Agility and Sustainability

“Keep it simple! It’s so easy to start with sustainability” - Richard Seidl

When I look at the software development projects that I have come across in recent years through the lens of sustainability, I see one thing above all: little to nothing. At most, sustainability appears in the decision for tools, in small doses in the choice of technology, but then fades out when it comes to process design at the latest.

Can agile be sustainable?

Now, of course, you could say: “Ha, but if I’m agile, then I’m deliberately only looking at the next few weeks - short cycles and all that - I CAN’T be sustainable!” But I think this purely methodical view of agility is too short-sighted. For me, there is a canon of values behind agility - and sustainability is part of that these days!
Well, we want to live sustainability in an agile context. But where should we start? We don’t have to look far, because our neighbor Lean with waste prevention has a great lever in its repertoire!

Keep it simple, stupid!

Even more concrete: The credo is to keep things simple. KISS - Keep it simple, stupid! Or in the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: “Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Oh, and there’s still plenty of room for improvement, isn’t there? Countless, redundant meetings. Bloated applications. Implemented functions that nobody needs. Overloaded development processes.
If we were to start tidying up here, clearing out and cutting out old habits, this would would gradually free up vast amounts of resources. Not only in the teams, but also in the infrastructure and the organization. Pretty sustainable, isn’t it? But this requires another agile value: courage. And? Is this being practiced? Perhaps a little more of it is in order….
With this in mind - go for it: courageous sustainability!