Agile Executives?

I lunched recently with David Hussman of SGF Software in Minneapolis and we both agree that there is a big gap between the promise of Agile development methods and those who have the power to implement them--namely, IT executives.

During the course of our discussion (and lunch at the always reliable Macaroni Grill), we covered a lot of ground, but a few things became clear as a result of the chat:

• Agile is good (we are both big fans of Agile--and its XP variant)
• There is a large chasm between the value of Agile and the typical IT executive's understanding of it
• There is a screaming need for more dialogue about the subject among the members of the Twin Cities IT community
• David and I share a desire to create a forum for that dialogue.

So we have resolved to create the Twin Cities IT Executive Agile Fourm, a loosely organized group of local IT leaders who are looking for more information on the subject of Agile, but don't know where to find it. And since Agile is not always the easiest methodology to adopt (and adapt to at the enterprise level), we believe this will be an ongoing effort.

I am working on a charter for the group. Stay tuned for more details.