A common comment I hear in the company I am working for is that we cannot be completely committed to a pure Agile process so we are going to use a blended Agile process. There are many way to interpret this statement but I like to draw a analogy. As usual I am using a sport analogy. Most people can relate to these analogies.

Here we go. My Texas college has been playing American football for years. We are a small school and this game has been very expensive to maintain. After the latest soccer world cup we decide we want to switch over to soccer. Now this is not being received very well by our alumni. After all this college is in Texas and football is supreme. Our alumni are major contributors to the college so we cannot offend them even though it is cost us precious dollars and resources to maintain the football program.

So here is the great idea that the athletic department has come up with. Instead of doing a complete switch from football to soccer let’s move to soccer without breaking the rule and  try to please our alumni.

1. We will use our football pads in soccer
   We made such an investment in pads for the players we cannot do away with these. Do not mind that it slows down the players on the soccer field it has been proven that pads will protect the player.
2. The new soccer team will wear the old football uniforms
   We cannot waste what we already spent on uniforms. We know they may get in the way of moving the ball down the field.
3. The soccer team will huddle every time they want to move down the field
   Huddles were very productive in football so they should work just as well in soccer. They allow us to determine what strategy we should take in moving toward the goal.
4. We will form a scrimmage line before each play
   We have to know where the player are and were they will be after we start the play. We can call the play and be able to execute it.

In the above scenario we have not broken any of the rules for soccer. We have just adopted our previous experience in football to soccer. Tell me what success do you think this new soccer team will have? To switch to a new game you need to be committed to making a complete change.

Both football and soccer have very similar objectives, you move the ball down the field and get it across the goal. They use the same playing field and both have players that move the ball toward the goal. But how they do this is very different.

When switching for a waterfall to a Agile methodology you cannot have it both ways. Practices have to change in order for there to be success in the Agile process. Each have a very similar goals but a very different approach. Do not try to “blend” the approaches.