Take a Simple Quiz, Learn About Being Agile

James Shore and Shane Warden developed a self-assessment quiz for software development teams. It is included in their book, The Art Of Agile Development.

Most of us seem to like surveys, quizzes, and questionnaires. They often help us gather our thoughts and explore topics in greater depth. The downside is their superficial nature. It’s hard to improve your understanding of a complex topic just by answering some questions.

Negatives aside, I like having complex topics boiled down to a series of questions. They make me think and often encourage me to research a topic in more depth.

According to Shore:

“The goal of the quiz isn’t to tell you if you’re ‘agile’ or not — it’s hard enough for a human to do that, let alone something printed on dead trees — but to give you an idea of where you could improve, and what your biggest sources of risk are.”

Nicely stated.The quiz is a series of about 50 yes/no questions. After each response, try asking yourself “why” or “why not”.

Sebastian Hermida has gone to the trouble of posting the quiz online in a simple easy to use format. Just click on over to abetterteam.org. You might get more out of the quiz by having the development team take it together. The ensuing discussion might be the best thing to come out of the effort.

Updated: March 28, 2011 — 10:03 pm