Agile and Maslow’s Hammer

In his book, “The Psychology of Science: A Reconnaissance”, Abraham H. Maslow said, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail”. What it implies is that when we acquire a specific tool, skill or methodology, it influences us to use that one tool, skill or method for all purposes. This has come to stay as “Maslow's Hammer”. 

Take Agile Software Development, for instance. Tailored Agile based frameworks work very well in certain stages of a software product’s life cycle, in certain applicable types of software projects and in ecosystems that are carefully nurtured to embrace it. Not everywhere.

There are many red flags to alert that Maslow's Hammer exists but none more prominent than hiding behind quotes like “the Customer wants it to be Agile” or outrightly state that “Agile works best”. In such contexts, obsessed with “doing Agile” somehow, at any cost or unwilling to think differently – the principles behind the Agile Manifesto get thrown out of the window and the overall outcome becomes a casualty. The negative connotations are pronounced in outsourced engagements; more so in outsourced fixed price Agile projects.

How does one avoid the pitfall of Maslow's Hammer? 

Before promises and commitments are made, a worthwhile investment is a formal, contextual assessment of the fundamentals. Like, how Agility impacts the Customer business, whether Agile Software Development is suitable for that project (or for that product, as the case may be), whether all stakeholders are 'Agile aware' and aligned, the readiness + mindset to embrace Agile based practices in that ecosystem and the commercial-legal implications. 

Maslow's Hammer reminds us that purpose comes before any methodology, and thinking with a purpose before that.

Agile is a great hammer, but not everything is a nail.

Until next time…