“A carefully selected set of practices that match an IT organization’s needs is better than using one methodology exclusively.” Information Week, “Pragmatic Development” April 25, 2011, pg 35.

I found an interesting article by Mark Kennaley on development methodologies. It lines up well with my own practice and experience where the One Perfect Project Methodology is the one that makes use of what works best in our own organization. This is rarely a completely new approach force fed on our team by methodology zealots or senior management. In all the instances where we helped an organization go from late and buggy software intensive projects to on time with good quality, we took and tweaked their current approaches. It primarily centered on getting rid of bad management practices that had sprung up over time and took existing practices (some of which were already new things they were trying) and helping them get the full benefit out of them.

I do see that we often get too caught up in any given technology or tool (for example, Mark Kennaley in his article presents a complex taxonomy of methodologies) and lose track of what we are trying to accomplish. Keeping our focus on what we are trying to achieve allows us to get the best advantage out of the tools and methodologies we decide to use.

Does your organization implement new practices with pragmatism or with zealotry?