The Seven Pillars of Agile – Technical Excellence

One in a series on the Seven Pillars of Agile retrospective.

Technical Excellence

To what extent do you agree that each statement below is true of your team ?

• Considered Design

  • We consider multiple possible ways to satisfy each business need, and make informed choices to achieve the best functionality, usability, and long-term sustainability

  • Our designs allow us to move forwards at a steady pace, without unpleasant surprises or panics

  • We keep technical debt manageable, and keep our design under control without requiring excessive quantities of rework

  • We consider our users performance requirements for each feature, and strive to meet or exceed them.

• High Quality Implementation

  • Our code is clear and simple – “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away”

  • Don’t Repeat Yourself – we refactor when we spot repetition. Are your ‘C’ and ‘V’ keys showing more wear than the rest ?

  • Cohesive, Single Responsibility classes – we don’t have big, bad classes; and if we encounter such beasts, we trim them rather than allowing ourselves to add to them.

  • We don’t abuse inheritance – our subclasses are genuinely substitutable

  • Our collaborators Tell each other what to do, rather than Asking for information

  • Our tests are fit for purpose – expressive to read, flexible to change, and reliable to run