Agile2014

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”



Although widely attributed to him, Charles Darwin never actually made the above statement. However, Darwin still presents us with some interesting concepts we can use in reflecting on our own experiences.



This experience report covers the ongoing, 14-year evolution of an engineering team at a web hosting company that powers a sizable portion of the Internet. It starts with the very first developer climbing out of the “primordial ooze” of a burgeoning company. The timeline progresses to the modern era and the behaviors of a full research and development team discovering and experimenting with Agile methods to provide greater customer satisfaction within a nearly 500-person organization.



In addition to observations and insights from individual team members, the presenters will share their experiences acting as coaches, trainers, and facilitators, managing teams and upwards in their organization. The goal is to provide a level of review not often seen by the Agile community. There are countless words and presentations devoted to transitioning between individual stages in the process, but this will be a full review, spanning several years of history. This report will appeal to a broad range of individuals, as it will cover growth patterns for a team of one to large, geographically dispersed teams.