Comments on: Using an Agile-based Approach to Develop a Library Mobile Website

By: Jodi

Jodi — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:57:06 +0000

So a bit more complicated than just downloading the mobile theme plugin on wordpress then ;)

By: Matt Critchlow

Matt Critchlow — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 23:21:13 +0000

Hi Emily,

Great post. My thoughts are the following:

Yes you’re absolutely right that Agile could be the perfect project methodology to use for building an entire library website, or any other large project. Agile has been around for years, and there have been plenty of successful large projects completed using the methodology or it’s variants (e.g. SCRUM).

Like any project methodology, it is really only able to be applied successfully in the right environment. This includes project sponsor and champion support, as well as all stakeholders. Our environment is not currently at the point where building an entire library website would have the support necessary to use an Agile methodology, and that’s what we were trying to convey in the article. If your library/institution environment is different, you may be in a better place to pursue a large Agile project.

So all that to say, I think your environment, resources, as well as support from management/administration are going to be the indicating or limiting factors of whether Agile will work for a particular project.

I hope that helps clarify where we were coming from. If you’d like to discuss this more offline, both Dan and I will be at the code4lib conference or feel free to contact any of us on email anytime!

By: Emily Lynema

Emily Lynema — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:12:07 +0000

I am interested in your thoughts about what types of project Agile methodologies work well for. In my thinking, one of the great things about Agile is increased transparency and open communication. You mention that at your institution, Agile techniques might not work well for the creation of an entire library website. But to me, that sounds like a great project for Agile! With iterative timelines, decisions can be made in small pieces, and staff and committees can have products like wireframes or mockups to react to even before anything has actually been developed. This kind of iterative feedback loop helps move along large projects where it’s really difficult to get all decisions made ahead of time.

So I guess my thought is that Agile could work well with large projects. Perhaps the issues that you anticipate are institution-specific, however.