Myth-1: Each team member in Agile Scrum method should do everything
Agile says Scrum teams should be self-organizing and cross-functional. It means scrum team as a whole should be having necessary skills to create product increment. This doesn't mean that each individual in team should be cross-functional. In Agile, each team member is called developer having different skills like Designer, Programmer, Tester, etc. Agile doesn't mean and doesn't want to kill the expertise of the people.
Myth-2: Agile means no documentation
Agile never says that there should be any documentation. Documentation is important but focus should be on working software instead of comprehensive documentation. Agile says, we should get rid of documentation which doesn't add value. For example: Low level design docs are important for future reference as well but creating estimation of how many defects testers are going to open in release doesn't make any sense. How can anyone forecast, how many defects would be raised :-)
Myth-3: Agile means no planning
On the contrary, Agile requires more planning. Only difference between planning in Waterfall and Agile methods is when planning is done. In Waterfall model, whole planning is done at the start of the release cycle, whereas in Agile small amount of planning is done to fix the Time and Cost of the project at the start of the release and team continue to do sprint planning to pick up the tasks which is most important for the customer
Myth-4: Agile means lack of discipline
This is utmost false. Agile brings sense of responsibility and discipline in each team member. It brings people together and commitment at each step and it demands that each individual be responsible to deliver whatever he has agreed too. The daily interactions enhance this sense of responsibility, which is not the case when people hide behind documents and bureaucratic obstacles. So, it actually demands more responsibility and a discipline enforced by the collective.
The rule of keeping a sustainable pace – which means avoiding overtime – requires a serious commitment against procrastination. The ideal velocity of the team should be determined, and maintained. The iterations are short, so any lagging will be promptly noticed.
Agile says Scrum teams should be self-organizing and cross-functional. It means scrum team as a whole should be having necessary skills to create product increment. This doesn't mean that each individual in team should be cross-functional. In Agile, each team member is called developer having different skills like Designer, Programmer, Tester, etc. Agile doesn't mean and doesn't want to kill the expertise of the people.
Myth-2: Agile means no documentation
Agile never says that there should be any documentation. Documentation is important but focus should be on working software instead of comprehensive documentation. Agile says, we should get rid of documentation which doesn't add value. For example: Low level design docs are important for future reference as well but creating estimation of how many defects testers are going to open in release doesn't make any sense. How can anyone forecast, how many defects would be raised :-)
Myth-3: Agile means no planning
On the contrary, Agile requires more planning. Only difference between planning in Waterfall and Agile methods is when planning is done. In Waterfall model, whole planning is done at the start of the release cycle, whereas in Agile small amount of planning is done to fix the Time and Cost of the project at the start of the release and team continue to do sprint planning to pick up the tasks which is most important for the customer
Myth-4: Agile means lack of discipline
This is utmost false. Agile brings sense of responsibility and discipline in each team member. It brings people together and commitment at each step and it demands that each individual be responsible to deliver whatever he has agreed too. The daily interactions enhance this sense of responsibility, which is not the case when people hide behind documents and bureaucratic obstacles. So, it actually demands more responsibility and a discipline enforced by the collective.
The rule of keeping a sustainable pace – which means avoiding overtime – requires a serious commitment against procrastination. The ideal velocity of the team should be determined, and maintained. The iterations are short, so any lagging will be promptly noticed.
