CHAPTER 2: A FIVE-MINUTE HISTORY OF AGILE

In the 1990s, the IT industry was plagued by the remarkably high failure rate of software development projects: projects that became notorious for their missed deadlines, substantially overrun budgets, faulty deliverables and dissatisfied customers. A handful of thought leaders in the industry believed that these IT project failures could be attributed to three key factors: over-planning, insufficient communication and “all-at-once” delivery.

Over-planning

IT software projects traditionally began with the production of extensive upfront documentation, which included project plans, functional requirements, system design specifications and technical architectural designs. These documents – which often took ...

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