Final Thoughts

During a tour of France, the German poet Heinrich Heine and his friend visited a cathedral. As they stood in admiration before the magnificent church, the friend asked Heinrich why people couldn’t build like this anymore. The poet replied, “Friend, in those days people had convictions. We moderns have opinions. It takes more than opinions to build Gothic cathedrals” (Sweet 1982). And it takes more than opinions to build innovative products and adaptive organizations. We need deep convictions and resolute commitment if we hope to build great products and a better workplace. We need processes and practices grounded in core values and principles.

At the first Agile Development Conference in Salt Lake City in June 2003, the Executive Summit portion concluded with discussion groups being asked to identify the single most important factor to convey to senior executives. One team stated, and the others concurred, that the key factor in becoming agile is realizing that principles are more important than practices—that what we believe drives what we do.