Introduction to Crystal Clear

Photo by Dan DeAlmeida on Unsplash

For several years I’ve been watching customers and companies struggle implementing Agile methodologies.

Too many times people think that it is enough to hire an agile/scrum coach and after a week the project is run agilely. Also, when people think agile, they most often than not think ‘scrum’. Why is so?

I’ve seen dozens of project failed because someone decided to implement scrum without understanding why it works, so today I’d like to remind you/introduce and old friend — clear.

What is (Crystal) Clear

Clear is designed to be a lightweight, flexible, and adaptable methodology that can be used for any teams and projects. Crystal Clear is designed for small teams and projects. It was created by Alistair Cockburn back in the mid 90' and it is based on the principle that each project is unique and requires a tailored approach.

Why is that important?

If you’re a partner/vendor/software house working for different customers you know that each company is different. They are run differently, have different goals, management, habits… some organizations are mature embracing agile, while others are just starting their journey.

I believe that for those organizations a tailored approach is better. And this is where crystal clear shines. The methodology emphasizes teamwork, communication, and constant improvement. There are seven principles which are the core of Clear:

1. Frequent Delivery: As any agile methodology, Crystal Clear emphasizes delivering working software frequently to gain feedback from customers and stakeholders.
2. Reflective Improvement: Teams are encouraged to reflect on their process and make improvements as needed. We know we’re not scrum yet, but we take it step at a time.
3. Osmotic Communication: Crystal Clear promotes communication among team members, including informal communication that happens naturally in a team setting. This is the most powerful principle of Clear. Communication is always the key to success.
4. Personal Safety: Teams should create a safe and supportive environment for each other to work in.
5. Focus: Teams should stay focused on the goal and avoid distractions.
6. Easy Access to Expert Users: Expert users should be easily accessible to the team for feedback and clarification.
7. Technical Environment: Teams should have the necessary tools and resources to complete the project.

Crystal Clear also has a set of practices that are designed to support the principles. The practices are:

1. Prioritized Features: The team prioritizes features based on customer and stakeholder feedback.
2. Incremental Delivery: The team delivers small, incremental releases to gain feedback and make improvements.
3. Team Code Ownership: The team takes collective ownership of the codebase and is responsible for maintaining it.
4. Pair Programming: Developers work in pairs to improve code quality and knowledge sharing.
5. Continuous Integration: Code changes are integrated into the codebase frequently to avoid integration problems.
6. Automated Tests: The team writes automated tests to ensure quality and catch regressions.
7. Continuous Learning: The team should continuously learn and improve their skills and process.

Benefits of Crystal Clear

Compared to other agile methodologies Crystal Clear has some key benefits:

1. Small learning curve: thanks to being lightweight and flexible, it’s easy to start, especially for customers not working in agile before.
2. Improving along the way: As the team matures and learns agile, it can introduce more agile practices and ceremonies. Continuous learning allows the team to adopt new agile concepts and expand development process when the team is ready so they are not overwhelmed at the beginning.
3. Increased Productivity: Personal safety and communication are crucial. Well organized team that trust each other provide better results (more, faster with better quality) than teams focused on the process.

Conclusion

Crystal Clear is a lightweight and flexible agile methodology that is well-suited for both companies starting their journey with agile and those during a transition from waterfall. It excels in small teams and projects environments and emphasizes teamwork, communication, and constant improvement.

In the next set of articles we will deep dive into what makes Crystal Clear an interesting choice. Cheers :)