Agile vs. Industry: How Does Agile Compare?

Many companies are adopting Agile practices in an effort to increase project throughput, reduce cost, and improve quality.  But are they working? Drawing from industry statistics, Michael answers vital questions about Agile’s effectiveness, which may be turning the “law of software physics” upside down. Until now, there have been predictable relationships among schedule, staffing, and quality; industry data indicates Agile may be changing all this. See productivity findings at 5 Agile companies, and the results for time-to-market, productivity, and quality. Learn the right practices for your environment, including characteristics of successful measurement. See how metrics reveal insights into Agile approaches that are becoming mainstream.

Michael Mah is managing partner at QSM Associates Inc. He teaches, writes, and consults to technology companies on estimating and managing software projects, whether in-house, offshore, waterfall, or agile. He is the director of the Benchmarking Practice at the Cutter Consortium, a US-based IT think-tank. With over 25 years of experience, QSM has derived productivity patterns for thousands of projects collected worldwide. His work examines time-pressure dynamics of teams, and its role in project success and failure. His background is in physics and electrical engineering, and he is a mediator specializing in conflict resolution for technology projects.