Observations on balancing discipline and agility

Agile development methodologies promise higher customer satisfaction, lower defect rates, faster development times and a solution to rapidly changing requirements. Plan-driven approaches promise predictability, stability, and high assurance. However, both approaches have shortcomings that, if left unaddressed, can lead to project failure. The challenge is to balance the two approaches to take advantage of their strengths and compensate for their weaknesses. We believe this can be accomplished using a risk-based approach for structuring projects to incorporate both agile and disciplined approaches in proportion to a project's needs. We present six observations drawn from our efforts to develop such an approach. We follow those observations with some practical advice to organizations seeking to integrate agile and plan-driven methods in their development process.