I had to abandon some programs before they were finished. I began to believe that maintainability was
the key to success??”an idea that was confirmed as I entered the workforce and began working with
teams of other programmers. I prided myself on producing elegant, maintainable code. Success meant
technical excellence.
Despite their popularity, there??™s
something wrong with these
definitions.
* R. Ryan Nelson, ???Applied Insight??”Tracks in the Snow,??? CIO Magazine, http://www.cio.com/archive/090106/applied.html.
4 C H A P T E R 1 : W H Y A G I L E ?
Despite good code, some projects flopped. Even impeccably executed projects could elicit yawns from
users. I came to realize that my project teams were part of a larger ecosystem involving dozens,
hundreds, or even thousands of people. My projects needed to satisfy those people ... particularly the
ones signing my paycheck. In fact, for the people funding the work, the value of the software had to
exceed its cost. Success meant delivering value to the organization.
These definitions aren??™t incompatible. All three types of success are important (see Figure 1-1). Without
personal success, you??™ll have trouble motivating yourself and employees.
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