for lots of things these days. Apparently no one wants to be left out, and we now have everything from agile data to agile mobile phones.

In the context of software development, however, agility has a specific meaning. An agile software development process embodies the values and principles espoused in the Agile Manifesto.

Are you curious how closely your software development organization is aligned with the spirit of agile development? Use the “Digital Focus Quick Agile Test” to rate yourself. It is a fun and easy way (albeit unscientific) to give you some idea where you fall on the agile spectrum.

There are two different versions of the test. The first is intended for executives—those who oversee software development but who are one or more levels removed from the day-to-day work. The second version is specifically for IT teams and managers—those involved in the daily work of producing software.

The Digital Focus Quick Agile Test for Executives

Answer yes or no to each of the following questions. Score one point for each “yes” answer.

Do the IT project teams interact daily with business people and/or customers?
Is software development work planned, estimated, and executed in small chunks of customer-visible functionality?
During a development effort, do end users test the working system (including all new features) at least once every other week?
Do you deploy new functionality/features for systems under development at least quarterly?
Can you implement and roll out a new idea in a matter of weeks?
Can you safely make a change to a mission-critical system (running in production) in less than a day?
Do business and IT know how to work together to meet a planned release date–every time?
Do the business customers for a development project know how much each proposed feature costs?
Can the business customers on a development project specify the order in which features are developed?
During a development effort, is there a current, working version of the system accessible to the customer at least daily?
Can the business customers re-prioritize, add, or modify features throughout a development project?
Can customers and management access real-time information/reports on which new features are and are not working?
Can all of the known defects in a system under development be counted on your fingers?
Does each person on an IT project team understand the business priorities and strategic importance of system being developed?
Is project progress measured and reported in terms of running, tested features (as opposed to number of documents, lines of code, etc.)?

SCORING

14 – 15	Congratulations, you’ve got an agile development process
10 – 13	You’re doing well, but can expect even more benefits as you continue to improve
5 – 9	You’re familiar with agile development, but are still struggling to make it work for you
0 – 4	Call us immediately!

The Digital Focus Quick Agile Test for Project Teams

Answer yes or no to each of the following questions. Score one point for each “yes” answer.

Does your team sit together when doing project work?
Are there business-focused people as part of the team?
Does the team have a predictable, sustainable work schedule–even around delivery/release dates?
Is your build process one-step automated such that anyone on the team can make a complete build in under 10 minutes?
Can all of the product regression tests be run in under an hour?
Is 100% of the code covered by automated tests at multiple levels (unit, system, etc.)?
Do developers write automated tests for all of their code?
Can any developer on the team change any line of code to add functionality, fix a bug, or improve the design?
Do developers integrate their code into a single mainline every couple of hours?
Does the team improve the design of the system daily–in such a way that it is never broken?
Can all of the known defects in the code be listed on a single whiteboard?
Do you have actual data on how many customer-visible features the team can build and deploy weekly?
Is it easy to undo a days’ or an hours’ worth of work?
Is the source code communicative enough to be maintained by new developers on the team?
Do end users test the working system (including all new features) at least once every other week?

SCORING

14 – 15	Congratulations, you’ve got an agile development process
10 – 13	You’re doing well, but can expect even more benefits as you continue to improve
5 – 9	You’re familiar with agile development, but are still struggling to make it work for you
0 – 4	Call us immediately!