Why are more and more companies adopting Agile Methodologies?

Satya Nadella, CEO at Microsoft Corporation is steering the company to be Agile. When a giant such as Microsoft is changing its course in something that's fundamental to its practice notice must be taken. Gartner says traditional development practices will fail at Mobile apps. Agile is the way to go. With countless more examples supporting this point the question must be asked - Why?

The following three reasons are key factors for this trend.

Software can be built in small pieces

Aside from some foundational architecture that must be built first, software can be built in pieces that can be given to customers for usage before the whole things is done. The focus in Agile is to build the highest value features first. Customers are happy to accept deliveries in smaller pieces.

Waterfall methodologies were carried over into Software Development from older industries such as Construction. Long standing Project Management principles were applied partially because that's what Project Managers were taught. But unlike Construction projects that require a sequential list of components (i.e. a foundation, then a frame, then a roof, then a wall and finally paint on the wall) Software projects do not.

In addition, cloud based solutions such as Amazon, Google, Azure and SalesForce are further shrinking the duration needed to build those initial foundational architecture components and enable getting a product to the market very quickly.

Software could be built in pieces since the first line of code was ever written. One thing that's changed is captured in the following point.

The Landscape is Changing Increasingly Faster

Getting to the market first is key and more important than ever before. Customers get more value from having something smaller delivered quickly rather than waiting longer for a more complete and larger solution that may or may not be what they asked for or worse, may not be what they need by the time they get it.

Getting some small value quickly minimizes risk and provides an opportunity to continually adjust the course in direction to accommodate changing requirements.

To summarize until now, software can be written in small pieces and customers want it delivered increasingly faster. The third point is what makes it possible.

Collaboration Technology

An important attribute of Agile Methodologies is having customers available for direction and immediate feedback. Initially Agile was reserved to small development teams physically located near their customers. However, that doesn't work for companies like Microsoft who have delivery teams dispersed around the world.

Collaboration tools then is the last ingredient that is making this trend more possible than before. In a global environment, collaboration tools bridge that physical gap.

The concept of Unified Communication (UC) was a first step at consolidating Telephony, Instant messaging and Video Conferencing. While that was great for things like reviewing a presentation and making eye contact which could eliminate travel for a face to face meeting, it wasn't enough to tip the balance. UC meetings lack the aspect of collaboration and brainstorming as a team.

The game changer is the advent of Unified Communication and Collaboration (UCC). Tools such as always connected Internet, Smart Phones, Mobile Devices (tablets), software like Instant Messaging, Microsoft Lync (soon to be re-branded as "Skype for Business"), IBM Connections Suite, Google Hangouts, SharePoint, BlueScape, etc. and in the near future the Microsoft Surface Hub on Windows 10 are enabling true and frequent collaboration between customers and development teams.

Gartner has a definition for UCC. My explanation is that UCC enables a (global) team to quickly set up a collaboration that will consist of Audio, Video in HD quality, Desktop Sharing, Instant Messaging, Mobile device compatible, White Boards, remote attendees AND for all attendees to be able to share and interact with any of the documents that are being presented in the collaboration session.

In other words, UCC tools make it seem like everyone is in the same room and everyone is able to interact with the content. It is also important to have both the video and desktop feed in the same context and not in a window behind the shared content.

Here is a video on a collaboration tool, BlueScape that captures the concept and most importantly the spirit of a globally shared workspace in which every attendee can contribute content seamlessly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yxvr2yDR_k.

Conclusion
The combination of the three factors listed above paved the way for Agile Methodologies to be adopted from the smallest to the largest IT companies.