Agile, YAGNI, Smaller Steps, Bikes and Automobiles...
There is a commonly shown drawing, which came from a great Kniberg post (of course), explaining how every iteration in an agile development method produces something usable, and the capability of it grows over time. Rather than building parts to assemble later, as typically is done in function decomposition and bottom-up building. I reproduced the image here, to introduce the topic better. Of course, critics answer by saying "well, if I ordered a car, I don't want a scooter or a motorcycle! I want a CAR!!!" This argument misses the point entirely, but is frequently given as a counterargument. Henrick's point was that in the crossed-out picture, you have to wait until the whole car is constructed before you get any benefit at all. The point is not that we "wasted time" building intermediate forms, but rather that we began producing value from the start and increased it over time. Henrick Kniberg is entirely right, yet people keep insisting that you have to...