On the flight over to Hanover (which was badly delayed due to a British Airways screw up) I listened to various podcasts about Agile development methods. I became increasingly excited listening to Mary Poppendieck, Scott Ambler, Ken Schwaber, Cliff Berg and Micheal Mahemoff and reading blog entries by Martin Fowler and others each giving their particular focus and input in on the subject.

My excitement was heightened as I anticipated finding more kindred spirits and some form of debate going on at CeBIT. I headed straight for the Business Processes stalls after my arrival while simultaneously scanning the “Today’s Programme” guide for lectures/presentations on the subject. Instead I found a large Outsource Development/Consulting contingency all touting RUP, Waterfall, MSF and SDLC type approaches (any many derivatives in-between).

This section was also in my opinion one of the least vibrant section of the fair with most visitors passing through while attempting to avoid having a brochure thrust into their hands by eager sales people hoping to land a new client. This was particularly disappointing since there is such a vibrant discussion going on around the subject of software development/business analysis on the Internet and in other forums.

I am relatively new to being so aware of Agile and being a strong advocate and thus perhaps still a bit naïve about these things; but surely if so many of us can see the power of these approaches and consider the debate worth our time and energy, the world largest technology fair should have it tabled as a higher profile issue. After all, if the claims made by Agile project leaders about the success ratios of Agile projects over projects run on other approaches are accurate and true, big ICT spend decision makers ought to sitting up and listening (on the edge of their seats for that matter).

I will continue my quest tomorrow, but for now, I am a bit surprised and a bit disappointed. At the same time, I am keenly aware that this means there is still huge opportunity to do fantastic work in highlighting this debate.

If I suddenly find the Agile stand(s) I’ll let you know…