Doing projects better doesn’t stop at agile. In this session I attempt to distill new advances in software development from the field of complexity science. I will show why practices must be agile (self-organized) *and* formal (controlled), why any software development method is doomed to fail, why managing scope is a too simplistic interpretation of the principle of “embracing changeâ€, why most process improvement initiatives are linear and wrong, and why some sets of practices will be show chaotic behavior when combined. I will go a step further than what has already been described in mainstream literature, linking some of complexity theory with down-to-earth experience from the trenches in my role as chief information officer for a software development company. The session is intended for those who already know many (agile and formal) concepts and practices, and want to hear some additional ideas that they can try to translate to their own projects.
